The chief native characters were robed in brilliant colours, particularly the General and his young nephew, in jewels and in rich silks. Based on the 1939 novel by Rumer Godden, the film revolves around the growing tensions within a small convent of Anglican nuns who are trying to establish a school and hospital in the old palace of an Indian Raja at th… As John Ellis explains, Powell and scriptwriter partner Pressburger, presented intellectually challenging material in popular cinematic forms. Black Narcissus achieved acclaim for its pioneering technical mastery with the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff, shooting in vibrant colour, winning an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography, and Alfred Junge winning an Academy Award for Best Art Direction. [41], The look and cinematography of the 2013 Disney film Frozen was influenced by Black Narcissus. In this era, British filmmaking favoured either the realism of documentaries and kitchen-sink dramas or the fluffy, escapist comedies and melodramas produced by Gainsborough Studios (with Ealing falling somewhere in between the two). "[22], Originally the film was intended to end with an additional scene in which Sister Clodagh sobs and blames herself for the convent's failure to Mother Dorothea. Have you seen “Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff”? […] their films had a particularly European feel to them. Parents Guide, Little Pine Weasel . […] that attention to work will be a necessary defence mechanism, a displacement or a way of repressing the ‘otherness’ or the pleasure which threatens to encroach on them. What about Deborah Kerr’s utter radiance and grace – even in a full-length off-white nun’s garb? (11). The end of this first act is announced by a final view of Mopu. The title refers to the Caron perfume Narcisse noir. A group of nuns face challenges in the hostile environment of a remote old Himalayan palace that they wish to make a convent. “It is all done by suggestion, but eroticism is in every frame and image, from the beginning to the end.” In his winningly grand manner, Powell wa…, It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Anglican nuns, led by the stern Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), attempt to establish a religious community in the Himalayas, and must battle not only suspicious locals and the elements, but their own demons as well. “I think you can see too far”, said Sister Philippa. The location, the culture and the mountain air all begin to have a strange effect on the Sisters. What this summary alludes to is the fact that some historical criticism of Powell and Pressburger’s work denigrates their artistry as the pretension of a highbrow, European-trained cinephilia (7). Secondly, the sense of place achieved through a combination of phenomenal art direction, highly expressive score and sound design is so enchanting and palpable, that the old palace and the mountains almost become characters themselves. So memorable was Byron’s performance, that even in her twilight years, people stopped her to say: “You’re that mad nun aren’t you?” (3) The film also cemented Kerr’s career in Hollywood where she had been previously languishing under contract to MGM. It signals their irreverence towards not just the cinema industry of the day, but towards a class-ridden, eccentric, rigid and emotionally repressed British society (10). Powell then cuts to an extended sequence back at the Order of St Faith headquarters, where the other nuns are introduced to us, and Sister Clodagh’s own sense of herself is brought into question by the Reverend Mother. It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. The sudden eruption of repressed emotion is wonderfully illustrated in the sequence where Sister Ruth is violently rejected by Mr Dean. Michelle Carey • Daniel Fairfax • Fiona Villella • César Albarrán-Torres. As John Ellis … As Powell explains: In Black Narcissus, I started out almost as a documentary director and ended up as a producer of opera, even though the excerpt from the opera was only about twelve minutes long. When he refuses her advances, she has a complete mental breakdown and goes back to the mission, intent on killing Clodagh. Like Vermeer’s paintings, Cardiff’s cinematography capture Sister Clodagh and the other nuns busying themselves with God’s work with slashes of painterly light so clear and clean, that there is a bluish, surgically cold feel to it. [24][25] It premiered in the United States on 13 August 1947 in New York City at the Fulton Theatre. So convincing were the studio sets, plaster mountains and matte paintings, that Powell received many letters from people who had traveled or lived in India claiming to know the exact locations of certain scenes. Subscribe Share Share with your friends 1:41:05. 'Gothic in the Himalayas: Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus. A darkly grand film that won Oscars for Alfred Junge's art direction and Jack Cardiff's cinematography, BLACK NARCISSUS is one of the greatest achievements by two of cinema’s true visionaries. Faith) in the dilapidated seraglio where his father's harem was based, high on a cliff in the Himalayas. [23], Black Narcissus had its world premiere at the Odeon Theatre in London on 4 May 1947. For in doing so, he captures crystallised, playful and loving visions of Britain and the British at the time of the Empire’s imminent collapse. On the Old General's directive, the convent is to provide schooling to the children and young women, and general dispensary services to all native residents who live in the valley below the palace. At the height of their creative powers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger delivered a feast of color with this captivating convent drama. Ruth, already highly strung, becomes increasingly jealous of Clodagh and obsessed with Mr. Dean, leading her to renounce the order. I would also argue that this sequence is like the opening of an epic Western, whose troubled protagonists view horizons as something beautifully seductive, but also terrifying, potentially dangerous and “unknowable”. The locals are friendly and welcome them enthusiastically, as does the local ruler, The General (Esmond Knight). In The Great British Picture Show, the writer George Perry stated, "Archers films looked better than they were – the location photography in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff in Black Narcissus was a great deal better than the story and lifted the film above the threatening banality". [18] The film was shot primarily at Pinewood Studios but some scenes were shot in Leonardslee Gardens, West Sussex, the home of an Indian army retiree which had appropriate trees and plants for the Indian setting.