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Black Narcissus - Criterion Collection | Year: 1947 Directed: - Michael Powell - Emeric Pressburger Actors/Actresses: - Deborah Kerr - David Farrar One of my favourites of all time! 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. Honorary Oscar for Jack Cardiff, This year, the motion picture academy of art and sience has chosen Jack Cardiff, BSC for their honorary oscar. This is the first time a cinematographer recieves this, and certainly, nobody deserves it more than Cardiff, who won his first Oscar for color cinematography on BLACK NARCISSUS. It's an amazing work of colors and lights that he shows in this film --which was only his second film as director of photography-- which litterally changed the history of this art. Starting from a subtle, limited pallete of gray, white and beige (the simplicity of the lighting is clearly influenced by Vermeer), Cardiff graduately increase his color palette. Colors represent the sensuality of life that those nuns had gave up in sacrifice for their faith, and that keeps coming back in their lives. As springs comes, the viewers will be stuned by the flowers flourishing all over the screen. Then as the climatic moment aproaches, Cardiff starts to add more colors in his lighting. Orange for sunset, amber for candle lights, and a lot of deep, menacing shadows. As the day breaks, the screen is covered with the blue and purplish red. For the climatic moment, Cardiff choses to cover the screen with a slight mist (fog filter) to add the poetic, misterious feeling to the hightened emotion. In many ways, this is undoubtly one of the most daring, experimental, expressive and beautiful color film ever made. Add to this is the music and the movement of the camera and the cutting--all in synchronization with the music. Contemporary viewers may be put off by the exotisism of the story and the film, but then they will be surprised that everything was done in England, mostly in the studio sets and back-lots. BLACK NARCISSUS is a jem of cinema, a true work of art, filled with extreme emotion and drama. This DVD faithfully represents the color and and the sound and the fury as created by Powell and Pressburger. Just see it! an unusual slow paced film. This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film. In my opinion, this film's plot was kind of boring and slow. In compensation however, the film has excellent matte shots and and well made scenery imitating the Himalayas. It is very hard to believe that the movie was made entirely in the British Isles. The film is about fuve nuns who open a school and hospital in a remote region of the Himalaya mountains. Their efforts are plagued with many troubles and the results are disasterous. The film also sparked a controversey with the Catholic Church's Leigon of Decency upon it's release in the US and as a result, a scene was cut for the US release. As a non-Catholic Christian, I am very glad that the Legion of Decency no longer censors films in the US because I strongly oppose many teachings of the Catholic church and their views could have caused many Protestant films to be banned as anti-Catholic. I did not find anything offensive in this film but can see why Catholics might. The special features are good and one of them is excellent.<BR>There is a theatrical trailer, production photos, photos of cut scene, and audio commentary by Michael Powell and Martin Scorsese. The other feature which I really like is a 27 minute documentary "Painting with Light" which is about the technicolor canera and the cinematography of the film. The documentary also has a visual "tour" of the different parts of the technicolor video camera. The film remains a classic, though not one of my favorites. Buy Black Narcissus at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Black Narcissus Search with the Priority Search Engine on Black Narcissus This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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