Black Narcissus - Criterion Collection

Starring:Deborah Kerr, Flora Robson, Jean Simmons, David Farrar, Sabu, Esmond Knight, Kathleen Byron, Jenny Laird, Judith Furse, May Hallatt, Shaun Noble, Eddie Whaley Jr., Nancy Roberts (III), Ley On, Joan Cozier, Maxwell Foster, Margaret Scudamore, Helen de Broy, Jack Cardiff
Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Studio: Criterion
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Appropriately enough for a picture named for a flower, Black Narcissus exists in a color-drenched, hothouse atmosphere. The setting is a nunnery in the Himalayas, where sister Deborah Kerr has her hands full with an envious nun (the remarkable Kathleen Byron) and a sardonic Englishman (David Farrar). Director Michael Powell and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, the team responsible for the mid-forties masterpieces A Stairway to Heaven and The Red Shoes, decided to shoot Black Narcissus entirely in the studio, so they could create their own controlled, slightly unreal world. The choice paid off, as both art director Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff won Oscars for their blazing Technicolor work. The climactic sequence--a murder attempt on the cliffs of the cloister--bears special attention, as Powell "set" the sequence to a preexisting musical track, staging it as though it were a piece of visual choreography. Adding a bit of behind-the-scenes tension to the production was the fact that Kerr was the director's ex-mistress, and Byron his current one. "It was a situation not uncommon in show business, I was told," he later wrote, "but it was new to me." --Robert Horton

Description

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. Criterion is proud to present Black Narcissus in a new Special Edition.

Customer Reviews:

Black Narcissus.......2007-06-21

Another great success for "Red Shoes" helmers Powell-Pressburger, "Narcissus" is an absorbing, finely acted British melodrama about the secular problems facing a new mother superior in an unfamiliar, potentially hostile new environment. The directors even stirred controversy by developing a subtle yet credible sexual tension between the luminous Kerr and hunky Farrar. Jack Cardiff's Oscar-winning Technicolor photography and Alfred Junge's hand-crafted art design give this film exceptional production values to boot. And Kathleen Byron's celebrated turn as the unhinged Sister Ruth climaxes in a suspenseful sequence that's hard to forget.

Great movie.......2007-06-04

I loved this movie because of the powerful characters and their struggle for doing some good in the world against the evil and the weakness of our human nature. Even though the film was filmed in a studio, due to budgetary constraints, the feel is of really being in some far off land. The story slowly envelops us in the personal struggles of the charters, their isolation and the remoteness of the nunnery. The understated sexual tension builds slowly until the dramatic ending.

Black Narcissus.......2007-05-08

I saw this film many years ago and enjoyed it very much. I still like reading Rumer Godden's books, though some people may consider them a bit dated-she had a good perception of India- I know because I have been married to an Indian for years. The film was an effective adaption of her book of the same name. Most of the cast acted well. The only one I found a bit unconvincing was Jean Simmons-an unlikely Indian. It was not all her fault-they should have toned down that brown make-up and left her natural looks. Many Indians are just as fair. Contrast her with Sabu, who was a real Indian. The settings were so well done-hard to believe the films was not photographed on location.

The End of the World.......2007-05-04

Black Narcissus, based on the book of the same name by Rumer Godden, is about five nuns who seem to go to the end of the world. They are sent to a palace high in the mountains in the Himalayas to start a Protestant missionary. They find themselves in a lonely, cold, wind swept place. The nuns find themselves haunted by memories they can't stop thinking about and a land that calls out to their flesh and their spirits.
Sister Clodagh, the main character, can't stop thinking about the life she ran away from. Everything seems to remind her of the life she fled, of the emotions she was trying to forget and the man she once loved. Like her, the other nuns find themselves trapped inside their minds, trying to deal with the desolate land, with the beauty of the snowcapped peaks and the ancient ways of the native people.
Mr. Dean, the agent of the Old General, is not very helpful. He has long given in to the strange ways of the people and has learned to deal with the erotic women, the green jungle and the rich culture.
The disc holds a ton of great extras, from audio commentary, a 27 minute documentary, a collection of behind the scene pictures and the original theatrical trailer. This is a must for any DVD library.

An Erotic Ghost Story.......2007-02-22

I loved this film, the characters, the setting, what's spoken, and what's left unsaid. Talk about the wrong place to send 5 women (nuns) who are repressing their sexuality...The Women's Palace. It's not the constant winds that haunts these women, but their desires, their regrets, and the memories of this palace that housed concubines in a harem many years ago. Women who had nothing to think about but sex, and waiting for one man to come and fulfill them, and to compete amongst themselves for his attention. The thing that pained them the most was their forced celibacy and endless days of tedium and ennui, sentiments that soaked those walls, so that many years later all these women experience the same longing and desires. Erotic, most certainly, but a haunting ghost story of the first caliber.

DVD:

DVD

DVD

DVD

Batman - Return to the Batcave

Entrapment

Water Margin: The True Colors of Heroes

DVD: Farscape Season 1, Vol. 2 - Exodus from Genesis / Thron

Master With Cracked Fingers