Black Narcissus (1947)

Great performances from Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron. Well filmed, too!

Gawd. One of the most boring flicks I have ever sat through. That crazy nun that rocks back and forth.

Jack Cardiff, the cinematographer, had a rich colour palette that helped the directors create some extraordinary images.

R3 I just watched a wonderful documentary on him ("Cameraman").

Exquisite cinematographer.

Yes, OP. Just before Red Shoes. And filmed entirely on the back lot, with amazing matt paintings, like the cliff at the end. How sad that some people are incapable of appreciating a film of such nuance, and can only respond to CGI and car crashes ad nauseam.

I believe I read that David Farrar was family..

Yes!! The scene at the end where Sister Crazy flings open the door and her face is all ghoulish and murderous was exceptional. Filmed entirely on an English set, the whole film is a sumptuous feast for the eyes. The Criterion edition has some great extras including commentary from Scorsese. I've had a DVD copy from Netflix for far too long because I keep meaning to finish listening to all the bonus material, so apologies if it's in your queue and you've been waiting for it.

R6 The Red Shoes is another wonder. I don't understand how people can dismiss these films, either.

You can see The Red Shoes influence all over Black Swan.

Loved this fevered dream of a movie.

I know The Red Shoes well and knew it long before Black Narcissus, R7. Moira Shearer was a red-headed, red-shod vision. I haven't watched the rest of the Archers films, but I plan to. It's a shame there are so few.

R6 was meant for R5, though speaking of the Criterion edition for this, the shot they chose for the cover is literally a piece of cinematic and painted art.

R10 is meant for R9.

Sister Ruth wants the "D" !

Peeping Tom, 1960, was directed by Michael Powell and is said to have ended his career. It's very disturbing and quite brilliant. Not an Archers film, iirc. I think Powell had an affair with Kerr in the 40s.

[quote]with amazing matt paintings,

Matte. Matte paintings. Matt is a man’s name.

I first watched this with my mother. We howled at David Farrar, walking around in shorts and a shirt open to his navel like he’s Tom Jones in front of the nuns. And Jean Simmons practically sniffing Sabu’s crotch!

The overripe atmosphere is fabulous.

David Farrar was so manly in this one. No wonder he got those cloistered pussies so wet.

R16 I just spit out some soda, lmfao!

Shooting an iconic scene

Beautiful movie!

In the film

I could almost feel those thin winds driving the nuns mad. Amazing that it was all filmed in England, it seems so authentic.

I love that, R21! "Thin winds"...

The atmosphere is wonderfully enveloping and unnerving.

One of my very favorite movies. I own the Blu-ray.

But, R14, Matt was the painter.

R20, I wonder if Hitchcock was thinking of that for the belltower scenes in Vertigo.

R25 omg, Yas!

R2 You need to see the restored print on a big screen.

R5 What makes you think that David Farrar was family? He seemed to retire early for suspicious reasons.

R16 He was handsome like Gregory Peck with a lovely speaking voice even though he exposes his small chest in this movie.

R6 'Black Narcissus' and 'Red Shoes' were both fabulous, extravagant, operatic movies.

R9 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were an odd couple. I've watched all their movies and I'm still trying to understand the power between them.

Their best movies were made in the 40s and they're an odd mix between these extravagant, emotional 'feminine' movies' and intellectual 'boy's toys' movie.

R25 Powell and Hitchcock worked together in the silent days.

Love you, R27! :-*

Cool film but its not as if we haven't discussed it multiple times.

R27, I thought I read that somewhere about Farrar. I remember being surprised since he seemed sort of macho. Silly me.

So whose bright idea was it to build that belfry at the very edge of the cliff, with no railing or other safety measure whatsoever?! It's almost like its architect wanted for someone to fall down.

I adore this movie! One of the most beautiful, atmospheric, sensual movies ever made. And I dont mean that in just a sexual sense, watch the movie and you can practically feel the chill winds from the Himalayan peaks on your skin, and smell the dust in the abandoned palace.

And speaking of the palace, I've always enjoyed the central irony if this film...

Much is made of the difference between the repression of the nuns, and sexiness of the harem women who used to live in the same building. But the harem women all shared one elderly husband between them, so they weren't actually getting any more dick than the nuns!

R31 It was this man's idea to build that belfry at a picturesque spot near the cliff. He wanted a harem with a good view. He may have also been blind, spoilt and out of touch with reality.

