Black Narcissus (1947)
A group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.
22,094
Cast & Crew
Top Billed Cast
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Sister Clodagh -
Sister Philippa -
Sister Honey -
Sister Briony -
Sister Ruth -
The Old General -
The Young General -
Mr. Dean -
Kanchi -
Angu Ayah -
Joseph Anthony -
Con
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Mother Dorothea
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Phuba
Full cast
Directors:
Michael Powell , Emeric PressburgerWriters:
Rumer Godden (adapted from the novel by), Michael Powell, Emeric PressburgerAll Cast & Crew
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Trivia
The Legion of Decency still held great sway on filmgoing habits in America, and a "Condemned" movie would eliminate a huge number of ticket sales. This movie had already opened in New York City, NY and Los Angeles, CA, but the ban interfered with scheduled openings in other cities, such as Detroit, MI and Memphis, TN. The J. Arthur Rank Organisation was in a bad position. Parliament had just imposed a seventy-five percent duty on American movies imported to England, and Hollywood was temporarily boycotting the British market. The few British movies that could play well in America were encouraged as a goodwill gesture, so the J. Arthur Rank Organisation was anxious that this movie play in as many American cities as possible. The only option they saw was to make cuts to this movie to satisfy the Legion of Decency. The movie was edited by nine hundred feet or so - ten cuts in all. All of Sister Clodagh's (Deborah Kerr's) memories of Ireland were cut, accounting for most of the offending footage. The close-up of Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron) applying lipstick also fell victim to censorship, and a few lines of suggestive dialogue were also eliminated; e.g., Mr. Dean's (David Farrar's) line to Sister Briony (Judith Furse), "You will be doing me a great favor when you educate the local girls." Finally, the wording of the foreword was changed so that there would be no possibility to mistake the order of nuns as Catholic. Now it said that "a group of Protestant nuns in mysterious India find adventure, sacrifice, and tragedy." Now satisfied, the ban was removed and this movie was released with an A2 classification from the Legion.
Quotes
Mother Dorothea:
Sita, go and tell Sister Clodagh I wish to speak with her.
Goofs
(at around 1h 35 mins) Sister Ruth picks up Mr. Dean's pipe, which is 'smoking' from an ashtray. She walks away, still holding the pipe, and the ashtray continues to emit trails of smoke.
Crazy Credits
Opening credits:- Convent Of The Order of The Servants Of Mary - Calcutta
Alternate Versions
The flashbacks of Sister Clodagh's life prior to her becoming a nun were deleted from the original U.S prints of the film.
Soundtracks
Lullay My Liking(uncredited)
Old Edwardian Carol
Music by Sir Richard Terry
New music by Brian Easdale
Storyline
Plot Summary
Genres
DramaDetails
Release Date:
December 1947Language
English
Country of Origin
UKFilming Locations
D&P Studios, Pinewood, England, UKBox Office
Budget:
GBP280,000 (estimated)
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