I can't get into opera - too overwrought and stilted in action for me, never mind the strained singing. But "Black Narcissus" connects to me the way I imagine classic opera does to its devotees - but without the vocals to distract me. This movie is high art in conception and delivery, a searing cauldron of hidden emotions, desires, even lust, the latter portrayed unforgettably in Kathleen Bryon's tortured character, riven by an impossible love for the maverick David Ferrar character, himself drawn to the self - sacrificing Deborah Kerr character as Sister Superior Clodagh. All the nuns of the order are repressing something, from maternal instincts in one, love of nature in another, culminating in the contrast from Sister Clodagh's own haunted memories of her thwarted young love to, of course, Bryon's barely controlled passion which ultimately leads to her own death and communal defeat for the sisterhood as the nuns wind their way back down the hill at the film's conclusion. Director Powell prefigures each major section of the film with scenes of changes in the seasons, with the budding of spring leading ultimately to an explosion of passion in Bryon's character which ends in disaster. The casting is unusual - Kerr & Bryon do seem too young and for want of a better term (no offence meant to nuns worldwide) attractive for their parts, while there's an early part for Jean Simmons as an errant native girl who successfully, Salome - like, ensnares the general's young son played by Sabu, in a counterpoint to Bryon's attempted seduction of Ferrar. Memorable scenes come in waves - Powell presenting scenes reminiscent of Oriental and Indian tableaux in lurid colour utilising huge angular, shadowed close ups of his leads betraying their inner feelings. Ultimately it's the justly famous arousal of Sister Ruth which lingers longest in the memory, take your pick from her scene making up her face opposite the chaste Kerr, her eerie looming before Kerr by the bell climaxing of course in their fateful struggle at the bell tower. Unreal and highly stylised it may be, but for me this as engrossing and beautiful as cinema gets.

This spellbinding movie from that spellbinding film-making team (Powell and Pressburger) is another entry in the long line of literary and film stories that revolve around British restraint and repression unraveling under the force of mysterious foreign cultures (usually Eastern and frequently Indian), and it's one of the best.

A group of nuns travel to the Himalayas to do missionary work among the natives, but instead find themselves coming under the mystical spell of the place and people around them. Deborah Kerr is stunning as the head nun, who's determined to maintain order and British civility at all costs. I still can't decide whether this or "The Innocents" (1961) gave her her best role. At the other extreme is Kathleen Byron's Sister Ruth, who renounces her vows, paints her lips bright red, and engages in a fierce battle of wills with Kerr. What follows is a film that is surprisingly sexual, erotic and wild.

Powell and Pressburger are experts at using color. Instead of employing their Technicolor to simply make their film look pretty, the color almost becomes a character in itself, creating a feverish, hyper-realistic glow to the film. Legendary cameraman Jack Cardiff is responsible for the sterling and Oscar-winning cinematography. Equally stunning is the art direction, which created very realistic mountains out of papier-mache.

A simply sensational film, one that holds up completely and could be watched again and again. This and "Out of the Past" vie in my esteem for best film released in 1947.

Grade: A+

There must be two DIFFERENT movies out there called BLACK NARCISSUS. Because one has a more than respectable score of 8.0 on IMDb and is described as a dandy film about the Himalayas. The one I saw was a really slow and dull film about some nuns who seemed pretty crazy--absolutely, inexplicably crazy! I could tell this was definitely nothing like the exquisite NUN'S STORY--a very engaging and intelligently written film about a nun serving in the Congo. Instead, you have terribly flawed and screwed up nuns that seemed so ill-adjusted that you question whether or not they were capable of helping any person in any locale! To me, it was just poorly written and totally unconvincing. And, apart from Atheists who are looking for a film that makes Anglican nuns look bad, I can't see how any other person would be interested in this film--that is, apart from watching its beautiful visuals. Yes, the film is a beautiful color film. However, as far as the character themselves go, they lack color or even coherence.