R31, it was Frank Lloyd Wrong, Rose.

I can't imagine this film made in 1940s Hollywood.

It's insane how pristine and clear it is in it's beauty, considering it's 70 years old.

"Sister Ruth has gone MAD!!!"

R35 I could.

Albert Lewin would have attempted it. And he would insist that Leon Shamroy do the photography.

Lewin attempted some thing similar with 'Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) but it was rather clunky.

People who hate Powell says that he was inspiration for Ken Russell.

Perfection on every level.

Yeah, R35, Hollywood wasn't big on sexed-up crazy nuns. And a touch of SM with pretty Sabu.

I loved how all the straight women went crazy, and the hearty dykey nun was just fine.

At the end of the movie, she was the only one who hadn't lost her marbles.

I like saying the title like an old British woman

BLAHK NAHCAHSSIS.

Love the movie and love Deborah Kerr, it is a pity she is not more oftrn named as one of the greatest actresses of last century...

And boy, if there is a trailer with spoilers, r39, you practically dont have to watch the movie anymore.

Debbie K. was beyond her times.

She and Burt had a fling while filming From Here to Etetnity. Years later they had a bedroom scene in Gypsy Moths, and she showed her tits. Wonderful in Iguana. I saw her in Albee's Seascape, with Langella as a talking lizard.

I saw her in Albee's Seascape, with Langella as a talking lizard.

Sister Briony and her coffee!

I want more stories about this movie.

There’s nothing left to tell, bitches.

One of my favorites.

This is one of a handful of old films I've always wanted to see in a movie theater but still haven't.

R49 SaBu, playse!

LOVE "Black Narcissus." It if doesn't sweep you up in its extravagant sensuality, then there's something wrong with you.

David Farrar in those shorts!!!!!

It's a witch cunt hunt of a movie!

By all accounts, Rumer Godden (not to be confused with Rumer Willis) HATED the film. Her novel is much less florid and excessive than the glorious Archers Production.

If Sabu's in it, the movie's got be be good.

David in his shorts drove me nuts with lust as well. I love when she passes out and they switch to that “video” blue screen for a couple of seconds. It seemed ahead of its time for a movie to show that color blue

She and her daughters were almost poisoned by their crazy cook in India (the dog did die). Called the movie BN an "abomination," but loved working with Jean Renoir on the film of "The River." Quite a gal and died Nov 8, 1998, at 90.

It would have been such a different film if Joan Crawford hadn't passed on Deborah Kerr's role.

Never in the history of film has a little lipstick and a frumpy dress made such an impact!

The most extravagant gowns in the world count for nothing, compared to a dark and modest dress in the hands of a great filmmaker.

he may not have been family but he should have been

was married to the same woman for 50 years

he so reeked of raw sex you could almost smell him when he did that scene, and those thighs in the shorts have already been praised

Always loved Deborah Kerr but she went to a whole other level with this performance. At times she's almost unrecognizable in that starched habit. The look of horror on her face when Sister Nutso goes over the cliff is chilling. What a great movie and I had no idea it was shot on a lot.

Was the Devil involved?

yeah, he was in Fararr's shorts

Powell referred to Farrar's violet eyes and indeed in some photos you can see it. Or at least a purplish blue, like Taylor had.

Gene Tierney as Sister Ruth?

You'd never see a furry chest in 1947 Hollywood.

Overwrought papists.

They were anglican nuns, not catholics

Anglican a/k/a Church of England

As someone mentioned above, it was so brave of The Archers not to cast Crawford, Davis or Loretta Young as The Nun.

[quote]He seemed to retire early for suspicious reasons.

What was suspicious? He was 54 when he retired from the screen, and his given reason - that he had aged out of “lover” roles and was not interested in the uncle and father roles that would be coming his way - makes perfect sense.

I think Powell said that he would have had an even bigger career if he had been more interested in promoting it.

Crawford, Davis or Loretta Young? I do not think the Archers had that kind of money

I love The Archers AND Rumer Godden and I haven't seen this yet. I've tried twice to rent it, I forget what happened the first time but the second time Netflix sent the wrong movie. So I guess I'm "saving" it for some reason.

One of my favorites. It was such an incredible experience to watch this for the first time.

