Review of Black Narcissus (1947) by Stephen E — 07 Oct 2012

As someone who hated "The Red Shoes," finding it to be grotesque where it should have been exhilarating, I was very pleasantly caught off guard by this film. I have always liked Deborah Kerr, so I knew there would be at least something pleasant in the film for me, but I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed the use of color, made even more extraordinary by the fact that the film was made in 1947, when color cinematography was still in its infancy. The great Jack Cardiff's work helps make this movie a near-masterpiece.

I only call it a "near-masterpiece" since there are some of the usual European colonial attitudes, including the use of English Jean Simmons in quasi-blackface, that generally kick me out of these kinds of stories. But overall the film is beautiful, and quite moving in its portrayal of women whose lives have left them little choice but to persevere in demanding and often unrewarding work, and to find what dignity they can in that choice. The sexual hysteria of the previously-unknown-to-me Kathleen Byron was a nice extra, especially when she comes storming out of the chapel with that red dress and her hair all askew. Yikes!