Howard’s End (1992) Cohen Film Collection 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray Review

Plot:

A woman is cheated out of inheritance, but time and circumstances eventually reward her with it anyway.

Review:

Elderly and ailing Ruth Wilcox (Vanessa Redgrave) and her husband, a wealthy banker Henry (Anthony Hopkins) and his grown children live just across the street in London from a pair of sisters Margaret and Helen Schlegel (Emma Thompson and Helena Bonham Carter) and their brother. Margaret is acquainted with Ruth and the elderly woman sees something in Margaret that reminds her of herself when she was younger, and she takes a shine to her, much to Margaret’s pleasant surprise. Though dying, Ruth still has a zest for life, and her greatest pleasure is her home in rural England, a sprawling estate called Howard’s End, which is in great disrepair, but is worth a great deal of money. Wanting to take Margaret there, but never getting the chance to before she dies, Ruth instead wills Margaret Howard’s End on her death bed, but Margaret never finds out about this because her husband Henry and their grown children refuse to believe that Ruth would so impulsively do such a thing, and they destroy any evidence of Ruth’s dying wish. Meanwhile, Margaret’s sister Helen makes an unlikely acquaintance of a worldly but very poor and struggling young man named Leonard (Samuel West) when she impulsively steals his umbrella one rainy day, and when he comes to collect it, thus begins a years-long here and there relationship between them, which will greatly complicate the lives of everyone else around them due to tragedy and fate. When Margaret eventually becomes Henry Wilcox’s new wife, she will eventually find as time passes that she will fall in love with Howard’s End, and as it turns out, she is left the entire estate in Henry’s will, which proves that she was always meant to have it, despite the odds that had worked against her.

A deceptively simple, but sprawling drama of fate and circumstance, Howard’s End from director James Ivory and author E.M. Forster is a cinematic wonder, with pitch perfect performances (the casting is golden), gorgeous cinematography, sumptuous visuals, and a beautiful score by Richard Robbins. Even at an epic length of nearly two-and-a-half hours, the film feels short because it’s masterfully crafted and presented. It’s a really wonderful film, though I will readily admit that it’s not really the type of film I typically enjoy. I’ve seen it twice now, and its spell is quite powerful because I’ve never forgotten it and I never will.

Cohen Film Group has just released a three-disc edition of Howard’s End, and it comes with a 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray / bonus features disc, and let’s just start with the way the movie looks: WOW! Just an amazing looking restoration of the film, looking remarkable and likely the film will never look any better than this. Incredibly clear and sharp, capturing every detail, and the last time I watched this was on a DVD, which I can now retire because this blows it away in every regard. The discs come with new audio commentaries, conversations, interviews, archival features, trailers, and more. This is a Criterion-level release and should be considered one of the best 4K / Blu-ray releases of 2025.