Films A to Z

Black Narcissus

Runtime:
101 min.
Year of Production:
1947
Country:
Great Britain
Director:

Cast:
Deborah Kerr
David Farrar
Production Company:
The Archers
Berlinale Section:
Retrospective

Sister Superior Clodagh and four other Anglican nuns are sent to open a school and clinic deep in the
Himalayas. Physically and emotionally overwhelmed by the situation, Sister Clodagh starts reliving
a romance from her pre-vow days, while Sister Ruth succumbs to erotic fantasies about local Brit
Mr. Dean. When he rejects the lovesick nun's advances, Ruth turns her rage on Clodagh… This film
from the Archers production company was shot in England, almost entirely on back lots. It was as
far from British cinema of realism as its color palette was from what cinematographer Jack Cardiff
called the "tyranny" of Technicolor. Powerful primary colors represent all that is profane; saturating
walls, floors, clothing, flowers, and mountains, they exert a near physical affect on the white-clad
nuns. The cool blue of the mountains provides a strong contrast to Sister Ruth's delirium, signalized at
its acme by a flow of sheer red across the screen. “Color itself became the emotion of the picture”,
fan Martin Scorsese said, praising the “painting with light” of Cardiff, who was inspired by Vermeer's
use of light and van Gogh's colors. Both he and production designer Alfred Junge won Oscars.

BIOGRAFIE Emeric Pressburger

Educated at the Universities of Prague and Stuttgart, Emeric Pressburger worked as a journalist in Hungary and Germany and an author and scriptwriter in Berlin and Paris. He was a Hungarian Jew, chased around Europe (he worked on films for UFA in Berlin and Paris) before World War II, finally finding sanctuary in London--but as a scriptwriter who didn't speak English. So he taught himself to understand not only the finer nuances of the language but also of the British people. A few lucky breaks and introductions via old friends led to his meeting with "renegade" director Michael Powell. They then went on to make some of the most interesting (IMHO) and complex films of the 1940s and 1950s under the banner of "The Archers". Pressburger often showed a deep understanding of the British only granted to those "outside, looking in". He always prided himself on being "more English than the English". After all, some of us were just BORN English, but he CHOSE to become English. He spent his last days at Shoemakers Cottage, Aspall, Stowmarket, Suffolk in the English countryside that he loved so well.

source: wikipedia.com

FILMOGRAFIE Emeric Pressburger (selection)

1957 Men Against Britannia  1955 Fledermaus 1955  1950/51 Tales Of Hoffmann  1950 Corazón Indomito  1948 The Red Shoes  1947 Black Narcissus  1946 Stairway to heaven  1936 Parisian Life  

BIOGRAFIE Michael Powell

Michael Powell was an English film director. He was the second son and youngest child of Thomas William Powell, a hop farmer, and Mabel, daughter of Frederick Corbett, of Worcester, England. Powell was born in Bekesbourne, Kent, and educatetat The King's School, Canterbury and then at Dulwich College. He started work at the National Provincial Bank in 1922 but quickly realised he was not cut out to be a banker. He entered the film industry in 1925 through working with Director Rex Ingram at the Victorine Studios in Nice, France.
source: wikipedia.com

FILMOGRAFIE Michael Powell (selection)

1960 Peeping Tom  1950/51 Tales Of Hoffmann  1948 The Red Shoes  1947 Black Narcissus  1946 Stairway to heaven  1940 The Thief of Bagdad. An Arabian Fantasy in Technicolor 

Michael Powell IMDb
Emeric Pressburger IMDb
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