Pedro_H
Joined Sep 2002
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Nuns form a nunnery in the Himalayan "roof the world" and quickly get swept up by the local traditions, cultures and people. Being more effected by them than the natives are by the newly arrived nuns.
Films are made too often and too often for the wrong reasons for them to stumble in the world of profound art. But here they have created a masterpiece which despite passing of time rarely fails to enthral and amaze. The care and attention to detail are astonishing.
(Shame the bell tower scene features on the poster and in the trailer - should be kept as a surprise. But any film maker - from Hitchcock down - could learn from it. If they haven't already.)
The first thing this film needs and then gets is a great cast. Deborah Kerr is amazing as she has to play two roles: The nun and the nun in her former life. This isn't as easy as you would believe and provides insight and comparison. The locals are well cast too - and believable - in a way so few films of the period are. Fully fleshed with a life and agendas of their own.
Emeric Pressburger is a genius. This film is all the evidence anyone would need. Like musicals it has all the ingredients not only to be a failure - but a complete joke. A colony of nuns in the middle of nowhere! What nerve the producers had! My final thoughts are the final thoughts of many favourite films. Flawed or otherwise. They are a deep experience. Not always a pleasant experience and not always an experience you wish to repeat, but a unique experience. Black Narcissus is a unique experience and there aren't that many films that stand on their own like that. See it.
Films are made too often and too often for the wrong reasons for them to stumble in the world of profound art. But here they have created a masterpiece which despite passing of time rarely fails to enthral and amaze. The care and attention to detail are astonishing.
(Shame the bell tower scene features on the poster and in the trailer - should be kept as a surprise. But any film maker - from Hitchcock down - could learn from it. If they haven't already.)
The first thing this film needs and then gets is a great cast. Deborah Kerr is amazing as she has to play two roles: The nun and the nun in her former life. This isn't as easy as you would believe and provides insight and comparison. The locals are well cast too - and believable - in a way so few films of the period are. Fully fleshed with a life and agendas of their own.
Emeric Pressburger is a genius. This film is all the evidence anyone would need. Like musicals it has all the ingredients not only to be a failure - but a complete joke. A colony of nuns in the middle of nowhere! What nerve the producers had! My final thoughts are the final thoughts of many favourite films. Flawed or otherwise. They are a deep experience. Not always a pleasant experience and not always an experience you wish to repeat, but a unique experience. Black Narcissus is a unique experience and there aren't that many films that stand on their own like that. See it.
As a only a casual Bond fan I wasn't put off by the word "remake" because, after all, aren't all Bonds a form of remake? Certainly up to this point in time anyway!
Connery has got himself down the gym for this one, but looks every one of his fifty plus years and then some. Thankfully the stuntmen do most of the work meaning a lot of the time he is wearing a helmet, headscarf, wet-suit or photographed from an obscure angle. Can always tell though - the stunt-man's hair moves while Connery's doesn't.
(It is said that the original script included a scene where Bond puts the toupee on!)
Listen you know the score or you are very young indeed. Man wants to take over the world, the sexy girl (or two) comes along before they face the ticking bomb. Kim Bassinger looks fabulous with a fantastic figure, but what shocking dancer! Gets her in to a leotard (and I am not complaining), but what a baby elephant.Can't even do a 360 turn! As per usual she looks vaguely disinterested in anything and everything - but there was an Oscar in it down the road so keep going darling!
The logic of Bond is that he is sometimes very smart (knows how to operate secret equipment with no training!) and other times very stupid. Gets captured very easily, indeed doesn't seem to mind too much when he does. Usually there is a nice meal in it for him.
Baddie No.1 Klaus Maria Brandauer isn't too shabby and plays the psychopathy quite well. Practicing for a better movie with a smaller paycheck maybe? Barbara Carrera is actually quite good, an assassin with bad taste in fashion, but a nice looking girl who looks like she can do mean. Even though Bond never cares who gets killed - as long as it is not him - so why is she bothering?
