Black Narcissus

[2Rebecca]

Is going too OTT on the woo and melodrama for my tastes.

I can't believe how clean they all looked. Pristine clothes despite running up and down those steep stairs etc.
Gina McKees character was annoying. I would have been tempted to whip off my wimple and denounce God for a fling with Mr Dean though : I'd be struck down by higher forces for sure.

That's the one SP. Great picture. P&P are also responsible for The Red Shoes [colour] and I Know Where I'm Going [b/w], among many other classics.

And yes, I remember black and white telly [and only two channels!].

I also remember black and white tv!
An old set with buttons you had to get up to press. No wonder we were so much fitter back then eh?

They weren't clean all the time, in one episode in particular, they were all in robes with very muddy hems!

I'm a huge fan of Powell and Pressburger. I Know Where I'm Going is my favourite. I was looking at the list of their output earlier and I've seen almost all of them, mostly several times. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp also has Deborah Kerr. 49th Parallel is a very stirring film with a wonderful cast.

So did I

Is it also known as Heaven can wait?

Nothing will ever be improved by Gemma Arterton.

DH and I felt it made a change from the usual Agatha Christie or a gritty police procedural drama.
And far from looking clean we both commented on the filthy hems of their robes flapping around in all that mud,and that it was much more realistic than the costumes in so many dramas that look pristine .

I enjoyed it, having not read the book or seen the original film. I agree with a pp the mountains did mostly look CGIed.

We found it really weird and didnt understand it🤭

@woodhill

So did I

Is it also known as Heaven can wait?

Heaven Can Wait was a 1970s film with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie about a guy who gets mistakenly kidnapped by angel and the angel then needs to find a new body for him.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

I'm a huge fan of Powell and Pressburger. I Know Where I'm Going is my favourite. I was looking at the list of their output earlier and I've seen almost all of them, mostly several times. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp also has Deborah Kerr. 49th Parallel is a very stirring film with a wonderful cast.

A Matter Of Life And Death is wonderful film, the use of colour for earth and then black and white for heaven is clever, although I would have done it the other way round. Jack Cardiff was an amazing cinematographer.

I think the Deborah Kerr version was better, Kathleen Bryon was great as Sister Ruth, all red eyes , red lipstick, completely unhinged by lust and the altitude.

"Heaven Can Wait was a 1970s film with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie about a guy who gets mistakenly kidnapped by angel and the angel then needs to find a new body for him."

Yes I remember that film but I'm sure it was a remake of an original version

It was a remake of the musical Damn Yankees.

I watched all 3 episodes and didn’t really get it. I feel I missed something.

Really enjoyed it, thought the underlying tensions and creeping madness was portrayed very well . That bell tower was terrifying!
Sister Clodagh trying to be “good” again and feeling like she had failed and hurting herself was so very sad but why oh why didn’t she get off that horse and go and live with Mr Dean ?!!
I’ll just imagine she goes back to the nunnery to tell them all they are all mad and she’s goes back to get him. Mind you they would need to move the bungalow you wouldn’t want a view of the bell tower every day.

In Ruth's state she began to tell some "truths" - Sr Blanche wanting a baby, Sr Briony, and her sexual orientation, Sr Clodagh's attraction to Mr Dean etc, it seemed to release something in her.

NewModelArmy, Jane Asher absolutely stole the film in The Greengage Summer. I loved Rumer Godden's novels as a teen, especially In This House of Brede, but do find them slightly over the top now - almost as if she writes as a drama queen teen. Monica Dickens is a much more 'down to earth' novelist if the same period and I think her female characters are 1. more likeable and 2. more realistic.

Rumer Godden's two volumes of autobiography are an interesting read. Also, her sister Jon writes some fairly terrifying short stories.

Rumer Godden's two volumes of autobiography are an interesting read. Also, her sister Jon writes some fairly terrifying short stories

I've never heard of Jon Godden (I assume it's the same surname?).

I'll have to look out for her.

I'm very, very excited because on Sunday a stand - in priest (with whom I was having a Twitter chat about Barbara Pym - as you do) is bringing me a copy of And the Sweet Dove Died. One of the two I haven't got. Only need Quartet in Autumn, now. They're surprisingly difficult to get hold of, even 2nd hand. Some were reprinted, but there are about four which weren't.

I love Barbara Pym, so subtly funny - and I've read Quartet in Autumn but it's the only one I don't have on the shelf.

Jon Godden was Rumer's older sister (baptised 'Winsome', no wonder she preferred Jon!). There are a couple of her novellas that I won't read after dark!

I watched all three last night, after the first where I thought nothing was actually happening it was over and then I realized that lots had happened, anyway overall I thought it was very good and very well made.

Can anyone tell me what happened to Sister Adela when she went with Sister Clodagh to keep watch on the bell tower, she was no where to be seen when Sister Ruth appeared and tried to kill SC.

Also in the first episode when Sister Dorothea says SC is to take Sister Ruth with her was there already concerns about her mental health because she seemed very reluctant to take her.

Sorry for all the questions maybe I've missed something by watching them all together.

@reprehensibleme I don't think I've seen it since I was about 12. I hadn't even remembered that Jane Asher was in it!

Right, I'm off to check out what Rumer Godden novels are available and consider what to buy.

I read some YA Monica Dickens fiction (set on a farm?) as a tween/young teen which I really loved. Not convinced I've read any of her other fiction though.

Yes I liked Barbara Pym

Very strange masculine names given to the Godden family

Monica Dickens teen horsey novels were 'Follyfoot'. Her autobiography is also excellent, as are the semi autobiographical 'One Pair of Hands' and 'One Pair of Feet'. She wrote from her life experiences - The Listeners' based on her time with the Samaritans. One of my favourites is Kate and Emma, although it's a bit harrowing.