Black Narcissus

  • Drama
5/26/1947
100
NR

A story of exquisite yearning in a strange and beautiful land. Towering over the screen ... as the mountains that saw it happen.

A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.

Budget:
$424,000

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Reviews

  • John Chard

    Do you think it's a good thing to let her feel important?

    Black Narcissus is directed by Micheal Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who both adapt the screenplay form Rumer Godden's novel of the same name. It stars Deborah Kerr, Sabu, Jean Simmons, David Farrar, Flora Robson and Kathleen Byron. Music is scored by Brain Easdale and cinematography by Jack Cardiff.

    A group of nuns travel to the Himalayas to set up a school and hospital at the disused Palace of Mopu. Once set up high in the mountains, some of the nuns find themselves seduced by the atmospheric sensuality of the place. Which spells trouble as inner demons start to seep out.

    I haven't got much of a review here for you, it really would be redundant due to the widespread avai...

    February 17, 2020
  • Geronimo1967

    Right from the start, Jack Cardiff's magnificent cinematography sets a perfect scene for this superbly directed story of "Sister Clodagh" (Deborah Kerr) who is despatched to a remote corner of northern India to establish a school and hospital in an old, cold and windy, palace. Accompanied by a rather curious collection of nuns - Flora Robson, Jenny Laird, Judith Furse and Kathleen Byron, they must combat the elements and their plentiful demons to make their project function - none of this is aided by the presence of the enigmatic David Farrar who seems to bring out the best and worst in both Kerr and the first-class Byron as "Sister Ruth" who treads a fine line between sanity and an almost demonic despair. The story addresses many of the is...

    July 7, 2022
  • Wuchak

    Stuck between the carnal and the celestial in the southern Himalayas

    A group of well-meaning nuns try to establish a nunnery beyond Darjeeling in northeast India at a dilapidated palace-on-the-heights that used to house a harem. Deborah Kerr plays the Sister Superior while David Farrar appears as the agent to the local prince.

    Based on the 1939 novel, Black Narcissus (1947) is a psychological drama with the interesting milieu of the awe-inspiring northern India. Being shot in the UK, the scenery is a well-done illusion created in the studio via glass shots and hanging miniatures. The backdrops are enlarged B&W photos, which the art department spruced-up with breathtaking colors using pastel chalks.

    While Kerrs beauty is show...

    December 11, 2023

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