I must confess to being a little amused at not knowing what this film was and expecting it to be similar to Black Orpheus in the sense of a Greek retelling - actually, it's kinda far from that - Nuns try to build a convent high in the Indian Himalayans, and the atmosphere and energy around them brings out various remembrances and transformations
In one sense, it's a very pretty film, well lit and well shot with very vibrant colors - on the other hand I'm a little distressed there was only one main Indian character in it - (Sabu) and the others were English with darkened skin, and the whole thing was shot on Pinewood Studios or in a Garden in England. One would have liked to have seen more of the local and color of Indian actors.
On the other hand, for a technicolor film in 1947, it's very pretty - there's a lot of sexual energy in it from a couple of the main characters that goes unrequited, and Powell called it his most erotic film. This is our third Michael Powell film - (The Red Shoes and Peeping Tom before it) and the next one is one of hs and Emeric Pressburger's as well. So far they've all been pretty good, well colored stories and I guess he was fond of saying by shooting in front of paintings and glass he could get the view he wanted, but it's just one of those things - I def. picked out the effect in one shot with some shimmering in the scenes like the one displayed in the cover above.
Otherwise a nice surprise and probably my last one for Feb.
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