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Black Narcissus

United Kingdom

1947

101 Min
Color
1.37:1
English
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
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DIR Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

SCR Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Rumer Godden

DP Jack Cardiff

CAST Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Esmond Knight, Jean Simmons, Kathleen Byron, Jenny Laird, Judith Furse, May Hallatt, Eddie Whaley, Jr., Shaun Noble, Nancy Roberts

ED Reginald Mills

PROD DES Alfred Junge

MUSIC Brian Easdale

Berlinale (Retrospective), Karlovy Vary (Tribute to Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger)

Synopsis

Plagued by uncertainties and worldly desires, five Protestant missionary nuns, led by Deborah Kerr’s Sister Clodagh, struggle to establish a school in the desolate Himalayas. All the elements of cinematic arts are perfectly fused in Powell and Pressburger’s fascinating study of the age-old conflict between the spirit and the flesh, set against the grandeur of the snowcapped peaks of Kanchenjunga. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Original

Michael Powell

A one time studio gofer, still photographer, and comic actor, Michael Powell became one of the most celebrated and controversial directors ever to come out of England. Born in Canterbury, Powell became enamored of films while still a teenager and, after a start in the mid-’20s and a stint shooting stills and serving as a co-scenarist with Alfred Hitchcock in the early sound era, Powell broke into directing in low-budget British thrillers and comedies. After directing and writing his first notable movie in 1937, The Edge of the World, he moved to London Films where he began working with Emeric Pressburger, a gifted young author and screenwriter. Their two-decade association began shortly after they left London Films (where they collaborated on The Spy in Black and Powell co-directed The Thief of Bagdad). The wartime thrillers Contraband and Forty-Ninth Parallel, the latter attracted much attention (including Oscar nominations for Best Picture and best original story), resulted in the… read more

Original

Emeric Pressburger

The screenwriter half of the Powell/Pressburger team in association with Michael Powell, Hungarian-born Emeric Pressburger was a journalist before coming to films as a screenwriter in the late ‘20s. After working at Germany’s UFA studios for several years, he fled after Hitler’s rise to power and eventually came to England, where he joined London Films as a screenwriter and began his association with Michael Powell, a gifted young English filmmaker. The two worked together on The Spy in Black, and after leaving London Films, formed a filmmaking partnership, known corporately as The Archers, in which they shared joint screenwriter-producer-director credit. Their collaborations together included 49th Parallel, One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Canterbury Tale, I Know Where I’m Going, Stairway to Heaven (A Matter of Life and Death), Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes, The Small Back Room, and The Tales of Hoffmann, most of which were extremely successful… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 61 wall posts.
Picture of SALESK

SALESK

2Apr13

good film about how hysterical & fragile white people can be

Picture of This is Jake Kath

This is Jake Kath

26Dec12

Blu-ray is sexy as shit!

Amy and 2 others like this

Ryan Pearce, Juurakkotukka

Picture of Electrus Amadeus Magnus

Electrus Amadeus Magnus

16Dec12

wow! what a cinematography (close-ups, use of color and light etc). last 20 minutes better than a horror movie (and its finale reminds you of Vertigo). Kathleen Byron has a great face. Archers rule.

Robert Regan likes this

Picture of okbetweenlines

okbetweenlines

27Oct12

I didn't think this one would stick with me as much as it has. I'm not sure what it is, I tried find it in reading about the history and release--nothing. Still haven't found an explanation.

  • Picture of TomMackAplin

    TomMackAplin

    10Nov12

    Really you have to look at the whole of post-war British cinema in context, "Realism and Tinsel" and all that.

  • Picture of Conquest of Gaul

    Conquest of Gaul

    27Nov12

    These themes are also used in other films, one of them being 'Night Of The Iguana'. Or in lighter focus in such films as Ford's 'Seven Women'

  • Picture of Conquest of Gaul

    Conquest of Gaul

    27Nov12

    always characters of several belief and/or moral conflict either within themselves, or with one another, all locked nice and neatly into an emotionally volcanic situation...

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Fans

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Articles

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Video of the day: RIP Jack Cardiff

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BLACK NARCISSUS Blu-Ray Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made many films, but the two works that have come to define them are Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948). These films are very different yet they share
read on Twitchfilm.com

BLACK NARCISSUS Blu-Ray Review

By Twitchfilm.net on July 26, 2010
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made many films, but the two works that have come to define them are Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948). These films are very different yet they share
read on Twitchfilm.net

Lists

Displaying 5 of 408 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 4 of 5

unpolluted visual beauty

By Pierlui​gi Puccini on November 6, 2010

Another cumulous of the talent of filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and cinematographer Jack Cardiff.

The arrival into the imponent temple on the mountain arouses various kinds…  read review

Black Narcissus

By Gino on June 24, 2010

When you think of a movie about a handful of nuns moving to a rural village in the Himalayas, you would never imagine the intense masterpiece that Black Narcissus is. The Film is visually stunning…  read review

Many Archers as good, Nun better

By Musycks on August 5, 2009

Rumer Godden’s novel of a clash of cultures is given the full Powell and Pressburger treatment, complete with one of the cinema’s most delicious visual conceits. The astonishing studio fakery contributes…  read review

Untitled

By McKittr​ick on December 28, 2008

Powel & Pressburger are responsible for the greatest films in British cinema. If I had to pick a favourite it would be Black Narcissus. A beautifully erotic and gothic melodrama that was way ahead…  read review

Forum

Displaying 1 discussion topic.

Ken Russells THE DEVILS and Michael Manns THE KEEP

4 posts by 4 people over 1 year ago

DVD

Buy the DVD from The Criterion Collection.