This is a great film. One could watch it just for the wonderful performance by Kathleen Byron. Or, one could watch it just to observe the unique use of Technicolor by the production team. One could watch the film just to study the matte painting. Or just for the oddly sexual presence of David Farrar.

My only reservation about the film is the casting of Deborah Kerr. She is much, much, too young to convey the character written by the author. Since so much of the story revolves around her character, it is unfortunate that she is too young for it. That error undercuts everything. If she was a mature woman at a real crossroads in life, the stakes would be higher in every aspect of the film. The failed engagement. The failed opportunity to lead this religious community. She is too young and beautiful to get dumped by a horny young man. She is too young and beautiful and comes from too much money to just throw all that away and go be a nun. She is too young and beautiful for anything that happens to her in the course of the film. It is all a little bit off because of that mistake in casting.

Deborah Kerr is a wonderful actress and she gives a fine performance in the film. But she can't overcome this problem. And it does not seem that anyone tries to do so. She is young and drop dead gorgeous from start to finish. The producers should have anticipated how this would adversely affect the story and made other arrangements in the hiring of their leading lady.

[quote]Was the Devil involved?

—Anonymous

[quote]yeah, he was in Fararr's shorts

—Anonymous

and....had he had done before, he took the form of a snake

I love the how light is such an important part of the ambiance in this film and that it helps the audience calibrate depth and even the feeling of thinness or thickness of the air. You can almost feel the slightly balmy but still dewy, morning air in early sunlight shown on people and animals in the village. And the air feels cooler and thinner the higher you climb, adding to the feeling of otherworldly isolation in the Abby.

I also always prefer suspense over horror because there is no monster that rivals the one that can grow inside the mind, the one you can't escape from. I like when a director gaslights an audience by creating a feeling of uneasiness in a film that an audience can't put a resolution to until some kind of climax, a build that you have a hard time making sense of but you feel there is something ominous about what you're watching and that some doom will come, you just don't know how or when. Like "Picnic at Hanging Rock", "Black Narcissus" is set in a beautiful, tranquil place but there is something "off" about its beauty and that makes it so an audience is unable to relax despite the logical mind telling them "I don't see any predators, here. Proceed." It's like playing a game with people's higher, more sophisticated realm of perception.

Especially when you consider the biblical context, which is relevant for "Black Narcissus" where per the bible, demons and "fallen angels" are not repulsive but magnificent and hypnotic. It's the hidden element of these sort of films where "upstanding", devout people believe they are challenged by a seduction, a "Pied Piper" spell towards certain doom and the kind of high anxiety it can cause in someone wondering if despite a life of devotion, they actually could maintain control of their will in the face of supernatural level temptations.

Such a great film.

I'm read that in some early prints the flashbacks to Kerr's character's life before she became a nun were cut out. Presumably because God forbid a future nun should ever have fallen in love or thought about marriage to a man, as opposed to being a potential bride of Christ all along. These sequences include the great shot in which Kerr tries on the earrings. Color cinematography at its most sensuous, like many other scenes in the film.

R80 Also, I'm very aware that this was work done on a sound stage and not actually on location in the Himalayas, which makes the light such and important component. The lighting really did communicate a change in depth that felt like even the air of the region was considered. Such a work of art.

The scene where Kathleen Byron tries to push Deborah Kerr off the bell tower was the inspiration for The Flying Nun.

Interesting blog about parallels between the film and Narcisse Noir, the perfume by Caron

Fabulous movie poster from the blog post above

So many details were well thought-out:

This is a masterpiece but I do wonder what Sophia Coppola would do with the script today. I think she has a gift for understanding this dynamic, the pull between good and evil where both can look deceptively the same, the pull between primal human nature and spiritual conditioning to control base impulses in seemingly tranquil, "civilized" places.

I think the use of wind is one of the things that gives the film such a visceral sense of place, and a pervasive sense of unease. It's a brilliant way to make the viewer *feel* like they're up there in the Himalayas, even if the actors were really in an English film studio, you can practically feel the icy wind from the heights constantly pulling at you.

Now, as to whether the Kerr character was too young...

