3/4  A nice film.
A film with nice settings nice characters and nice dialogue nothing else can really be said of it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it nor is it the best film like this you will watch. But it is enjoyable even though you may not thin... (read full)

4/4  A Room With a View Quick Review
A wonderful, wonderful movie.
The actors are brilliant (and Helena Bonham Carter is also incredibly beautyful here) and the adaption from the book is done perfectly.

1/4  A Room With a View Quick Review
This is the worst Ivory Merchant movie I've seen!

5/5 Breathtaking, romantic and funny!
  by Rita Reader
It is rare that a film can be artistically beautiful, romantic, and at the same time be laugh out loud funny! It is one of my all time favorite movies. I will warn that there is a nude scene but it is not in a sexual context. So parents, if you don't wish your children to see as Archie Bunker once said 'full nudal frontity' :)don't watch this movie with kids. That being said, the dialogue is brilliant, the acting superb, and Lucy and George are two lovers you will champion from the beginning.

3/5 Shallow story, content warning
  by E. Morrison
There are plenty of reviews about the story, and it is a somewhat sweet love story. But it's also very shallow. I have not read the book, so maybe that gives a bit more insight into the characters and plot, but just as the movie is concerned, I was left wanting more. If you like deep characters, then you might be disappointed here.

Also, a quick warning about content. Three men go bathing in a forest pond, all very innocent, but much nudity is shown.

5/5 Still great; minor flaw may annoy long-time fans.
  by smichelle65 (Phoenix, AZ)

I've owned this film on VHS for 20 years, and know it like the back of my hand. So I couldn't help but notice that, on the DVD version, the soundtrack was of a slightly higher pitch than what I'm used to--probably because the DVD plays the film at a slightly higher speed. This is quite noticeable the very start of the film, as the aria plays over the opening credits (compare this to how it's played over the DVD menu, where it's played correctly). This flaw is also noticeable in the voices of the women, particularly Maggie Smith's and Helena Bonham Carter's: Smith sounds slightly "chipmunk-y", and Bonham Carter's slightly deep, alluring voice is now somewhat reedy. There's also a slight "clip" in her delivery. I've read other reviews, and some have mentioned that the running time is about 3-5 minutes faster than what is usually listed.

The film itself however, is still as beautiful as I remember, and it's good to see Carter, Day-Lewis, and Sands in the roles that introduced me to them. I have yet to see the PBS remake, but I can't help but wonder as to the point of it--it's not as if this version was "horribly dated".

5/5 Awesome!
  by Reviewer Mary (Boston, MA)
Even though it's a low budget movie, it's superb! This is one of my favorite movies! It's clean (except for the pond scene). It's utterly charming! :)

5/5 An Exquisite Edwardian Era Romp
  by Deborah Earle (USA)
Keeping fairly in sync with E.M. Forster's novel of the same name, this 1985 Merchant-Ivory film follows its young English heroine, Lucy Honeychurch(Helena Bonham Carter) through a tour of Italy with her grave, spinster aunt Charlotte (Maggie Smith), and back home again, where the young, upper-crust Englishwoman must decide between a proposal to the stuffy, traditional, and passionless Cecil Vyse (Daniel Day Lewis), and the livelier George Emerson (a winning Julian Sands).
She and her aunt meet the latter suitor and his father, Mr. Emerson (the notoriously scene-stealing Denholm Elliott) over an incident in which the Emersons offer to change rooms in the hotel in Rome, which is run by a Cockney Signora (Amanda Walker) so that the women can have a room with a view.
Among the English tourists and residents they encounter are novelist Eleanor Lavish (Judi Dench), the prim but comical Misses Catherine and Teresa Alan (Fabia Drake and Joan Henley), the Reverend Mr. Arthur Beebe( Simon Callow), and the Reverend Mr. Eager (Patrick Godfrey).
We follow them through incidents ranging from the serene to the precarious. Miss Lavish gains inspiration for a novel (some of which is verbally handed to her by Charlotte), young Lucy witnesses a murder in the square and is assisted by George, subsequently making an observation about Italians that she does not seem to realize could apply to her fellow British as well.
A wistful moment arises during a coach ride when the driver, Phaeton ( Lucca Rossi) must part with his sweetheart, Persephone(Isabella Celani) so he can focus on his work.
To the aria " Chi Il Bel Sogno Di Doretta" (as sung by Kiri Te Kanawa), we reach a point of high drama during the trip to Italy when Lucy and George kiss in an open field, only to find Lucy hastily returned to the protective custody of Charlotte and Eleanor.
Soon, all are home again, and we view the contrasting staidness of the English countryside at the Honeychurch home of Windy Corner. Mrs. Marion Honeychurch(Rosemary Leach)presides over a residence that will witness her daughter's engagement to Cecil, amid the visible apprehension of Lucy's brother, Freddy(Rupert Graves), gatherings attended by Reverend Beebe's niece, Minnie(an Alice-in-Wonderland like Mia Fothergill), and one slightly racy adventure in a nearby lake as the drama continues.
George and his father soon move nearby Windy Corner, and Lucy is compelled to rethink certain life-altering decisions.
Ultimately, the best result will occur, Lucy will find herself back at the pensione with the proper husband, and we will see the cycle of the young English girl, a chaperone, elderly spinster sisters, English clergymen, the free-spirit with an elderly father, and the debate over whether or not to have a room with a view on one's first trip to Italy renew itself.
From Dame Kiri's initial and final notes of "O Mio Babbio Cara" to the decorative style of the credits, this film remains a delightful masterpiece.