Amazon.com: Black Narcissus (The Criterion Collection): Deborah Kerr, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Jenny Laird, Judith Furse, Kathleen Byron, Esmond Knight, Sabu, Jean Simmons, May Hallatt, Eddie Whaley Jr., Shaun Noble, Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, George R. Busby, Rumer Godden, Jack Cardiff: Movies & TV
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Black Narcissus (The Criterion Collection) (1947)
Deborah Kerr (Actor), David Farrar (Actor), Emeric Pressburger (Director), Michael Powell (Director) | Rated: Unrated | Format: DVD
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
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Product Details
Actors: Deborah Kerr, David Farrar, Flora Robson, Jenny Laird, Judith Furse
Directors: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Writers: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, Rumer Godden
Producers: Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, George R. Busby
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number of discs: 1
Rated: Unrated
Studio: Criterion
DVD Release Date: January 30, 2001
Run Time: 100 minutes
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (91 customer reviews)
91 Reviews
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ASIN: B00004XQN4
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #17,199 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
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For more information about "Black Narcissus (The Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Special Features
Breathtaking new digital transfer, created with the participation of cinematographer Jack Cardiff
Audio commentary by late director Michael Powell and Martin Scorcese
Painting with Light, a new video documentary on Jack Cardiff and Black Narcissus by Craig McCall, produced exclusively for this release
A collection of rare behind-the-scenes production stills
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Appropriately enough for a picture named for a flower, Black Narcissus exists in a color-drenched, hothouse atmosphere. The setting is a nunnery in the Himalayas, where sister Deborah Kerr has her hands full with an envious nun (the remarkable Kathleen Byron) and a sardonic Englishman (David Farrar). Director Michael Powell and screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, the team responsible for the mid-forties masterpieces A Stairway to Heaven and The Red Shoes, decided to shoot Black Narcissus entirely in the studio, so they could create their own controlled, slightly unreal world. The choice paid off, as both art director Alfred Junge and cinematographer Jack Cardiff won Oscars for their blazing Technicolor work. The climactic sequence--a murder attempt on the cliffs of the cloister--bears special attention, as Powell "set" the sequence to a preexisting musical track, staging it as though it were a piece of visual choreography. Adding a bit of behind-the-scenes tension to the production was the fact that Kerr was the director's ex-mistress, and Byron his current one. "It was a situation not uncommon in show business, I was told," he later wrote, "but it was new to me." --Robert Horton
Product Description
Plagued by uncertainties and worldly desires, five Protestant missionary nuns, led by Deborah Kerr's Sister Clodagh, struggle to establish a school in the desolate Himalayas. All the elements of cinematic arts are perfectly fused in Powell and Pressburger's fascinating study of the age-old conflict between the spirit and the flesh, set against the grandeur of the snowcapped peaks of Kanchenjunga. Criterion is proud to present Black Narcissus in a new Special Edition.
Customer Reviews
91 Reviews
5 star:
(70)
4 star:
(10)
3 star:
(8)
2 star:
(0)
1 star:
(3)
Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (91 customer reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Criterion version is COMPLETE, September 21, 2005
By
brian0918 - See all my reviews
This review is from: Black Narcissus (The Criterion Collection) (DVD) I am not sure why the poster believes the film is missing a scene. I have the Criterion edition, and I have just watched the scene. It starts about 43 minutes into the film, and it involves the beggar girl looking at wall art, dancing, and trying to seduce the young General. In the commentary, Michael Powell says, in reference to the girl's dance: "When Larry Olivier saw this... he couldn't believe it. His Ophelia [from 'Hamlet' in 1948] changed into this..." I've posted snapshots from the film of this scene in the Criterion version.
There is one minor error in the Criterion and previous versions of the film that have been released. When Sister Ruth sees red and passes out, the screen goes to blue instead of black. This is most likely the result of some electronic sampler that thought "black" meant "no signal", and as VCRs will do, switched the screen to blue.
This film is excellent and Jack Cardiff was a genius. It rightly won the Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration in 1947.
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49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars "You Must All Get Away Before Something Happens", October 15, 2005
By
Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE) (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Black Narcissus [VHS] (VHS Tape) This stunning and atmospheric film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who were the team behind Archer Productions, is an engrossing and moody masterpiece one might term, religious noir. It was shot in lush colors by Jack Cardiff with a score by Brian Easdale performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. It is the story and the atmosphere created by Powell and Pressburger that gives this adaptation of a novel by Rumer Gooden its noirish feel, however, and it would easily be just as good in black and white.
Deborah Kerr is Sister Clodagh, fullfilling her duties at the Servants of Mary in Calcutta. She is assigned to helm St. Faith, high in the Himalayas, and is given the charge of Mother Superior in order to do so. She will be the youngest ever to hold such a position, and it is one her Mother Superior believes she is not ready for. Once she reaches the lonely place over nine thousand feet from the earth, with her small group of Sisters, she will discover that while they may be in closer proximity to the heavens, they will be much further from God.
The isolation, the drums, and the wind, will have an effect on each of the Sisters, including Sister Clodagh. She is strict and demanding, but becomes concious of the danger here when she herself begins to drift and dream of her past in Ireland before joining the Servants of Mary. Kerr has a graceful Irish beauty that is almost stunning in these flashback scenes. She was young and happy, and in love. She was from a small area and did not want to be shamed when the one she had given her love to decided to move on without her. Her decision was born out of her desire to avoid humiliation.
An older Sister will also find herself recalling a past she had thought forgotten, and no amount of hard work can keep her mind from it. It is the outside element of Mr. Dean (David Farrar) that will set in motion the biggest change, however, as the already unstable Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), young and quite beautiful, is driven by repressed passion and jealousy to utter madness. She becomes jealous of Sister Clodagh, whom she believes wants the attention of Mr. Dean. Sister Clodagh, who originally found Mr. Dean to be objectionable when sober, and an abomination when drunk, begins to finally soften, and even goes so far as to confide in him her fears about what is happening to all of them.
Farrar is excellent as the somewhat irreverent womanizer who knows how to push Sister Clodagh's buttons. There is one scene where he is drunk and sings of how he cannot be a nun that infuriates Sister Clodagh and worries her at the same time. Sabu is also excellent as the young General who sends the children there to learn and is just as eager to do so himself. Jean Simmons shines as the exotic and sensual Kanchi. She is brought there by Mr. Dean for the Sisters to "tame" but her wild and earthy spirit will seduce the General and he will run off with her for a time. Simmons' dance sequence may be famous, but it is the scene between Kanchi and the General, where he refuses to beat her for stealing a necklace, which holds the most tension, and is charged with passion.
Kathleen Byron's performane as the unbalanced Sister Ruth is unforgettable. The elements she is exposed to, from the remote isolation of St. Faith, to the charming scoundrel Mr. Dean, will turn her already precarious mental state into true insanity. She will expand the tiny bit of attention shown her by Mr. Dean into a desire so intense, her fragile grip on reality will slip away. She orders a deep burgandy colored dress and makes the decision to leave the other Sisters. Once spurned she will return, with a fever of madness behind her eyes the viewer can actually see. Byron's scene in the doorway on the cloister, high on the mountains, as Sister Clodagh rings the bell Ruth had been so fond of, is unsettling.
Sister Clodagh will come to terms with the fact that we are all human, even herself, and will begin to learn humility. She will take a lesser post elsewhere and bid farewell to Mr. Dean, asking only one favor of him as she leaves. It is a request filled with sadness, as it is obvious to her now that they should not have come here, despite the fact it has made her grow personally, and given her a better understanding of human nature, and human weakness.
This is a very unusual film with an exciting and memorable conclusion. It will intoxicate the viewer with its mood, like the scent of the flower after which this film was named. A must see film.
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43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars One of my favourites of all time!, October 17, 2000
By
Bil Antoniou "Movie madness!" (Agincourt, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
This review is from: Black Narcissus (The Criterion Collection) (DVD) One of the best British films ever made is this pioneering effort by independent filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Shot entirely in Scotland with painted matte backgrounds to recreate the Himalayas (and astonishingly well at that), the film is superbly textured and mature, thematically ahead of any movie made in its period. Deborah Kerr heads a superb group of performers as the Mother Superior of a group of nuns who move to a convent in a remote mountain village in India, only to find that their confidence and strength in their religion is no match for the mystic powers of the East. Sexual frustration over local white man David Farrar, weakening faith, harsh climate and the growing fondness for their homeland soon get to the women and they are forced to leave or die. Interestingly enough, Kerr's flashback scenes of her Scottish youth and teenage sweetheart were cut by American censors upon first release, even though they were completely without sexual content, explicit or implicit; it seems it was too taboo to show a nun who has taken her vows to escape a failed love affair (the scenes have since been restored and are now available on home video). Funny, the nun who throws herself off a mountain because she goes bug-eyed every time she sees Farrar in his shorts didn't even make the Prude Alert blink.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars A Completely Different Experience
I've seen this movie at least 7 or 8 times, once on the big screen, but none of those viewings compare with the experience of seeing it on this Criterion bluray disc. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Thomas Jordan
5.0 out of 5 stars A stunning film!
The opening sequences include the focus on some wall pictures that convey a former erotic function for the palace; a euphemism for a windswept compound on the shelf of a mountain... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ian Hunter
5.0 out of 5 stars The Empire 5 Star 500 - #58
How strong is your faith? If you are in the mood for something different, creative, and a little old fashion this is it. Read more
Published 4 months ago by The Inquisitor
5.0 out of 5 stars Intense
I purchased this DVD after seeing a scene shown on "Classic Arts Showcase" and I was NOT disappointed. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mahlon P. Krautwurst
5.0 out of 5 stars Stark raving madness...
You can add `Black Narcissus' to that list of movies that proves, within it's first few frames even, to be a work of art; a complete `experience'. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Andrew Ellington
1.0 out of 5 stars Phoney baloney
The painter Goya said: "When reason sleeps, monsters are born." This movie seeks to silence the critical faculties of the mind. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Archegos
5.0 out of 5 stars Congressional Research Service Specialist's Favorite Movie!
I am not much of a movie person, and for a gay man, according to some, I know so shockingly little about stars of the past as to call into question my sexual identity in their... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Peter P. Fuchs
5.0 out of 5 stars This may be the most beautiful film ever made
I have been a fan of Black Narcissus since first viewing it on a laser disk almost two decades ago. How could I not have been? Read more
Published 10 months ago by Duckman
5.0 out of 5 stars Must Own Blu-Ray - Film As Art
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Length:: 2:01 Mins
Published 13 months ago by L. Columbus
4.0 out of 5 stars Too Good for Blu-Ray?
Anyone familiar with Black Narcissus might have heard it's reputed to be among the most beautiful Technicolor movies ever made. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mark Nave
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