No, she wasn't. Since the film is saturated with sexual tension, the leading nun absolutely had to have a sensual presence, she had to be someone a straight man would be drawn to. So yes, she had to be young and pretty enough to interest a manly man, for the audience to see and feel the sexual potential under her pristine manner and nun's robes (and yes that's information that had to be presented visually in a film and could be done differently in a book). And yes, it's entirely conceivable that a woman from the country squirarchy could have had time to fall in love, get dumped and lose hope of finding happiness in marriage, have her family write her off as an old maid, become a nun, and rise in her profession. People married young in the 1930s, suitable husbands were thin on the ground even before the war took them all away, and if the rumors about cut scenes are true, girls who disgraced the family honor were treated horribly and had to shift for themselves. I really wish they'd included the bits about her semi-scandalous past, it'd have added to the air of repressed sensuality.

I guess we can allow the team that gave us the charming, "I Know Where I'm Going," their one cinematically lush but tone-deaf exploitation flick.

AHS': Asylum was a rip-off of this gorgeous masterpiece.

Deborah Kerr was considered for I Know Where I'm Going.. I forget why they went with Wendy Hiller.

Hiller was perfect for I Know Where I'm Going - Kerr would have been more appropriate if they had made the film several years later.

I would agree that the 40's were the creative highlight of the Powell/Pressberger partnership. Another favorite of mine is The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, with Roger Livesey in the title role and Kerr playing multiple roles. Powell went on to do the controversial Peeping Tom in 1959 and the reaction was so negative that he didn't work for some years afterwards.

R84, Byron looks almost modern in that shot.

R87, Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled was unadulterated shit. Worse still, it was boring.

Did straight men really wear short shorts in 1947?

in the hotter climes of the subcontinent, probably, but up in the chilly windy himalayan foothills, it seemed odd and likely intended to drive those lusty nuns crazy with desire for those amazing thighs and what lurked beyond.

Or what lurked between

[quote]Powell went on to do the controversial Peeping Tom in 1959 and the reaction was so negative that he didn't work for some years afterwards.

Not surprisingly, with child abuse, voyeurism and sadistic serial killing on the menu. WTF?

If only he'd moved to the US and directed a movie that same year about a cross-dressing serial killer who liked to play with his mother's corpse -- then he would have been FINE

R74, I knew Powell, and it was his life-long regret that he didn't have the funds to acquire the services of Miss Loretta Young for the role of the homicidal nun. He was a sly one, and knew that her presence would send a subversive frisson through the audience, given her recent appearance in "Come to the Stable" as the gentle Sister Benedetta. He went so far as to contact Miss Young about the role. She was fresh off her Oscar° win for "The Farmer's Daughter" and was very interested in broadening her parameters. A discussion was initiated, but ultimately foundered on the rocks of monetary dissonance.

R93, Yes Kathleen Byron does look almost "modern" in that scene where she goes berserk.

Current high-fashion photography have women looking utterly hysterical with straggling rat's hair and black-rimmed eyes.

Powell's two memoirs seem fairly thorough but they do claim he was simultaneously inseminating Kathleen Byron, Deborah Kerr, an English Vogue model as well as that intriguing woman named Pamela Brown.

Poor Kathleen Byron had pointy features which meant she was typecast playing villainesses.

So, Old Brit R99, did you know Powell in his Lost Years in the 60s —when he was mostly unemployed and producing a few embarrassing projects— or in his Gaga Years in the 80s— when he was "discovered" and nurtured by Copolla, Scorsese and Spielburg but unfortunately Powell was incapable of too much except dictating his memoir?

I still want to know why he fell out with his old partner Emeric who seemed to be both ill and 'pining for the fjords' of Hungary.

"Painting With Light" is the short little doc on Cardiff's cinematography for BN; it's included in the Criterion edition and it's on youtube. Worth a watch. Kathleen Byron gives an interview for it, she must be well into her seventies or older then, and she looks incredible, so those pointy features served her well.

Spielberg gave a tiny role to Kathleen Byron in 'Saving Private Ryan' but I think she was given nice bouffant do to soften her pointy features.

Mikey Powell cast her a role as 'The Recording Angel' in his interesting but patchy film 'A Matter of Life and Death" in 1946 but he gave her the most utterly unflattering hair-do.

Her hard face and pointy features seem weirdly appropriate in the scenes reminiscent of Auschwitz where the dead are carted off to Heaven or Hell.

R95 = Miss Angie Dickinson

Love it — the sensuous, unique mood, exquisite cinematography, Deborah Kerr’s peerless side-eye, David Farrar in his short shorts, the sexy youngsters Sabu and a silent Jean Simmons, crazy Kathleen Byron and the adorable little scene-stealer who plays Joseph Anthony!

