Black Narcissus

For the 1939 novel from which the film was made, see Black Narcissus (novel). For other uses, see Black Narcissus (disambiguation).

Black Narcissus
Theatrical poster
Directed by
Screenplay by
  • Michael Powell
  • Emeric Pressburger
Based onBlack Narcissus
by Rumer Godden
Produced by
  • Michael Powell
  • Emeric Pressburger
Starring
CinematographyJack Cardiff
Edited byReginald Mills
Music byBrian Easdale
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byGeneral Film Distributors
Release dates
  • 24 April 1947 (1947-04-24) (London)[1]
  • 13 August 1947 (1947-08-13) (US)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£0.3 million (or $1.2 million)[2][3]

Black Narcissus is a 1947 British psychological drama film jointly written, directed and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the 1939 novel by Rumer Godden. It stars Deborah Kerr, Sabu, David Farrar, and Flora Robson, and features Esmond Knight, Jean Simmons, and Kathleen Byron.

Set during the final years of British colonial rule in India, the film depicts the growing tensions within a small convent of Anglican sisters who are trying to establish a school and hospital in the old harem of an Indian Raja at the top of an isolated mountain in the Himalayas. The nuns have trouble adapting to the harsh climate and antagonistic population. They come to rely on the help and advice of the Raja's British agent, a cynical Englishman whose attractiveness and panache become a source of temptation for the sisters.

Black Narcissus received acclaim for its technical mastery, with the cinematographer, Jack Cardiff, winning an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and a Golden Globe Award for Best Cinematography, and Alfred Junge winning an Academy Award for Best Art Direction.[4][5]

According to film critic David Thomson, "Black Narcissus is that rare thing, an erotic English film about the fantasies of nuns, startling whenever Kathleen Byron is involved".[6]

  1. ^ Whiteley, Reg (18 April 1947). "It Won't Be Long Now". The Daily Mirror. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Pressburger". Variety. 5 November 1947. p. 20.
  3. ^ Macdonald 1994, p. 268.
  4. ^ "1948, Oscars.org, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AMPAS. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  5. ^ "Black Narcissus, Golden Globes". Golden Globe Award. Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  6. ^ Thomson, David (2002). The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (4th reprint ed.). New York: Alfred Knopf. p. 694. ISBN 978-0-3754-1128-1. Retrieved 25 May 2022.