Black Narcissus was one of the films from The Archers, a production company formed in the forties by the partnership of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburgur.

Historical Background: Michael Powell (1905-1990) was born in Bekesbourne, England, near Canterbury. While working as a bank clerk, Powell met Harry Lachman, who was working toward a career as a filmmaker. Powell's own latent interest in filmmaking was thus excited and Lachman arranged an apprenticeship for Powell in American, under Rex Ingram. After returning to England, Powell joined forces, for a while, with Lachman at Elstree studios, gaining experience in photography, scriptwriting, and directing. Powell's first successful film, The Edge of the World (1937), drew the attention of Alexander Korda. Powell soon joined Korda at London Films and was set to working with another newcomer, Emeric Pressburger. The pair formed a fruitful partnership that led immediately to Spy in Black (1939), an effective espionage thriller. In 1940, Powell chipped in on the multi-director Korda extravaganza, The Thief of Bagdad. Then, when World War II heated up, Powell turned his attention briefly to propaganda-related pieces, such as 49th Parallel (1941) and One of Our Aircraft Is Missing (1941).

In 1942, Powell and Pressburger left London Films to form their own production company, The Archers. Their skills complemented one another nicely. Powell was a master of vibrant visuals, but Pressburger, born in 1902 in Hungary, was a good scriptwriter with stronger literary roots than Powell. As a young man, Pressburger had written scripts for German films and later collaborated on some of the early works of Max Ophüls. Pressburger had left Germany after the Nazi takeover in 1933, traveling to France and then England.

The Archers fashioned a string of innovative films, beginning with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943) and including I Know Where I'm Going (1945), Black Narcissus (1946), Stairway to Heaven (1946), The Red Shoes (1948), and the Tales of Hoffman (1951). These were films that extended the boundaries of filmmaking with elaborate sets and use of rich Technicolor photography. Powell and Pressburger later dissolved The Archers, in 1956, and parted on good terms.

The Story: When the Order of the Servants of Mary, in Calcutta, decides to open a new mission at Mopu, Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is selected to take charge of the undertaking. The new mission, St. Faith, will be established in an abandoned palace at Mopu, high up in the Himalayas, with the permission of the castle's owner, General Toda Rai (Esmond Knight). Sister Clodagh will be the youngest mother superior that the order has ever had and her current mother superior, Mother Dorothea (Nancy Roberts), has doubts about Clodagh's ability to take on such a great responsibility. Mother Dorothea selects four other nuns to accompany Sister Clodagh: Sister Briony (Judith Furse), who is a large, strong, woman who can run the clinic; Sister Phillippa (Flora Robson), who can plant and tend a garden, to feed the group; Sister Blanche (Jenny Laird), nicknamed "Sister Honey," who is vivacious and popular; and Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron), who is high-strung and unstable.

The five nuns make the excursion to the remote outpost. Mr. Dean (David Farrar), an Englishman serving as an agent of General Rai, arranges for ponies and serves as guide for the nuns for the last leg of the journey, from Darjeerling to Mopu. Dean is earthy, outspoken, and irreverent, which are qualities that don't endear him very much to Sister Clodagh. Dean is skeptical that the mission will endure, pointing out that a group of monks had earlier abandoned the place after just a few months. General Rai, on the other hand, very much wants the potential benefits that a Catholic mission could provide for his people, including medicine for all and education for the children. The General initially even pays the locals to send their children to the school and to take their medical problems to the mission clinic, to help ensure that visits to the new mission will become habitual for the local people.

