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.
22 July 1885, Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK
27 January 1924, Karapur, Kingdom of Mysore, British India
13 February 1912, Chorlton, Manchester, England, UK
4 March 1912, Camberley, Surrey, England, UK
30 September 1921, Helensburgh, Scotland, UK
January 4, 1898 in York, Yorkshire, England, UK
11 January 1921, London, England, UK
1 May 1876, Scarborough, England, UK
1890, Canton, China
February1939, Brighton, England, UK
31 January 1929, Crouch Hill, London, England, UK
21 August 1908, Forest Gate, London, England, UK
1 June 1921, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland
28 March 1902, South Shields, Durham, England, UK
4 May 1906, East Sheen, Surrey, England, UK
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.March 23, 2010
Powell's equally extravagant visual style transforms it into a landscape of the mind -- grand and terrible in its thorough abstraction.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.August 03, 2015
This is a landmark of Hollywood-on-Thames trompe-l'oeil.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.August 05, 2010
A 1947 English film classic about the challenges of desire faced by some nuns in a new mission in the Himalayas.July 22, 2010
Colonial hubris nunsploitation = an unforgettable movie.December 30, 2012
Michael Powell was right when he called Black Narcissus an "erotic film," but the attraction is pure Pygmalionism.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.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.