Michael Powell claimed that the marriage of Jean Simmons to actor Stewart Granger can be credited to her role in his film. Powell wrote, "When Stewart Granger, my old pal, who was sitting next to me at the first night of Black Narcissus at the Odeon Leicester Square, saw Jean eating a squashy fruit with a ring through her nose, he went straight out, proposed to her and married her."

Michael Powell, in his autobiography A Life in Movies, called Black Narcissus "...the most erotic film that I have ever made. It is all done by suggestion, but eroticism is in every frame and image from the beginning to the end."

When Black Narcissus had its Los Angeles premiere on July 7, 1947, Universal-International, the film's American distributor, made sure that a number of celebrities were in attendance. Guests for the screening included Ingrid Bergman, Norma Shearer, Joan Bennett, Rosalind Russell, and Phyllis Calvert.

The effects artists are unlisted in the screen credits for Black Narcissus. The lead matte painters were W. Percy Day, whose credits dated to the silent era, and his two sons, Arthur George Day and Thomas Sydney Day. The film's assistant matte artist was Peter Ellenshaw. Following work on Powell and Pressburger's The Red Shoes (1948), Ellenshaw left Britain for America where he became the resident live-action effects artist for Walt Disney Studios for many years.

The fox hunt scene in Sister Clodagh's flashback sequence of Black Narcissus was shot on location in County Galway, Ireland, using the Galway Blazers Foxhounds.

The Academy Award-winning cinematographer of Black Narcissus, Jack Cardiff, had been a child actor before he turned to a behind-the-camera role as an adult. His credits in front of the camera included a role in Tiptoes (1927), which starred Dorothy Gish and Will Rogers.

Flora Robson was billed fourth in the cast for Black Narcissus, although she played the relatively minor role of Sister Philippa. Robson had become a star in Britain after playing Queen Elizabeth in Alexander Korda's production of Fire Over England (1937), and had been a high profile actress both in America and in England for years afterward. In getting her for a small role in his film, Michael Powell said, "...I was almost afraid of my good luck."

The Archers reunited actors David Farrar and Kathleen Byron a few years after Black Narcissus, in The Small Back Room (1949), a dark thriller set during World War II. In this film, based on a novel by Nigel Balchin, Farrar plays a weapons expert who must disarm the nefarious devices that were dropped on England by the Nazis. Byron is the woman who helps him face his fears and his battle with alcoholism. In addition to this film, Byron also appeared in A Matter of Life and Death (1946) for The Archers, while Farrar starred in the duo's movie Gone to Earth (1950, a.k.a. The Wild Heart), co-starring Jennifer Jones.

Sabu was a stable boy for the Maharaja of Mysore when he was discovered by documentarian Robert J. Flaherty and cast in Elephant Boy (1937) at the age of 13. The success of that film, co-directed by Flaherty and Zoltan Korda, led to several more starring roles: The Drum (1938), again directed by Zoltan Korda; The Thief of Bagdad (1940); and perhaps his most famous role, that of Mowgli in the Korda brothers' adaptation of Kipling's Jungle Book (1942). Following Black Narcissus, Sabu appeared in several low-budget Hollywood films before his death in 1963. Of the latter-day roles, Michael Powell later observed that Sabu "...showed his good sense by accepting everything that was offered. He knew very well that he had come from nowhere and he had no intention of ending up nowhere."

Famous Quotes from BLACK NARCISSUS

Angu Ayah (May Hallatt): What do they eat? How do I know what nuns eat?
Old General (Esmond Knight): I have remembered that. Do you see that crate? Sausages. They will eat sausages. Europeans eat sausages wherever they go.

Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr): Mother, are you sorry that I have been appointed to take charge of St. Faith?
Mother Dorothea (Nancy Roberts): Yes. I don't think you're ready for it. And I think you'll be lonely. Never forget - we're an order of workers. Work them hard. And remember - the superior of all is the servant of all.

Mr. Dean (David Farrar) (While looking at erotic tapestry): Do you know what the people call this place? The House of Women. The General's father used to keep his ladies here.
Sister Clodagh: From now on, it will be known as the House of St. Faith. Sister, will you have that picture taken down?
Mr. Dean: I give you 'til the rains break.

Sister Clodagh: Mr. Dean - Joseph tells us the people are still being paid to come to us.
Mr. Dean: Ah, the General's a wise man. It's only until it becomes a habit. Let it become a habit for them to come, and they won't remember a time when they didn't.

Mr. Dean: We call her Kanchi. She's 17, she's an orphan, and it's high time she was married. Every evening when I come home, I find her sitting on my veranda. She dresses herself up and puts flowers in her hair. It's becoming an absolute nuisance. If she's cloistered for a few months, her Uncle'll marry her off, but she's been behaving so that no one wants her.
Sister Clodagh: I don't think that we want her either. Why did you bring her to us?
Mr. Dean: Isn't it your business to save souls?
Sister Clodagh: You're not to speak to me like that, Mr. Dean.

Sister Philippa (Flora Robson) (On her mountainside garden): I think you can see too far. I look out there, then I can't see the potato I'm planting. And after a bit, it doesn't seem to matter whether I plant it or not.

Young General (Sabu): I want to be a student here with you. I want to study a lot of learning. ...I have a note from my Uncle, to ask you to encourage me.
Sister Clodagh: I'm very sorry - we only teach children and young girls.
Young General: Why?
Sister Clodagh: Convents don't teach men pupils.
Young General: That's not very polite to men.
Sister Clodagh: We don't mean it that way, it's the custom. Convents are for girls, the brotherhoods are for men.
Young General: Jesus Christ was a man.
Sister Clodagh: He took the shape of a man...

Young General (waving perfume-soaked handkerchief in classroom): Do you like it Sister Ruth? It's called Black Narcissus. Comes from the Army-Navy Store in London.
Sister Ruth (Kathleen Byron): Black Narcissus. I don't like such scents at all.
Young General: Oh Sister - Don't you think it's rather common to smell of ourselves?

Young General (Standing next to a Nativity): Sister - May I congratulate you on the birth of Christ?
Sister Clodagh: Thank you, General.
Young General: I hope you don't mind my coming tonight. I am very much interested in Jesus Christ. ...Have I said anything wrong?
Sister Clodagh: No, but... We don't usually speak of Him so casually.

Sister Clodagh: I think - You have let yourself fall into thinking too much of Mr. Dean. Sister... Don't you realize what you're doing? What you're running the risk of losing in yourself? Sister, you must - I must make you see before it is too late...
Sister Ruth (Intensely): All the same I've noticed you're very pleased to see him yourself.
Sister Clodagh (Angrily): If that's what's in your mind I think it's better said you're out of your senses!

Mr. Dean: I told you it wasn't any place to put a nunnery. There's something in the atmosphere that makes everything exaggerated. Don't you understand? You must all get away before something happens!

Compiled by John M. Miller