I saw my first Merchant Ivory in the late 1980s when I drove with a group of friends over an hour to see Maurice at a small theater in Princeton, New Jersey, a town known for its Ivy League university. And, given that part of the movie takes place in Cambridge, UK, somehow, it seemed fitting for us to be there, amongst all those impressive stone buildings so reminiscent of England.
By today's standards, this 1987 film, based on E. M. Forster's novel, published in 1971 after his death, it may be difficult for some to see how groundbreaking it was; being the first Gay-positive movie to have a degree of popularity.
I then went on to discover their 1985 A Room with a View and Helena Bonham Carter, playing the leading female role of 'Lucy Honeychurch' whom our dog is named after. And who doesn't love Helena!
Of course, there is Howard's End, their masterpiece in my eyes, which came out in 1992.
Still, don't dismiss their earlier work such as 1981's Quartet with Maggie Smith (Violet Crawley), Alan Bates and Isabelle Adjani.
So, go ahead and binge on these extraordinary works, my friend.
Merchant Ivory Movies Ranked by Popularity - IMDB: