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Black Narcissus
After opening a convent in the Himalayas, five nuns encounter conflict and tension, both with the natives and also within their own group, as they attempt to adapt to their remote, exotic surroundings.
27 January 1924, Karapur, Kingdom of Mysore, British India
31 January 1929, Crouch Hill, London, England, UK
13 February 1912, Chorlton, Manchester, England, UK
February1939, Brighton, England, UK
11 January 1921, London, England, UK
28 March 1902, South Shields, Durham, England, UK
4 May 1906, East Sheen, Surrey, England, UK
22 July 1885, Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK
4 March 1912, Camberley, Surrey, England, UK
21 August 1908, Forest Gate, London, England, UK
1 June 1921, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland
1890, Canton, China
June 15, 2015
The natural colour is beautiful; but, more, the rhythm of camera movement is recurrently used in combination with an overtinting of the whole scene, at significant dramatic moments, to produce an emphasis we have not seen before.December 30, 2012
Michael Powell was right when he called Black Narcissus an "erotic film," but the attraction is pure Pygmalionism.March 23, 2010
Powell's equally extravagant visual style transforms it into a landscape of the mind -- grand and terrible in its thorough abstraction.July 22, 2010
Colonial hubris nunsploitation = an unforgettable movie.June 24, 2006
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.January 01, 2013
There's something truly unearthly about this place of howling winds, yawning chasms and atmosphere thick with temptation. Sanctity, it will be proven, is no match for sin.May 20, 2003
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.March 26, 2009
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.November 25, 2013
The Archers at their most carnal-bonkers-sublimeMarch 23, 2010
Run, don't walk to see this 1947 classic from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.August 03, 2015
This is a landmark of Hollywood-on-Thames trompe-l'oeil.August 05, 2010
A 1947 English film classic about the challenges of desire faced by some nuns in a new mission in the Himalayas.