In co-directors/writers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s Black Narcissus (1947), it’s not the rarefied air of the Himalayas that transforms the staid nuns at their aerie convent into their truer secret selves, but the physical beauty of moviemaking at its most magical. The nuns’ stunted lives don’t stand a chance when confronted by such sheer artistic make-believe.
Renowned for being one of the most gloriously photographed movies ever made, the film, except for a few brief exteriors shot in Ireland and Sussex, England, was created on the back lot of Pinewood Studios, a stone’s throw from London. The conjurers of this cinematic prestidigitation include cinematographer Jack Cardiff for his crystalline, pastel lighting and flawless composition; Alfred Junge for his exotic Lost Horizon-esque sets (both men won deserved Academy Awards); Brian Easdale for his evocative score and windy soundscape; and, prime among prime, W. Percy Day for those exquisitely atmospheric matte paintings that place the convent on a vertiginous plateau between swirling mist and verdant forest floor.
This behind-the-scenes sorcery takes nothing away from an exceptional, magic cast: Deborah Kerr, proud and upright, swathed in virginal white but dewy with peaches and cream; David Farrar, always in cargo shorts and open shirt, exuding expat masculinity; Kathleen Byron, as neurotic Sister Ruth, who goes mad from both altitude and her erotic inner demons; Jean Simmons, all nut-brown sensuality in a non-speaking role; veteran pro Flora Robson, who will impulsively plant flowers instead of the convent’s vegetable patch; and Sabu, a.k.a. Korda’s Elephant Boy, as an eager young prince finding his place in the world, after first finding Jean Simmons. Powell and Pressburger, under their production company The Archers (Thief of Baghdad, 49th Parallel), turned the hothouse novel by Rumer Godden into a swirling confrontation between the sacred and the profane. Their masterpiece is pure spirit, made manifest by wizards of the cinema. Presented in a 4K digital restoration, its look will astound.
7 p.m. Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1001 Bissonnet. For information, call 713-639-7515 or visit mfah.org. $9.
Mon., March 30, 7-9 p.m., 2015
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2015.
