Black Narcissus: Criterion Collection – DVD Review
The Film:
Remember, the superior of all is the servant of all.
Black Narcissus, another stellar Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film, is often noted for its picturesque cinematography, but as Martin Scorsese notes, it’s very much like a Disney animated film from that time. Each scene is magnificently composed, beautiful, and yes, while the cinematography is absolutely stellar, it’s even more amazing that we are so wowed by it, because it was shot in the 1.33:1 ratio. It’s also easy to be visually enchanted by the film, yet within each scene is a creeping doom of hidden desire and the death of an empire.
Historically, it’s easy to place at the time of the film’s release in 1947 with the actual Indian Freedom from the British Empire, because that’s the access of knowledge we have, but maybe Powell/Pressburger were prophets? The film follows some nuns as they head to the Himalayas to start Saint Faith, a church they will help educate and provide medicine to the locals, only to succumb to hidden desire and the lost of English superiority. The film is far from being a complex film, yet the subtext is deep enough to have us emotional invested and drawn into what it is to be human. Catholicism is more or less a religious form a repression, and one doesn’t blame the Church for being against the picture. Controversially, the Church ordered the flashback scenes of Sister Clodagh’s life to be edited out for decency, yet these brief scenes, are the moral heart of Black Narcissus, and they only represent about a few minutes of screen time.
Any Christian or Catholic, should easily see the duality of the film’s themes and in the characters, making for an interesting lineage to Martin Scorsese’s early work, as he to focused on repression and human desire within the religions framework. The nuns are cloaked in white, a stark contrast to the Indians as they were very colorful garb, but the film also juxtaposes a subplot of a woman of a lesser caste system, who pines for a young heir to the Indian state, against the moral disintegrating fabric of the nuns. Furthermore, it also shows Westerners ignorance for cultural differences, something that was readily apparent in India, even before Ghandi came along, and modern enough to see it in our society as we enter the Middle East.
But wasn’t He a man?
Despite these political and religious parallels in the 1940s to our time, the film is a case study of the dead art of matte paintings. Replaced by digital mattes now days, Black Narcissus is stellar in the combination of sets and environmental elements, with the matte paintings, all in camera tricks, a visual splendor that rivals Citizen Kane, for its crafty in camera tricks. Often called one of the best British films ever made, but let’s not forget about The Third Man, Black Narcissus is emotionally rich today as in 1947. Oh, I don’t want to be a nun…
The DVD:
Audio/Video: This is a reissue from Criterion, as they released this film back in 2001 (Spine #). This DVD reissue also accompanies a separate Blu-ray release. This new transfer is full of rich colors and details, one of the better standard definition transfers I’ve seen in a long time. The film has been a long standing catalog title for Criterion and even back then on Laserdisc and the 2001 DVD, those prints were applauded. By not seeing those for comparison, all I can say, is this is a superb transfer, perfectly capturing the gorgeous cinematography, begging the question, as good as this looks, imagine it in HD!
With a Dolby Digital 1.0 mono track, everything sounds really good,maybe not perfect, but no one will complain. Very little shrills and hiss, with clean dialogue.
Most of the extras are ported over from the 2001 edition.
Video Introduction: Bertrand Tavernier, a French film maker, discusses the film in its cinematography, eroticism, and Powell’s directorial style in SD.
Commentary: Appearing on the Laserdisc as well as the earlier DVD release, we get Martin Scorsese and Michael Powell edited together for a rather informative, insightful, and scholarly chat.
The Audacious Adventurer: This 17 minute documentary returns Tavernier, as he talks in great detail about early British cinema and the country’s cinema after WWII. It’s really good and puts into historical perspective the film, along with cast notes and other ideas. Really good.
Profile of Black Narcissus and Painting with Light are two 25 minute documentaries on the film that cover everything about the film with some key creators that are still alive. The first covers casting, filming and the directors, with the second focusing on the cinematographer. Combined, these are the best extras.
A Trailer and Criterion’s wonderful essay booklet round out the extras.
Conclusion: A gem of British cinema, a film still erotic and haunting, 60 years later, on a fine, if not, stellar release from Criterion.
The Film: Rating: 
The DVD: Rating: 
