Following the commercial and critical success of A Room with a View, the prestigious Merchant-Ivory filmmaking team returned to the works of E.M. Forster (as they would a third time, with Howard's End) to adapt Maurice (1987), based on a 1914 novel that Forster suppressed until after his death in 1971, as it addressed the dilemma of his own homosexuality in pre-World War I Edwardian England, a time and place in which being gay was illegal and exposure often led to ruined lives and careers. Amidst the stifling conformity of the British class system, the film tells the story of Maurice (pronounced "Morris," and played by James Wilby), a Cambridge undergraduate who must come to terms with his own homosexuality after fellow student Clive Durham (Hugh Grant, in one of his earliest roles) expresses his love for him. Both men respond differently to this awkward situation: Clive denies his sexuality and safely marries while pursuing a life in politics, while stockbroker Maurice is more honest to his emotions, and therefore more in danger of becoming a social outcast when he finds love with Scudder (Rupert Graves), a servant on the Durham estate. Director Ivory (who is gay) handles this compelling drama with his usual flair, and Maurice is nothing if not gorgeous to look at, blending the story's turbulent emotions with the visual splendor of English estates and countryside. At 140 minutes, the film seems a bit long, however, and some may take issue with its easy acceptance of Maurice and Scudder's relationship--not because they're gay but because, as opposites on the social scale, they make an unlikely couple. That caveat aside, Maurice is a high-class film in the Merchant-Ivory tradition, and it's nicely presented here in a double-disc set with a wealth of bonus features, including 30 minutes worth of deleted scenes, and new interviews with the principal cast and crew, who go into great detail about the film and its differences from Forster's novel. Recommended. [Note: also newly available on DVD in the Merchant-Ivory collection are The Householder and Shakespeare Wallah.] (J. Shannon)[Blu-ray/DVD Review—Sept. 5, 2017—Cohen, 140 min., R, DVD: $22.99, Blu-ray: $30.99—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1987's Maurice features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 5.1 soundtrack on the Blu-ray release. Extras include “A Director's Perspective” conversation between director James Ivory and filmmaker Tom McCarthy (40 min.), deleted scenes (39 min.), a featurette on “The Story” (31 min.), a new Q&A with Ivory and cinematographer Pierre Lhomme moderated by film critic Nicholas Elliott (23 min.), a “making-of” featurette (16 min.), a conversation with the filmmakers (13 min.), and a booklet. Bottom line: this solid Merchant-Ivory drama makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]
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