Black Narcissus is a landmark film in the canon of Powell and Pressburger. With the centenary of Powell's birth in 2005, this timely book - the first dedicated exclusively to the film - draws on archival documents, original set drawings and stills to explore its enduring images of both place and gender. Street also here examines Black Narcissus as a masterly technical accomplishment - with cinematographer Jack Cardiff's experiments in Technicolor just one of its many advances - as well as a meditation on the end of empire. Looking at the film's reception by critics and censors, and its subsequent impact on experimental filmmakers, Street discusses issues of technique, style, performance and interpretation.

An informative and approachable blend of behind-the-scenes history and lucid analysis...It's always good to welcome a new series of guides devoted to individual movies, of which the Turner Classic Movies British Film Guides series is the latest. – Film Review