Black Narcissus
The extraordinary pallette of colors in Powell and Pressburger's boldly stylized and sensual Black Narcissus is even more stunning in this 35mm color nitrate print, part of the collection of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Black Narcissus won a number of well-deserved Academy Awards, including one for Best Color Photography. Based on Rumer Godden's novel, set in the Himalyas, where five nuns struggle to maintain a hospital and school, the film is a psychologically acute, powerful study of the conflict between Christianity and the forces of nature. As the nuns struggle with the rigors of climate, they must also do battle with the forces of mysticism, madness and sexual frustration. Deborah Kerr won the New York Critics' Award for Best Actress for her role in Black Narcissus; Flora Robson and Jean Simmons also star.