Poor Sabu died of a heart attack when he was 39. His widow said his doctor had told him just a couple of days earlier, "If all of my patients were as healthy as you, I'd be out of a job."

I liked May Hallatt as the filthy harem maid. Scuttling around like a beetle with broken-back, raucous mouth and filthy teeth.

I daresay the po-faced critic at R89 considers Hallatt as a disgusting example of colonialist blackface.

Michael Powell looked awful in his Lost Years during the 60s, R101.

He was rejected and he tried to look "With-It" by wearing side-burns and colorful Paisley shirts.

He rejected his former ideals — the slim redheads Moira Shearer and Deborah Kerr — and chased full-bosomed sexpots like Judith Arthy and Helen Mirren.

R108

I feel his pain

R101

Pressburger’s descendant is the great documentarian and lesser film director Kevin MacDonald.

R110 Kevin MacDonald may claim to be great documentarian but his memoir about his more famous grandfather had about 6 spelling mistakes and some basic information 'howlers'.

What a weird little movie.

R109 Dick is wearing a Mary Quant design.

He must have fancied his legs—

Any love for A Canterbury Tale around here? I love movies like this one, that are a weird blend of many different genres - this one is a war propaganda piece, a whodunit mystery, a travelogue and romantic dramedy all-in-one.

And "The Glue Man" is perhaps my favorite movie character of all times and he reminds me of myself a lot- unlike him I don't really sneak around at night pouring glue onto women's heads, but his view of the world and his love for cultural heritage are similar to mine. And of course he's strongly hinted to be of homosexual persuasion (and the actor who portrayed him was gay as well).

A Canterbury Tale is my favourite Archers film.

The Glue Man was originally supposed to be a skirt slasher, but it was deemed too violent. So they did a 180 and went for gross instead.

R109, that's Richard Burton in the original Broadway production of Camelot. The original costume designs were by legendary MGM film costume designer Adrian, but he died during pre-production and his concepts were carried out by his close friend Tony DuQuette, who produced additional needed designs. There is not very much documented evidence to separate what Adrian vs. DuQuette provided for the original Camelot.

The only thing I dislike about A Canterbury Tale is the lead actor's weak performance. Actually, he wasn't an actor at all, just some random US Army sergeant who was picked for the role. Sometimes casting non-actors can give wonderful results (like in all those Italian neorealist films or with Haing S. Ngor in The Killing Fields) but sadly this was not the case here- he wasn't totally awful, but he was remarkably stiff. Luckily the rest of the cast (especially Lady Attenborough) were charming enough to provide enough distraction from his performance.

Sorry, my reply at r116 about the Richard Burton Camelot costume designs should have been directed to r113, not r109.

R117 I found him charming.

R114, R115 I hate 'A Canterbury Tale’. It's their second worst film from their golden decade of film-making.

You describe it as a ‘weird blend’ of genres while I would describe it as an abstruse mess.

I’m fully sympathetic to Colpeper’s love for cultural heritage but to blend that with pathological behaviour is more insane than ‘weird’. The choice of Eric Portman with his silky, sinister gay voice, so soon after him playing the homicidal Lieutenant Ernst Hirth makes the mess even worse. Glue in hair is unaccepably gross.

The audience would more sympathetic to Colpeper’s love for cultural heritage and pastoral heritage if the film had been in colour. Snaggle-toothed Sheila Sim (Lady Attenborough) has as little sex appeal as Gerald Sim. Dennis Price is distractingly effete; the American Sergeant is hopeless.

R120 While you do make some valid points, I still think the movie somehow ends up working very well, in all its weirdness. But I'd also like to see it in color - those shots of the countryside would have looked gorgeous.

By the way, which P&P film do you hate even more? The only film of theirs I truly hated was Tales of Hoffmann - I couldn't even finish it. That one was just an overblown vanity project gone wrong. I'm not suprised that was the beginning of the end of their collaboration.

David Farrar also gets to ride that little pony in BN, which might have given some of those nuns thoughts of him riding them.

Nuns didn't wear lipstick back then.

Technicolor made the natural color of the actress' lips look too florid and garish, so they wore a neutral lipstick to tone down their natural color, R123.

R123 That's the point. The lipstick was smuggled in. It's the symbol of Sister Ruth's defiance. Sister Clodagh tries to defy that defiance by reading the Bible more fervently.

