Black Narcissus

Black Narcissus is a film by the British director-writer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the novel of the same name by Rumer Godden. It is a psychological drama about the emotional tensions within a convent of nuns in an isolated Himalayan valley, and stars Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar and Flora Robson, and features Esmond Knight, Jean Simmons and Kathleen Byron.

Plot

A group of Anglican nuns travels to a remote location in the Himalayas to set up a school and hospital and 'tame' the local people and environment, by conversion and gardening, only to find themselves increasingly seduced by the sensuality of their surroundings in a converted seraglio, and by the local British agent Dean (David Farrar). Clodagh (Deborah Kerr), the Sister in charge, is attempting to forget a failed romance at home in Ireland. Tensions mount as Dean's laid-back charm makes an impression on Clodagh, but also attracts the mentally unstable Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), who becomes pathologically jealous of Clodagh, resulting in a nervous breakdown and a violent climax. In a subplot, 'the Young General' (Sabu), heir to the throne of a princely Indian state who has come to the convent for his education, becomes infatuated with a lower caste dancing girl (Jean Simmons); the film's title refers to a perfume that he has imported from England.

Cast

• Deborah Kerr as Sister Clodagh
• Flora Robson as Sister Philippa
• Jean Simmons as Kanchi
• David Farrar as Mr. Dean
• Sabu as The Young General
• Esmond Knight as The Old General
• Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth
• Jenny Laird as Sister Honey
• Judith Furse as Sister Briony
• May Hallatt as Angu Ayah
• Shaun Noble as Con, Clodagh's Childhood Sweetheart
• Eddie Whaley Jr. as Joseph Anthony, Young Interpreter
• Nancy Roberts as Mother Dorothea
• Ley On as Phuba, Dean's Servant

Production

The film was made primarily at Pinewood Studios, but some scenes were shot in Leonardslee Gardens, West Sussex, the home of an Indian army retiree which had appropriate trees and plants for the Indian setting. The film makes extensive use of matte paintings and large scale landscape paintings to suggest the mountainous environment of the Himalayas, as well as some scale models for motion shots of the convent. Of the three principal Indian roles, only the Young General was played by an ethnic Indian; the roles of Kanchi and the Old General were performed by white actors in makeup. The Indian extras were cast from workers at the docks in Rotherhithe.

The version of the film originally shown in the United States had scenes depicting flashbacks of Sister Clodagh's life before becoming a nun edited out at the behest of Catholic Legion of Decency.

Crew

• Cinematography by Jack Cardiff
• Original music by Brian Easdale
• Production Design by Alfred Junge
• Costume Design by Hein Heckroth
• Film Editing by Reginald Mills
• Special Effects by W. Percy Day, Peter Ellenshaw

Historical context

Black Narcissus was released only a few months before India achieved independence in August 1947. Film critic Dave Kehr has suggested that the final images of the film, as the nuns abandon the Himalayas and process down the mountain, could have been interpreted by British viewers in 1947 as "a last farewell to their fading empire"; he suggests that it is not an image of defeat "but of a respectful, rational retreat from something that England never owned and never understood". It should be noted, however, that the story in the film quite closely follows that of the book, which was written in 1939.

Awards

• Jack Cardiff won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography
• Alfred Junge won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction
• Deborah Kerr won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Godden, Rumer. Black Narcissus. London: Peter Davies, 1939.
• Powell, Michael. A Life in Movies: An Autobiography. London: Heinemann, 1986. ISBN 0-434-59945-X.
• Powell, Michael. Million Dollar Movie. London: Heinemann, 1992. ISBN 0-434-59947-6.
• Street, Sarah. Black Narcissus. London: I.B. Tauris, 2005. ISBN 1-845-11046-3.
• Vermilye, Jerry. The Great British Films. Citadel Press, 1978. ISBN 080650661X. 112pp.

External links

• . Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).
• Reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
• Criterion Collection essay by David Kehr

DVD Reviews

• Comparison of Region 1 and two Region 2 DVDs at DVDBeaver
• Review by Noel Megahey of French Region 2 at DVD Times (UK)