Average Rating: 8.7/10
Reviews Counted: 23
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 0
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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0
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Average Rating: 4.1/5
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British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger once again deliberately courted controversy and censorship with their 1947 adaptation of Rumer Godden's novel. Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron play the head nuns at an Anglican hospital/school high in the Himalayas. The nuns' well-ordered existence is disturbed by the presence of a handsome British government agent (David Farrar), whose attractiveness gives certain sisters the wrong ideas. Meanwhile, an Indian girl (Jean Simmons) is lured
Unrated, 1 hr. 39 min.
Aug 1, 1947 Limited
Jan 30, 2001
Universal International Pictur
All Critics (23) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (0) | DVD (14)
Powell's equally extravagant visual style transforms it into a landscape of the mind -- grand and terrible in its thorough abstraction.
Production has gained much through being in color. The production and camerawork atone for minor lapses in the story, Jack Cardiff's photography being outstanding.
While Messrs. Powell and Pressburger may have a picture that will disturb and antagonize some, they also have in Black Narcissus an artistic accomplishment of no small proportions.
A 1947 English film classic about the challenges of desire faced by some nuns in a new mission in the Himalayas.
Colonial hubris nunsploitation = an unforgettable movie.
Black Narcissus is sound, hue, and shadow as holistic dramaturgy, and it's doubtful that film can look or feel any more sensitively accomplished. I have the same doubts about Blu-ray.
Run, don't walk to see this 1947 classic from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
Powell and Pressburger created a film that still feels light years ahead of the opposition.
You could say it's the most sensual nun movie ever made.
Theatre this Michael Powell film most certainly is, as stressed by the gothic melodrama of the story and the acting, the studio setting with its beautiful backdrops and vivid colours and the most deliberate of characters and events.
It might be the most beautiful film ever done in Technicolor.
Sexual tension hangs in the air as the wind blows and native drums beat, but it's on a visual level that the film excels.
In a breakthrough role as the new nun, Deborah Kerr heads a superb cast, including Flora Robson and Jean Simmons, in one of the most stunning color films ever made, deservedly winning the Oscars for cinematography and art design.
Beautiful technicolor film, with a slow-moving, but intriguing plot.
I daresay you might never see another film with such astonishing use of Technicolor.
The cinematography is unforgettable.
Visually, viscerally and, dare I say it, 'spiritually' breathtaking.
January 18, 2009
Super Reviewer
From a visual standpoint, this is completely flawless and ahead of its time in so many ways. The set design is just so detailed and colorful in a way that is believable, yet breathtaking. No one can also forget the classic bell ringing shot; that's perfection if I ever saw it. However, the character development and
March 19, 2011Super Reviewer
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