And also the red lipstick is the symbol of Sister Ruth's lust.

A few years later, Simmons and Kerr were together in "Young Bess" and a few years after that in "The Grass Is Greener."

The Tales of Hoffman is one of my favorite operas but the P&P film, despite some wonderful moments, misses the mark.

R126 Kathleen Byron was also in that film with Simmons and Kerr.

It seems that MGM intended it be filmed in England. But they changed their minds so Kathleen Byron, Kay Walsh and Guy Rolfe were all brought over to Culver City for this rather ordinary little film.

(It was supposed to coincide with the Queen's Coronation. Simultaneously Edith Sitwell's 'Fanfare for Elizabeth' was optioned for a possible film. Which is why Dame Edith was able to tell about being accosted by impertinent LA restaurant waiters on marijuana.)

^ Meant to add at r127 that I still enjoy Tales of Hoffman and rewatch it occasionally but it's not P&P at their best.

R127 I suspect 'Tales of Hoffman' is 10% Powell and 90% Pressburger.

R22 Farrar's "entrances" tended to be jarringly OTT and ludicrous. Were they making a comedy?

The Flying Nun meets the Beverly Hillbillies...

Farrar and Byron are also mean, moody, and magnificent together in THE SMALL BACK ROOM (49), another Archers joint.

According to his bio, Farrar's "most notable movie roles were as the male lead in the Powell and Pressburger films Black Narcissus (1947), The Small Back Room (1949) and Gone to Earth (1950)."

[quote]He was particularly adept at conveying the weaknesses and human qualities in figures of authority and intelligence... and he could be considered an early exponent of 'anti-hero' roles.

[quote]Director Michael Powell once spoke of his handsome appearance and distinctive "violet eyes", and his exceptional timing in films. Powell also stated that had Farrar been more interested in cinema and cared more about his career he could have been a much more high-profile actor, as successful as any.

Yes, hard to imagine that Hollywood didn't snatch up Farrar. If only to play George Sanders-style villains. He probably didn't want to leave England.

"Look! Music maker also murder stick!"

Oops, wrong Sabu movie

I love those boots Sister Rose wears while trying to push Clodagh off the cliff - they almost look like Ugg-ies.

That perfume is expensive as fuck!

R121 I don't want to say which P&P film I hate even more. Not here on DL. They made so many great, innovative and contrary films in that golden decade that I shouldn't quibble over their occasional misjudgements.

R84 I haven't read the original story so I don't know the significance of black narcissus. The black narcissus flower doesn't exist in nature, does it? I got the feeling the character played by Sabu was vain and childish.

R140 Give me a break- a few hours ago you had no problems ripping A Canterbury Tale to shreds and now you're suddenly too shy to engage in a some harmless bitchy criticism?! Did you get an attack of conscience for calling the lovely Lady Attenborough "snaggle-toothed"?

R131, a drama can have comic moments, and maybe should. Obviously that entrance on the pony was intended to be comic and perhaps a commentary on the colonial presence in India..

I’m guessing the bell was at the edge of the cliff so that the sound could ring out into the open expanse and be that much clearer. How did they create the chasm? It’s just a painting?! Maybe like Tara in GWTW. Just painted into the film ?

Emily Blunt resembles Katherine.

It’s her almond eyes.

Here’s how. Fascinating! True movie magic.

Flashback scenes so captivating...like being on the edge of a dream, where your memory leaves off. So much talent in this movie, and much more influential than given credit for. I can see a lot of Asian horror/fantasy cinema of the 50s/60s borrowed from this movie.

Lemony, lemony, lemony? LEMONY?!

Flowers planted where vegetables should be!

Costume designs inside, thumbnail

Shiela Sim should starred in that biography of Margaret Thatcher instead of that American Meryl Streep

Get over it.

Overrated film about spooked ,neurotic, and leaderless 'Anglican' nuns lol. Even the author/playwright became a Catholic.

What made Sister Clodagh spurn this beautiful man to go and exile herself in the mountains with big-nosed David Farrar?

R74 Powell could not afford Joan, Gene, Bette or Loretta.

He needed an American to appear in 'A Matter of Life and Death' but all he could afford was Kim Hunter.

