Black Narcissus

Powell and Pressburger's powerful psychological drama following a small group of nuns slowly losing control in their new unlikely convent high up on the Himalayas. Great performances, great visuals all building up to a memorable finale...Well worth a watch!

Powell and Pressburger have a high reputation but their work, as here, is often very dated. There is clever photography but the story of a doomed attempt of an order of nuns to set up a community in Asia is not well handled. The growing madness of one of the sisters, by today's standards was embarrassingly overacted. Its place lies in the history of the cinema rather than in its hall of fame. Deborah Kerr as the mother superior, beautiful as she was, had too narrow an acting range for the part and never surpassed her bad girl part in 'From Here to Eternity'.

Stunning in every way, this is a true classic of the film-maker's art. Shot almost completely in a studio (saving a couple of outdoor scenes which were actually filmed in Surrey), there isnt a wasted frame throughout the entire film.

Scenery is superb (bearing in mind that the Himalayas are actually painted backdrops) and the composition of each and every scene is glorious. Art direction is masterful and painterly, and the lighting is exquisite.

There is no real story to speak of, and the relative lack of plot-line focusses attention on the individual performances, which are uniformly excellent. Deborah Kerr gives one of her best performances ever as the hard-as-nails Sister Clodagh, and looks born to the veil. David Ferrar gives sterling support as Mr. Dean (although sometimes sports rather odd costumes which display quite a lot of leg). Kathleen Bryon broods magnficiently as the increasingly near-the-edge Sister Ruth and the entire narrative builds and builds until the tension is almost unbearably palpable, assisted by a lush, powerful and slightly hysteric score. The iconic scene on the bell-tower is justly famous and rounds the film off with tremendous brio.

All in all, a wonderful, wonderful film. It is extremely unfortunate that it is only available to view on-line as constant interruption by buffering is very distracting. Unfortunately the powers-that-be who run this website maintain that the film is not available for rental viewing in the UK, which is not correct. This is a classic piece of British film-making and deserves much wider exposure.

Geek note: the 'rain' falling on the giant leaves in the very final scene was provided by the Royal Surrey Fire Brigade!

.... a must rent if you are a fan of this film, intrigued by it, or simply love classic cinema. The print is astonishing in hi def; the details of the art direction, optical effects, matte paintings, costumes, make-up and Jack Cardiff's masterful lighting are presented in pristine detail. If there were ever a justification for Blu Ray and how it can renew your appreciation of any given film, then this is an excellent example. The shot of Kathleen Byron's mad eyes is horrific even now, and with this Blu Ray it feels like she's staring at you from your TV. Enjoy everyone.

This was supposed to be a classic, a must watch. So I watched it, and for the first hour and nine minutes I could not work out where the story was going. Then you are hit with it and there is not long left of the film. There is great passion and cinematography for the time period in that last part of the film but I think it is far too dated now.