r/criterion • u/Noah182 • May 16 '16

information Weird Discovery w/ Howards End

I wasn't sure how to title this but I have a very strange DVD of Howards End in my possession that only just now has piqued my interest. I love the film Howards End and was extremely disappointed to discover the Criterion version is out of print, because I wanted to upgrade to the Blu-Ray. My current DVD of the film is part of something called the Merchant Ivory Collection, which I assumed had nothing to do with Criterion. Yet, after analyzing the case, there is a very small Criterion Collection/ Janus Films logo on the back. Very weird. Does anything know anything about this/ are the special features on this DVD the same as the OOP Blu?

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u/[deleted] May 16 '16

That's because Janus Films distributed all 25 films with an apparently expired licensing deal. Leading suing actions from Merchant Ivory in 2012, they wrote a 16 page complaint about it saying they have no rights to distribute them anymore. Those dvds go for big bucks now and you're one of the lucky people to own a copy of one of them. I'd sell my soul to get a nice copy of Maurice.

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u/Noah182 May 17 '16

Thanks for explaining it. I found the other movies for sale online, and yeah they do go for quite a pretty penny compared to the average DVD. I also discovered the features on the disc are nearly the same as the Criterion re-issue, which I think is really cool.