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Black Narcissus
Sign in to save1947 film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
OverviewAI-generated
Black Narcissus is a 1947 British drama film directed and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who also wrote the screenplay. Set at a monastery in Kolkata, India, and filmed at Pinewood Studios, it stars Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Flora Robson and Sabu Dastagir, with cinematography by Jack Cardiff, a score by Brian Easdale, production design by Alfred Junge, costumes by Hein Heckroth, and editing by Reginald Mills.
Made on a budget of $1,200,000 and running 100 minutes, the film received the Academy Award for Best Production Design and is rated Approved.
Synthesized by Vinony from 44 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, TMDb, IMDb, OMDb. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 193 inbound references to Black Narcissus, and connects out to Powell and Pressburger, Himalayas and International Standard Book Number.
Vinony files it under 1940s color films, 1940s psychological drama films and 1947 British films.
Vinony links it to 33 Wikipedia language editions.
Film · TMDB
7.5A group of Anglican nuns, led by Sister Clodagh, are sent to a mountain in the Himalayas. The climate in the region is hostile and the nuns are housed in an odd old palace. They work to establish a school and a hospital, but slowly their focus shifts. Sister Ruth falls for a government worker, Mr. Dean, and begins to question her vow of celibacy. As Sister Ruth obsesses over Mr. Dean, Sister Clodagh becomes immersed in her own memories of love.
Cast
- Deborah Kerr as Sister Clodagh
- Sabu as The Young General
- David Farrar as Mr. Dean
- Flora Robson as Sister Philippa
- Esmond Knight as The Old General
- Jean Simmons as Kanchi
Themes
- based on novel or book
- himalaya mountain range
- nun
- mountain
- forbidden love
- india
- bengal
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Ratings
IMDb
7.7/10
29,942 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
100%
Metacritic
86/100
- Year
- 1947
- Runtime
- 101 min
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- Approved
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 6 wins & 1 nomination total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
- Screenplay by
- Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
- Based on
- Black Narcissus , 1939 novel, by Rumer Godden
- Produced by
- Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
- Starring
- Deborah Kerr Sabu David Farrar Flora Robson Esmond Knight Jean Simmons Kathleen Byron
- Cinematography
- Jack Cardiff
- Edited by
- Reginald Mills
- Music by
- Brian Easdale
- Color process
- Technicolor
- Production company
- The Archers
- Distributed by
- General Film Distributors
- Release dates
- 24 April 1947 ( 1947-04-24 ) (London) 13 August 1947 ( 1947-08-13 ) (US)
- Running time
- 100 minutes
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Budget
- £280,000 (or $1.2 million)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- film
- Genre
- drama film
- Country of origin
- United Kingdom
- Original language
- English language
- Director
- Michael Powell
- Screenwriter
- Emeric Pressburger
- Composer
- Brian Easdale
- Producer
- Emeric Pressburger
- Cinematographer
- Jack Cardiff
- Narrative location
- India
- Filming location
- Pinewood Studios
- Duration
- 97
- FilmAffinity ID
- 288434
- Distribution format
- video on demand
- Image
- Deborah Kerr 3.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- publication date
- 1947-01-01
- film editor
- Reginald Mills
- title
- Black Narcissus
- production designer
- Alfred Junge
- costume designer
- Hein Heckroth
- Commons category
- Black Narcissus
- distributed by
- Netflix
- assessment
- Bechdel test
- set in environment
- monastery
- review score
- 100%
Sources (15)
via Wikidata · CC0
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Black Narcissus is a 1947 British psychological drama film written, directed, and produced jointly by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, based on the 1939 novel Black Narcissus 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 nuns who have been invited 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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Black Narcissus” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.