Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5021 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-09-26
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Colour, Mono, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Synopsis
Anglo-Catholic nuns on an isolated missionary assignment in the Himalayas face an assortment of worldly challenges including sexual temptations and other intriguing ups and downs. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden.

Customer Reviews

Superb transfer
It's always tempting for the film buff to buy the R1 Criterion edition of any film they love, but the picture and sound of this Network DVD of the wonderful Black Narcissus is at least the equal of the Criterion, until Criterion produce a new one (and that'll be twice the price of this one anyway).

Simmering repressed emotions as painted with colour
Powell and Pressburger in the 40's were a sure fire guarantee of cinema that was imaginative, innovative and involving - and this was one of the pinnacles of their career.
On the surface another British melodrama, this was made into much more, using the relatively new and cumbersome Technicolor process for heretofore unimagined uses. While America was using colour as a way of making musicals and location work bigger and more exciting, Powell and Pressburger were finding ways of using it as a way of expressing the internal - emotions as colour.
In this movie, we have Deborah Kerr as a nun who has been sent as Mother Superior to a palace (and former harem) in India in the shadow of the Himalayas to make of it a school and dispensary. However the location and its otherworldliness begin to gnaw at the nuns in different ways, digging up old forgotten memories of their previous lives, and forcing one all the way to madness. The presence of the Englishman who is their only source of help, only adds to a simmering atmosphere of repressed emotion which threatens to burst out as time progresses.
As a melodrama this might seem a little dated by modern viewers eyes, however as an expression of the dichotomy between our human nature and the nature of religion (in this case Christianity) this is a fascinating and timeless piece - and as a piece of cinema, this will stay with you for a very long time, with its stunning expressionist style and startling colours. One moment, when a nun driven mad appears in a doorway with murderous thoughts in mind, is more chilling than anything I have seen in a long time, all captured in one look through fantastic lighting. The achievements in creating such a vivid and authentic atmosphere are all the more amazing considering it was all shot in Pinewood studios.
Jack Cardiff's pioneering use of Technicolor shows how he was guided by an admiration not for the technical side but for the artistry, quoting Vermeer, Van Gogh and Rembrandt as influences in his technique. Fascinating. The feature on the film itself necessarily covers some of the same ground, but is also worth watching.
Whether you simply enjoy a good melodrama, or are a student of cinema as art, or just like to keep up with movies Scorcese recommends, this is worth watching.

Which was which?
The cinematography and design are rightly honoured in this classic melodrama about nuns in the Himalayas but the story is a bit thin and you do have to concentrate not to get the nuns mixed up.

Still it remains a visual feast.

The additional features, particularly about the great cinematographer Jack Cardiff, are worthwhile too.