It was only after 'The Red Shoes' brought in 5 million US dollars that he could afford Jennifer Jones for 'Gone to Earth'. But she was a bit of a liability with her Wonder-Bra running barefoot over the hills and trying to seduce handsome David Farrar.

Pity I never saw this during my LSD years. Might have been trippier and worth it.

What a strange body, r147, head way too big for his strange torso. Was he height challenged?

He wasn't that classically Hollywood handsome...His body was very lean and slight - not worked out with barely had any nipples - but he was a furry, sweaty beast with a hot treasure trail. He was unconventually hot.

[quote]head way too big for his strange torso

R162 Apparently it's a thing that movie actors have big heads. Supposedly, it works on the big screen.

When you first see him enter that cloister in those short shorts all sweaty and hairy it's like a totally unexpected visual fuck. The Archers were seriously messing with us.

Those violet eyes...

More eye fucking...

That type of body is actually very classically "Hollywood." Look at all the old stars - they're alarmingly slight by today's big-bosomed standards.

There was the John Wayne model, but that was exclusively the HERO mold, not the normal leading man physique. Even Cary Grant, the greatest male movie star of them all, had a tight little acrobat's body. Broad shoulders filmed bulky and "dumb."

It's logical for a British man living in the Himalayan hinterlands to be lean. Even walking through the village burns off calories at that altitude, simply being alive during winter burns more, and people are poor and don't have a lot to eat, and don't have a lot of protein.

It isn't a place where a person would bulk up, so yes. To play a man who's gone native, they correctly hired an actor who's fit and lean.

r140 "Black Narcissus" is the the perfume referenced in that pivotal scene, a taboo item for nuns. There does not exist an actual narcissus that has a black color. If it did, whatever grower had it would make a fortune.

Narcissus symbolises self-obsession and vanity.

The Young General (Sabu) is powerless so he indulges himself with perfumes and emeralds.

~ I googled 'Black Narcissus flower' and it gave me a Dahlia.

R160 David Farrar got top billing with the American star in Gone To Earth'

It's got the same super-saturated Technicolor photography as 'Black Narcissus' but it's just an empty-headed Victorian 'bodice-ripper'.

"...it gave me a Dahlia. "

Is that what it's called these days? Please keep your sex life to yourself.

"Broad shoulders filmed bulky and 'dumb.'"

I BEG your pardon!

R173 Is Arlene Dahl pronounced as 'Arlene Darl' or 'Arlene Dawl'?

I'm told that prize-winning Dahlias are supposed to be as large as your face.

I personally think they are rather vulgar.

Its pronounced Arlene Dahl.

Neither. The h is pronouced like a h.

When in doubt, look up What's My Line on Yt. Dahl was on at least twice.

^ I can't bear that show. Is that the one where they wear those ugly masks?

Kathleen Byron around the time of Black Narcissus.

^ She looks slutty with all lipstick

No, r179, that's Twilight Zone.

R89 You say this film is exploitative. Who? What?

I have read your link which is full of folderol but doesn't talk about exploitation.

R183 It's an early example of the nunsploitation genre.

R84 'Nunsploitation' is an ugly word.

Nuns give of themselves freely for God, Jesus and the Saints. They are selfless. They work for the love of God and not the love of Lucre.

R146 Huckleberry hot.

But that clip in R150 is from 'Red Shoes', isn't it? Not 'Black Narcissus'.

Never even knew about this. The coloring in OP’s photo is just stunning. Can’t wait to check this out.

Thanks, OP!

R187 You might think so, but the scene is actually from Black Narcissus; a flashback of Sister Clodagh remembering her carefree youth. Her grandmother lets her try on the emeralds that she will leave her, one day.

Thank you R189.

That blue 'ensemble' looked the same as this one—

And those raindrops at the end!

Yes! those heavy raindrops on the leaves as big as green plates.

David Farrar's unbridled hotness simply cannot be judged by these stills. You must see him in action and in context to appreciate his animal magnetism.

Those leaves are Gunnera manicata, also known as Dinosaur Food, because they look so huge and prehistoric.

I recently read a novel about two British working class sisters who become extras in that film with Jennifer Jones and David Farrar.

Now what was the title? Anyone??

R195 The answer to your question will definitely were somewhere in this fansite.

It is British, obsessively thorough but not very easy to navigate around.

That picture of the 'Gunnera manicata' reminds of that inconsequential small film called 'The Assam Garden' made in 1985.

