I did love the film Howl's Moving Castle, from the first time I saw it. There were bits that only made sense much later when I read the book though. I agree they two stories are very different, and I am inclined to indeed think of them as two very separate entities. I like the book better though, mostly because of my love of the Sophie in it.

I haven't seen Maurice, but I do indeed remember there being quite a bit of eye candy in Brideshead Revisited!