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Black Narcissus
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Our DVD Price: £8.99 RRP: 
Availability This product should be despatched within 4 days. This product will be dispatched from Guernsey. Delivery times
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Blu-ray £14.99
RRP £19.99 You save £5.00 (25%)
Film Description
Powell and Pressburger added to their run of daring and stylistic pictures with this melodrama about a group of Anglican nuns establishing a remote mission high in the Himalayas. Their physical environment, the extreme temperature, illness and a young Indian Prince's perfume lead to psychological disturbance coupled with emotional weakness. Seething with repressed sexuality, it is all the more amazing for being almost wholly shot at Pinewood studios. A masterpiece.
Film Information
| Director | Emeric Pressburger / Michael Powell | ||||
| Starring | Jean Simmons, David Farrar, Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron
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| Genre | Classic Film
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| Country | UK | Language | ENGLISH | Year | 1947 |
DVD Extras
New High-definition transfer; 'Painting with Light' documentary on Jack Cardiff; Commentary with Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese; A Profile of Black Narcissus documentary; Stills gallery; Theatrical trailer.
Technical Details
| Certificate | PG | Length | 101 mins | Label | NWORK | ||
| Cat No | 7952324 | Format | DVD | Colour | |||
| Region | 2 | Aspect | 1.33:1 | ||||
7 Stills
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Share your thoughts and opinions - write a review
Review by Clinton Morgan on 3rd February 2002
Now this a film that is worth owning on DVD. Let me explain. When I saw Mark Cousins' interview with Jack Cardiff they pointed out that on the screen was a VHS copy of the film and therefore inferior. I recall that Jack said the floor of the church was lit with green light. When watching the video projection it was hardly noticeable. This made me determined to see a film print whenever possible. The interview itself was held at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 1996. Four years later Digital Versatile Discs are placed on the market. Their major selling point? They are closer to the quality of a film print as is humanly possible. Well there is only one sure way to test this out, purchase Black Narcissus. Believe me folks, this works. You can get the green light in the church but also the picture is far more vivid than any VHS video can hope to be. However I'm still fond of my thick black boxes. Despite the fact that there are no "extras", this film is worth owning on DVD. But if anybody knows of a cinema showing Black Narcissus......
View more reviews by Clinton Morgan
Review by Julian Upton on 31st August 2005
Technically, Black Narcissus is recognisable first and foremost as a pinnacle of early Technicolor craftsmanship. Its carefully composed, precisely-lit shots (by the legendary Jack Cardiff) conjure up those rich photographic plates in exquisite encyclopaedias of the forties and fifties. And the images are so infused with the allure of Imperial-age exoticism, it's not a stretch to imagine seeing them blown up, mounted and hung on the walls of post-war, working class homes, just between the flying ducks and a print of Tretchikoff's 'Blue Lady'.
Emotionally, however, Black Narcissus is a film on heat. As it charts the reaction of a remote Himalayan order of Anglo-Catholic nuns to the arrival of a charismatic English agent (David Farrar), it comes closer than any other mainstream movie of its time to a suggestion of burning sexual tension, as the jealousies, crushes and inevitable frustrations race to the fore to upset the virginal equilibrium.
For some critics, the artistic control of Narcissus is too tight: the precision of the camerawork and the choreography of the drama seems to harness the mood like an emotional straitjacket. But this only serves to underline the film’s point: Powell and Pressburger know that there is only so far these manicured frames, like the starched, restrictive wimples, can contain the hysteria that begins to sweep through the Holy Order like a rabid sexual plague.
As the Sister Superior, mourning a lost love and unnerved by her own unsolicited response to Farrar, Deborah Kerr gives a suitably trembling performance of fractured poise and suppressed torment, but it is Kathleen Byron who provides the genuine moments of alarm. As the increasingly unhinged Sister Ruth, descending into wild-eyed, hungry-mouthed madness, Byron’s scenes, more than anything, serve to shatter the controlled beauty of Black Narcissus and reveal its true anarchic spirit.
View more reviews by Julian Upton
This film is part of the following Film Collections
Including: A Star Is Born, All About My Mother, An Affair To Remember, Bad Education, Black Narcissus, Bonjour Tristesse, Brief Encounter (Lean, 1945), Broken Blossoms, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Dallas (Seasons 1 & 2).
Including: 9 Songs, A Ma Soeur, A Short Film About Love, Anatomy Of Hell, Baise-Moi, Black Narcissus, Boogie Nights, Closer, Crash, Empire Of Passion.
This film is part of the following Customer Film Lists
BFI Top 100 British Films by MovieMail
In 1999 the British Film Institute surveyed 1000 people involved in UK film and television to create the BFI Top 100 British films made in the 20th century. Here is the result - each film here stands up to repeat viewings, and shows the incredible contribution Britain has made to cinema.
MovieMail Top 100 Best-Sellers of All-Time by MovieMail
This is your list: the 100 films you've bought the most of in the 10 years of MovieMail's existence. There are some surprise entries and some glaring omissions – but it’s all true, and, frankly, you’ve got very good taste! It’s such a good list that we're going to make it a permanent fixture on our website and to celebrate the launch we’ve slashed many of the prices on these wonderful films. Enjoy!
Religion and Politics by Kevin Mullen
Two subjects that fascinate me, and I will stretch the categories to breaking point in making my choices.
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