Black Narcissus (1947)

Black Narcissus (1947) (Blu-Ray) (*)

$33.99

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Golden Globes
Oscar Academy Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( DTS-HD Master Audio )
French ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
French ( DTS-HD Master Audio )
French ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
France ( Blu-Ray/Region B )

Running Time:
101 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Documentary
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailer(s)
Remastered

Movie filmed in 1947 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )

Directed By:
Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger

Written By:
Rumer Godden
Michael Powell ...

Actors:
Deborah Kerr ..... Sister Clodagh
Flora Robson ..... Sister Phillippa
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

Synopsis:

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 down the road to perdition by a sensuous general (Sabu). While Kerr would seem most susceptible to fall from grace --we are given hints of her earlier love life in a long flashback--she proves to have more stamina than Byron, who delivers one of moviedom's classic interpretations of all-stops-out, sex-starved insanity. The aforementioned flashback was removed from the US release version of Black Narcissus so as not to offend the Catholic Legion of Decency. While the dramatic content of the film hasn't stood the test of time all that well, the individual performances, production values, and especially the Oscar-winning Technicolor photography of Jack Cardiff are still as impressive as ever.

In 19th century India, Sister Clodah is dispatched with four other nuns to establish a new convent far in the Himalayas. It's a difficult journey and their new house is a ramshackle old building on the edge of a cliff that had been abandoned by a religious Brotherhood many years before. They soon establish a school and an infirmary though the local General's agent, Mr. Dean, warns them against treating the deathly ill as they would no doubt be blamed if the patient doesn't recover. The location, the culture and the mountain air all begin to have a strange effect on the Sisters. Sister Clodagh, who is also on her first assignment as Sister Superior, begins to remember a romance she had as a young woman before entering the sisterhood. Another however, becomes obsessed with Mr. Dean, which leads to tragedy.

Five young British nuns are invited to move to a windy 'palace', former house of the concubines of an old general, in the top of a mountain in Mopu, Himalaya, to raise the convent of Saint Faith Order, a school for children and girls, and an infirmary for the local dwellers. Sister Clodagh is assigned as the superior sister, and her liaison with civilization is the rude government agent Mr. Dean. The lonely and exotic place and the presence of Mr. 'Dean awake the innermost desires in the flesh of the sisters, and Sister Ruth becomes mad with the temptation.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 26 March, 2020.