Black Narcissus (1947)

Directors:

Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger

Writers:

Rumer Godden (novel)
Michael Powell (written by) ...

Release Date:

December 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Exquisite Yearning ! . . . Exotic Living ! High in a hidden mountain village of a strange land and extravagant dreams and desires become exciting realities !

Plot:

Anglican nuns, led by the stern Sister Clodagh, attempt to establish a religious community in the Himalayas...

Plot Keywords:

Nun | Convent | General | Mountain | School

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Cast

Deborah Kerr	...	Sister Clodagh
Flora Robson	...	Sister Philippa
Jean Simmons	...	Kanchi
David Farrar	...	Mr. Dean
Sabu	...	The Young General
Esmond Knight	...	The Old General
Kathleen Byron	...	Sister Ruth
Jenny Laird	...	Sister Honey
Judith Furse	...	Sister Briony
May Hallatt	...	Angu Ayah
Shaun Noble	...	Con, Clodagh's Childhood Sweetheart
Eddie Whaley Jr.	...	Joseph Anthony, Young Interpreter
Nancy Roberts	...	Mother Dorothea
Ley On	...	Phuba, Dean's Servant

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:12 (2004) | West Germany:16 | Finland:S | USA:Approved (PCA #11874, Adult Audience) | UK:U (video rating) (1986) (uncut) | UK:PG (re-rating) (1985) (uncut) | UK:A (original rating) (cut)

Filming Locations:

County Galway, Ireland

Company:

Archers, The

Trivia:

Jack Cardiff came up with the idea of starting the rainfall end scene by first having a few drops hit the rhubarb leaves before cueing a full-force rainstorm. He personally created the first drops with water from a cup when the scene was shot. Michael Powell was so pleased with the effect that he decided to make the scene, originally the penultimate one, the closing shot. Cardiff, however, was a great fan of the original scene (which had already been shot) that was supposed to follow this one and close the film. To this day Cardiff amusingly calls the opening drops of the rainfall "the worst idea I ever had".

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: During a shot of the Himalayan mountains, stagehands can be seen standing and walking about behind the scrim on which the mountains are painted.

Quotes:

The Old General: [Dictating his orders for welcoming the soon-to-arrive nuns] Mr. Dean! You will receive them for me, and you will do everything for them that they want doing.
The Old General: [Now turning his attention to Ayah] You too. You will engage servants for them, and you will both look after them until they care to look after themselves.
Angu Ayah: What do they eat? How do I know what nuns eat?
The Old General: I have remembered that.
The Old General: [Toda Rai walks over to a screened opening that looks out over the courtyard, where his men are unloading advance provisions for the nuns, who are still on their way] Do you see that crate?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in 50 Films to See Before You Die (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lullay My Liking

Human struggle defeated by place in a beautiful film

A small group of nuns, working nuns, not contemplatives, journey to the Himalayas to establish a school and dispensary in a high and remote deserted palace. It was a palace built for a ruler's women, and every wall painting, every decoration, contrasts the sensuality of this society with the chaste and energetic vocation of the nuns. Only Dean (David Farrar), the ruling General's Agent, links the steamy life of the valley with the wind-blown austerity of the nunnery above.

It is the destructive power of emotions reppressed and released that is most obvious in 'Black Narcissus', but more fundamental to this beautiful film is a stronger, yet quieter, ancient and more subtle power, that of place. The Himalayan setting is established surprisingly convincingly for the period, in a series of vivid shots that disclose the fact of that landscape's power from the beginning. And the particular quality, the particular power of that place is continuously present in the wind that blows constantly, stirring every fabric, every soft thing. Only as that power of place begins to work its insidious magic on the nuns does it begin to reveal its nature. Everyone there is affected, their practical efforts diverted by poetry and passion. Somehow flowers are planted, not potatoes. The Young General (Sabu) falls in love with a dancing girl (Jean Simmons). Two of the nuns are drawn to the rough Agent, already sunk into the life of the society around him. Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), the Sister Superior, initially drawn back to memories of her lover in Ireland, remains strong in her faith, yet is softened, becomes more human. Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), on the other hand, becomes maddened by jealous passion and it is her tragedy, itself peculiarly bound up with the geography of the place, that brings the drama to an end.

The testing of a few people brought together in isolation is a familiar theme, but this is an unusual example. 'Black Narcissus' has an unusual symmetry: acceptance of this tainted life, in the person of the agent, is compared with the surrender to her passions of Sister Ruth, whose irrational passion, in turn, contrasts with the gentle loves of the Sister Clodagh; the abandonment of this world by the holy contemplative who lives in the nunnery grounds contrasts with the nun's holy yet practical struggles. So, too, we see the valley richly coloured, but the Mopu Palace nunnery almost monochrome, washed out.

The project at Mopu fails, the struggle against the genius of the place is abandoned. But not everything fails: Sister Clodagh has become wiser and less proud. Some struggles are too great, but we learn that there can be victories in small things: the Young General wins Kanchi, his dancing girl.

This is a fine film, well acted. David Farrar, though at times uneasy in a difficult role, requiring roughness and sympathy in equal measure, generally manages to strike the right balance. Kathleen Byron grows convincingly mad with jealousy and is stupendous in her dramatic final scene. Flora Robson, as Sister Phillipa, tending her gardens, has a small part which she plays to perfection. Deborah Kerr is outstanding: that Sister Clodagh has a fundamental sympathy disguised by pride is apparent from the beginning, and the progressive disclose of the quiet, loving, passion of her character, is finely judged. The art direction and cinematography, too, is excellent: the wind tugging at every fabric, the sputtering candles, the long shots of the landscape, Sister L pausing momentarily to caress a strikingly phallic baluster. It is astonishing that this was all achieved without leaving the suburbs of London. The music is ravishing and, in the later scenes, intense. Finally, in its emphasis on the spirit of place, even set in the Himalayas, 'Black Narcissus' is a very British film.