Impeccably cast and perfectly executed, this 1986 Merchant/Ivory adaptation of the eponymous E.M. Forster novel stars Helena Bonham Carter in a breakout debut as the proper young Edwardian lady Lucy Honeychurch, who finds her picture-perfect but staid life forever changed by the advances of an impetuous and dashingly handsome suitor (Julian Sands). Sadly, cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts' gorgeous lensing is compromised by the weak film transfer, which is rife with digital artifacts and aliasing problems. One day we hope this sparkling comedy of English manners will get the mastering it so deserves, but until then this release, though a mixed one, is a blessing no less. Highly recommended. (S. C. Sickles)[DVD Review--Mar. 23, 2004--BBC, 2 discs, 116 min., not rated, $26.99, avail. Apr. 6--Initially released in a bare-bones edition, James Ivory's A Room With a View: Special Edition is the first title to debut on BBC Video's new film line, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. Comparing the original transfer for the Image release with this new high-definition transfer, I saw only a slight difference in the image quality (aside from the noticeable upgrade from matted widescreen to anamorphic widescreen), while the audio options have expanded to include both French and Spanish tracks. Disc one features the film as well as a fine commentary track by Ivory, producer/partner Ismail Merchant, cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, and star Simon Callow. Disc two features…well…a total of about 40 minutes worth of extras, 41 minutes if you count the interminably long series of animated logos leading up to the menu (everyone needs to get their pound of cinematic flesh here, from the FBI to the BBC). You'll find seven minutes worth of promotional interviews with Callow and Daniel Day-Lewis, a three-minute blurb on the film's U.S. success, a five-minute profile of Merchant/Ivory productions, and--the only real meaty extra--a 26-minute 1970 featurette on E.M. Forster (who died the same year; this is a BBC TV obituary piece), featuring--among others--comments from literary contemporaries such as critic Frank Kermode, and writer Christopher Isherwood. Bottom line: if you don't own the Image release--now out of print--then this is a film that belongs in most collections, despite the less-than-sterling transfer and scanty extras for a “special edition.”][Blu-ray/DVD Review—Oct. 6, 2015—Criterion, 117 min., not rated, DVD: $29.95, Blu-ray: $39.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and Blu-ray, 1986's A Room with a View features a great transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition. Extras include the production featurettes “The Eternal Yes” with costars Helena Bonham Carter, Simon Callow, and Julian Sands (37 min.) and “Thought and Passion” with director James Ivory, cinematographer Tony Pierce-Roberts, and costume designer John Bright (22 min.), as well as a 1987 NBC Nightly News segment on Merchant Ivory Productions (4 min.), trailers, and an essay by film critic and author John Pym. Bottom line: Criterion's release marks a huge improvement over the previous Blu-ray release of this Merchant Ivory favorite.]
A Room with a View
Image, 116 min., not rated, $24.99 Vol. 15, Issue 5
A Room with a View
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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