steve wrote:
>"my cup of organic peppermint tea"
>
>And you admit that publicly? ;^)
You think one should prefer anorganic peppermint tea?
>> Last night, I watched "Black Narcissus" for the 2nd time; every frame
>> looks like a Laguna Pageant of the Masters simulation of a cross
>> between Parmigianino & Martin Heade. Deborah Kerr's performance, the
>> best in the film, is hyperrealistic & powerful (her seething is far
>> more believable than the snitty Sister Ruth). Other actors are awful
>> (Sabu, Jean Simmons, May Hallatt, Kathleen Byron), but such is the
>> powerful vision of the director that they fit right in, nevertheless.
>
>Ive never been able to get through that film, mostly because of the gaudy
>look. Plus it all just feels rather inauthentic.
It *is* rather inauthentic; it's deliberately artificial. And the
Archers and Jack Cardiff did a great job in doing so. It was shot
at Pinewood Studios (except Kerr's flashbacks, which where shot
in the English and Irish countryside).
Rumer Godden, the author of the novel, hated the film (while she
loved Renoir's "The River", which was shot completely on location
in Bengal). To achieve authenticity, the "Black Narcissus" team
would have had to go to India, too. But 1947 was a very difficult
year in India ...
Manfred |