It wasn't very good but it was advertised to capitalise on the memory of 'Black Narcissus'.

R194, great shot. I alternate between seeing the leaves as huge, with a regular bike, and seeing the bike as a miniature, with regular leaves.

R198 Okay, this should help.

R195 Gone to Earth (1950)

R200 The 1950 version was entitled 'Gone to Earth' (which I understand is a fox-hunting term saying the fox has disappeared down a burrow).

But Selznick and Mamoulian interfered and had it retitled to 'The Wild Heart'.

I'm surprised that Selznick didn't put Farrar on contract because I reckon Farrar is a more masculine version of Greg Peck.

R195 The novel is Jonathan Coe's "The Rain Before it Falls" (2007).

R202, thanks! The book sounded interesting and I was trying to find the title just now.

R199, let's hope there isn't a giant rat lurking in the leaves!

Oh thank you so much, r202! That is indeed the book which I just read last year.

By the way, it's not very good.

Annoying orientalism.

Why does it annoy you, R205? Are you an SJW who accuses all and sundry of cultural appropriation.

I suppose Rumer Godden could have set the story in the Welsh mountains.

R5, I'm a New Yorker too! Let's be friends lol! I love car crashes and CGI.....but I also love MICHAEL POWELL films lol. "Peeping Tom" was excellent, I believe it was the last movie Moira Shearer made. Damn near destroyed Powell's career. God that woman is beautiful. Loved "Black Narcissus" on every level and getting to see Sabu was magnificent!

R205...only a troll would be use "orientalism" instead of "exploitation of Asian culture". You don't care about the culture, period. You just want attention.

Interesting profile of David Farrar from 1986: A photo of him at 79 shows him to be still a handsome man.

"He admits to having made no effort to keep in touch with those he knew in England and, has been rumored dead among his profession.

He lives with his dog, a few miles from his daughter. Farrar describes his activities as "a bit of writing and painting. I play the piano to myself and get in eighteen holes of golf three times a week. I read a lot and average fifteen crossword puzzles a week."

He sums up his career thusly: "Tough, frustrating, but with many wonderful moments and memories. I found being a star a lonely business. I have no friends. Ain't that sad?"

R206 Only right-wingers use the term SJW. The new PC of the day. Are you alt-right as you also call yourselves these days? But whatever.

Not accusing "all and sundry of cultural appropriation" but let's just stick with the film shall we?

[quote] [R205]...only a troll would be use "orientalism" instead of "exploitation of Asian culture". You don't care about the culture, period. You just want attention.

R208 That's your fight. You're welcome.

Well, R205, you still haven't told us why this film annoys you when about 200 other posters say they love it!

R212 Ok here's one for the 200. Jean Simmons in brown-face. What do you think of that?

Oh, that's nothing!

R214 Yeah there is much worse in many films much worse than Black Narcissus. Doesn't make it any better either.

R205 I thought you'd be more upset that Jean Simmons plays her role as a slut than by the colour of her make-up.

R216 Lots of sluts on DL. I wouldn't dare bring that up first. Otoh consider her dreadful orientalist dance and snakelike movements.

So R205, what's so dreadful about Kanchi's dance?

Is it sexy? Are you offended by Kanch's sexual urges?

R218 It's very poor quality choreography and performance. A melange of vaguely Indian, vaguely just some idea of the exotic. Who was the choreographer I wonder? Emglish probably.

The choreographer was Ram Gopal who was in England at that time—

R220 I knew him. He later lived in NYC. He was in a wheelchair towards the end of his life. He also did exotic dances being one of the first Indian dancers to go to the West. That's what worked with western audiences.

[quote] Miss Loretta Young for the role of the homicidal nun.

But that woman was only 5 feet tall!

And the script required her to wear some very unattractive booties. The sight of her running around the clifftops to the bell tower would have had the audience laughing.

[quote] Ram Gopal who was in England at that time—

He ran lots of adverts for his 'services' in the notoriously-homosexual magazine called 'Plays and Players in the early 60s.

Everything in it (and its fellow magazine (Films and Filming) was written in code so that only homosexuals could understand the subtext.

Are there any homos in this film?

[quote] Are there any homos in this film?

They do tend to be secretive, but here's one—

[quote] Are there any homos in this film?

They do tend to be secretive, but here's one—

My thread is still around!

I finally bought the Criterion Edition months ago. ❤️