Box office wise didn't do as well as the other "official" Bond of the day (Octopussy) and you can see why. Still, good enough for Sunday afternoon. As long as it is raining and there doesn't seem a break in sight...
Connery has got himself down the gym for this one, but looks every one of his fifty plus years and then some. Thankfully the stuntmen do most of the work meaning a lot of the time he is wearing a helmet, headscarf, wet-suit or photographed from an obscure angle. Can always tell though - the stunt-man's hair moves while Connery's doesn't.
(It is said that the original script included a scene where Bond puts the toupee on!)
Listen you know the score or you are very young indeed. Man wants to take over the world, the sexy girl (or two) comes along before they face the ticking bomb. Kim Bassinger looks fabulous with a fantastic figure, but what shocking dancer! Gets her in to a leotard (and I am not complaining), but what a baby elephant.Can't even do a 360 turn! As per usual she looks vaguely disinterested in anything and everything - but there was an Oscar in it down the road so keep going darling!
The logic of Bond is that he is sometimes very smart (knows how to operate secret equipment with no training!) and other times very stupid. Gets captured very easily, indeed doesn't seem to mind too much when he does. Usually there is a nice meal in it for him.
Baddie No.1 Klaus Maria Brandauer isn't too shabby and plays the psychopathy quite well. Practicing for a better movie with a smaller paycheck maybe? Barbara Carrera is actually quite good, an assassin with bad taste in fashion, but a nice looking girl who looks like she can do mean. Even though Bond never cares who gets killed - as long as it is not him - so why is she bothering?
Box office wise didn't do as well as the other "official" Bond of the day (Octopussy) and you can see why. Still, good enough for Sunday afternoon. As long as it is raining and there doesn't seem a break in sight...
King Richard is captured while returning from the crusades and his evil brother, Prince John (Guy Rolfe), is appointed acting king in his absence. A middle-order knight (Ivanhoe) seeks natural justice for his country and freedom for his former ruler.
Hard to know the correct approach to take on this crowd-pleasing historical epic. Falling short as a history lesson (other than a few random nods at reality) it quickly boils down to nothing much more than a good versus evil parable that even a small child couldn't lose. The masterful MGM reading the whole thing as nothing more than a well-financed and staged pot-boiler.
The casting of Robert Taylor in the lead role is curious because being a knight and warrior is a young man's game and he is - despite his permed hair and clever make-up - clearly approaching middle-age. Still he does a good job when not being replaced by a stuntman.
Evil brother and stand-in king Guy Rolfe is brilliant in the role and maybe the best acting on show. All snarl and beard stroking. Liz Taylor is a bit all-at-sea, which the director simply disguises by making her stand stock still while the camera takes in her staggering early beauty.
The whole affair puts me in mind of Raiders of the Lost Arc where after being entertained for a couple of hours you are left reflecting of the things you could have been doing other than being entertained. Still simple entertainment isn't something to be sneezed at...
Hard to know the correct approach to take on this crowd-pleasing historical epic. Falling short as a history lesson (other than a few random nods at reality) it quickly boils down to nothing much more than a good versus evil parable that even a small child couldn't lose. The masterful MGM reading the whole thing as nothing more than a well-financed and staged pot-boiler.
The casting of Robert Taylor in the lead role is curious because being a knight and warrior is a young man's game and he is - despite his permed hair and clever make-up - clearly approaching middle-age. Still he does a good job when not being replaced by a stuntman.
Evil brother and stand-in king Guy Rolfe is brilliant in the role and maybe the best acting on show. All snarl and beard stroking. Liz Taylor is a bit all-at-sea, which the director simply disguises by making her stand stock still while the camera takes in her staggering early beauty.
The whole affair puts me in mind of Raiders of the Lost Arc where after being entertained for a couple of hours you are left reflecting of the things you could have been doing other than being entertained. Still simple entertainment isn't something to be sneezed at...