Review of Black Narcissus (1947) by Blake P — 30 Sep 2011

Five missionary nuns (Kerr, Robson, Byron, Laird, and Furse) are sent by Mother Superior to set up a convent in the Himalayas. Kerr's character Sister Clodagh is set in charge, but the weather and the lifestyles that the people around them set each and every one of them to question their religion.

"Black Narcissus" is one of the most important films the directing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger who changed filmmaking completely. Before they came around, audiences in America though drama meant, "Poor Bette Davis is having a bad time!" or "Why would Greta Garbo's husband leave her?" But when Powell and Pressburger came along with "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" and "A Matter of Life and Death" people were shocked that movies could actually have meaning! "Black Narcissus" has a serious plot, and though it doesn't have much of a message to it like an Ingmar Bergman movie might, it achieves many factors that no other directors could do, by using the rich, Academy Award winning Technicolor cinematography (the best I've ever seen) to achieve emotion, and of course they use the excellent actors to their fullest, especially the under-appreciated Kathleen Byron.

In many ways this is a perfect film, and every single thing done is something that most filmmakers yearn to do, but Powell and Pressburger did it every time. But little did audiences know that something more was coming along with "The Red Shoes".

.. "Black Narcissus" is an excellent drama is just as impressive as it is entertaining. Highly recommended.