At first glimpse, the work of the British novelist and essayist, E. M. Forster, would hardly be thought to be the stuff of Hollywood. His finely detailed novels explore the Edwardian world of society and morality and focus on such themes as salvation through love, the deficiency of traditional Christianity and the repressiveness of English society and culture. In early novels such as Room with a View and Where Angels Fear to Tread, his protagonists, both male and female, are able to shuck off the heavy coils of civilization only by traveling outside their native country--sometimes with disastrous results. Forster's books are novels of manners, much in the same vein of Jane Austen. There is little action, much discussion. His longer and more substantive novels, such as Howard's End and A Passage to India, are considered among his finest work. In Howard's End, he depicts his own vision...