The Upcoming Television Adaptation of Black Narcissus is Going to Be a Literal Crime Against Humanity and the Arts

[Raxivace]

^1948. Bold. Striking. An actual fucking color palette. Still somewhat ominous.



^2020. What the fuck is this muted horseshit?

[Raxivace]

Prestige television was a mistake that we are all complacent in.

[Eva Yojimbo]

No argument that the first image is far more striking, and not just because of the color palette--the fact that the bell is visible combined with the river winding down the valley actually gives a far greater impression of vertiginous space as it leads the eye through the frame--but I'm not sure if you can justify your thread title on one image alone. Of course I would never expect a TV adaptation of that film to have even an ounce of the visual potency, but there's a lot of potentially good character drama in the original film that could be interestingly fleshed out in a series.

[Raxivace]

I may have exaggerated my rage slightly. I'm just kind of baffled though that anyone was asking for an expansion of Black Narcissus of all movies.

[Gendo]

Before now, I didn't know the term "prestige television". I've never heard of Black Narcissus though.

[Derived Absurdity]

Prestige television is when shows star brooding angsty white men doing very bad things but feeling bad about it sometimes and it's very serious and morally complex.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I may have exaggerated my rage slightly. I'm just kind of baffled though that anyone was asking for an expansion of Black Narcissus of all movies.

It's certainly an odd candidate for sure, though according to Wiki it's apparently based on the novel. It may end up being like the TV "remake" of Mildred Pierce that was based more on the novel than the film.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I've never heard of Black Narcissus though.

I command you to go watch every Powell-Pressburger film now. Seriously, most all of them are quite excellent. Black Narcissus is a good place to start, but pretty much everything they did from The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp in '43 to The Tales of Hoffmann in '51 is worth seeing: Colonel Blimp, A Canterbury Tale, I Know Where I'm Going!, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, and The Red Shoes, especially.

[Raxivace]

^Even though its Powell going solo, there's Peeping Tom as well.

I may have exaggerated my rage slightly. I'm just kind of baffled though that anyone was asking for an expansion of Black Narcissus of all movies.

It's certainly an odd candidate for sure, though according to Wiki it's apparently based on the novel. It may end up being like the TV "remake" of Mildred Pierce that was based more on the novel than the film.

I never saw that, though with Black Narcissus they at least seem to be trying to evoke the movie as well.

On a completely unrelated note, have you heard about this supposedly "uncut" version of Psycho coming to theaters here soon? I had never even heard of Psycho having multiple cuts before and I've been having trouble figuring out what to make of this.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I always forget about Peeping Tom, but yes, that too.

The TV Mildred Pierce was quite good. Though supposedly it stuck closer to the book, it still definitely had influence from the film given both were still fundamentally melodramas, though the TV version dialed that aspect back a bit.

I haven't heard about any uncut Psycho and like you I was unaware that the film had multiple cuts. Very interested to see what comes of this...