The nuns struggle with the responsibilities that are thrust upon them, including illiterate children, medical problems with which they have no experience, and a decrepit facility. Dean rightly warns them that they should avoid treating deathly ill patients because they will be shunned if one of the locals dies after seeking help at the clinic. The nuns' greatest difficulty, however, is adjusting to the transcendent beauty of the Himalayan environment. The highest peak in the nearby mountain range is called Nanga Dalle, meaning "the bare goddess." The Mission is surround by an inherently sensuous landscape occupied by an earthy and expressive people. Furthermore, the faith of the nuns seems insignificant in comparison to that of the local Holy Man, who meditates continuously, sitting in one spot near the mission, day and night, never moving, speaking, or acknowledging the presence of others. The lushness of the world around them makes their austere, self-denying lifestyle seem petty. Sister Phillipa responds to this call of the wild by planting flowers in the garden instead of vegetables. Sister Honey becomes excessively sentimental, sometimes even hysterical. Sister Ruth becomes increasingly emotional and her self doubts trigger feelings of rage and envy toward Sister Clodagh.

Even Clodagh rediscovers long-buried sensual feelings. When she was a young woman, a young Irishman, Con (Shaun Noble), had courted her in the little village of Dennis Kell. He had other dreams, however, and eventually ran off to America without her, in search of wealth. Clodagh suddenly finds the exotic environment at Mopu stimulating recollections of her youthful passions and yearnings. She initially finds the earthy and irreverent Mr. Dean rather repellent, especially after he comes to Christmas mass intoxicated. She recognizes, however, that he alone can provide for some of their pragmatic requirements at Mopu. Clodagh is also impressed, on one occasion, when he shows an uncommon spark of awareness of Christian ideals. Clodagh, agitated by the presence of the holy man on the mission's outskirts, declares, in exasperation, "Well, I really don't know what to do!" Dean responds, quite aptly, "What would Christ have done?" Gradually, Clodagh comes to like and respect Dean, though she is able to repress any overt expression of romantic or lustful feelings. Dean obviously cares for her, as well, though he holds those feelings in check out of respect for her. Sister Ruth, on the other hand, has no such inhibitions. Her lustful feelings for Dean get the best of her, and she becomes jealous of Clodagh and determined to seduce Dean for herself.

Dean brings a young wayward 17-year-old, orphaned beggar girl, Kanchi (Jean Simmons), to the mission, so her soul can be saved. Besides, she's being a public nuisance. There, she dances erotically when the nuns aren't watching. Later, General Rai's heir, the Young General, Dilip Rai (Sabu), who wears a fragrance called "Black Narcissus," asks to join the classes at the mission so that he can learn English and science. The school is intended for young girls, but Sister Clodagh can't very well refuse him, since he's the General's son. Inevitably, the erotic Kanchi seduces the young prince and they run off together, much to the chagrin of the nuns.

Sister Ruth, meanwhile, receives a mysterious package in the mail. It turns out to be a red dress, lipstick, and other accoutrements. She's decided to leave the order and has acquired weapons appropriate to the task of seducing Mr. Dean. In a stunning transfiguration, Sister Ruth appears, like a fury from hell, in red dress and luminous red lipstick, wild-eyed and done-up with a stylish new hairdo. Dean rejects Ruth, however, which further intensifies her jealousy toward Sister Clodagh, leading to a climactic showdown.

Themes: The film's central theme is how we manage our passions. Both extremes – unchecked passions and emotional repression – can be problematic. The tight-lipped nuns and the near-catatonic Hindu holy man repress their passions to an unnatural extent, while Kanchi, the Young General, and Dean are often unable to restrain their appetites for sex or, in Dean's case, alcohol. The sensuous locale doesn't seem to allow compromise, as Sister Phillipa aptly observes: "I think there are only two ways of living in this place. Either you must live like Mr. Dean or like the holy man. Either ignore it or give yourself up to it." Obviously neither of those extremes will be suitable for a group of pious but industrious nuns. Their Western religion and modes of thought may simply be unsuitable to the mystical Indian context. It was often observed, during English colonialism in India, that the British never did become anything more than foreigners and tourists. The mysteries of India tend to defy direct participation by Westerners. The Catholic mission atop a mountain at Mopu is thus allegorical of Western ideals superimposed on eastern traditions by colonialism. Both the mission and the Western political domination of India were precarious impositions doomed to topple.

Production Values: The screenplay for this film was adapted by Powell and Pressburger from a novel by Rumer Godden. It is an odd mix of strengths and glaring weaknesses. There's plenty of rich symbolism and thematic depth. There's an erotic charge to the film that was sorely missing in most contemporary films. The story is nicely structured as a succession of vignettes, so that the narrative develops more through actions than either dialog or narrative. Those are all features that I prize in films. On the other hand, the script has the distinct feel of an overwrought soap opera, a quality that is then reinforced by the style of acting. The dialog is often trite and the psychology of several of the characters is absurd. There's little foundation laid for why the characters behave as they do. The nuns are presented as generally shallow, weak, psychologically fragile, and incompetent. Much of the time, the film is painfully reminiscent of the worst kind of daytime melodramas, such as Days of Our Lives or As the World Turns. Those kinds of shows certainly have a fan base, however, and most reviewers of this film are utterly enamored with it. Extreme melodrama apparently appeals to some viewers. For me, the plot, dialog, and acting in this film are exceedingly cloying and often downright unpleasant.

Black Narcissus is often described as one of the most beautiful film ever made. The film was shot in vibrant Technicolor. Very little of the film was shot on location. Almost all of it was shot on sets constructed in England, using matte paintings for backdrops. The set designs and artwork are gorgeous and even breathtaking, but sometimes it is obvious that the background is a painting rather than a genuine vista. One can overlook such instances by viewing the film as a "fantasy," but I personally find the lack of authenticity of the settings distracting. Still, it's a beautiful film to look at, though I personally would not describe it as one of the best ever, from a visual perspective. Powell experimented, in one scene, with matching the editing of his visuals to a prerecorded section of the soundtrack, thus setting the stage for The Archer's next endeavor, the brilliant The Red Shoes (1948).

Deborah Kerr provides the film's best performance. I would call it outstanding except for the fact that the melodramatic excesses of the film extend to her part. Kerr's great career included appearances in Major Barbara (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), King Solomon's Mines (1950), Quo Vadis (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953), The King and I (1956), Tea and Sympathy (1956), and Casino Royale (1967). Kathleen Byron (Stairway to Heaven (1946)), as Sister Ruth, has the most melodramatic part of all. She does a great job in a camp sort of way, playing her character's escalating derangement with obvious relish. The sweep of her movements, in her flowing habit, remind me vaguely of the wicked witch of the west in The Wizard of Oz. Flora Robson is cloyingly anguished as Sister Phillippa and Jenny Laird is over-the-top in her hysterical outbursts as Sister Honey. Jean Simmons, on the other hand, plays her part as Kanchi with restrained but palpable eroticism. David Farrar doesn't strike me as sufficiently attractive for his role as the man who awakens latent romantic interest from two nuns simultaneously. He looks rather ridiculous, shirtless and in shorts. Sabu, who I have admired in such films as The Thief of Bagdad (1940), seems badly out of place as Dilib Rai. The worst bit of acting in the film belongs to English character actor May Hallatt, who is just plain woeful as the castle's caretaker, Angu Ayah. It's a grating, scene-stealing kind of performance, in the worst sense.

Bottom-Line: The Criterion DVD for this film presents it in all of its visual splendor. The transfer was made from a 35mm interpositive. The aspect ratio is 1.33:1. The sound track was newly mastered from the original optical tracks. In short, the film really couldn't be presented any better. The extras include an audio commentary featuring Michael Powell, with the support of Martin Scorsese. Powell was 83 when the track was recorded and is sometimes incoherent or silent. There's a nifty 27-min. documentary about Jack Cardiff, who provided the stunning cinematography for this film. There's a collection of behind-the-scenes stills as well as the original theatrical trailer. As usual, Criterion offers English subtitles for the hearing impaired.

If you enjoy soap opera, this film provides it with perhaps more flair and visual glory than you'll encounter anywhere else. It's still soap opera, however, and for me, its melodramatic excesses and lack of psychological foundation are the kisses of death. Be advised that, among the reviews I encountered for this film, my negative perspective on the film is the minority opinion. One reviewer goes so far as to suggest that Black Narcissus may have been The Archers' best film. I have to differ.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older