Black Narcissus (1947)

This is a film worth watching, despite its deep flaws.
Here, a group of five nuns (likely Anglican, not Catholic) are reassigned, journeying far in the remote Himalayan mountains to restart a school and hospital. Though young Sister Clodagh (Deborah Kerr) is in charge and the other nuns she has with her are characters, with flaws.
Though there are some initial problems with the main caretaker, Mr. Dean (David Farrar), and the fact that the locals are paid to come to them, they find success, until Sister Briony (Judith Furse) sends an ill baby home without any medication. He dies a short time later. The people refuse to come but there is no rebellion as there had been in the past. And then, Sister Ruth (Kathleen Bryon), always troubled, completely loses her mind and dies after nearly killing the pious Sister Clodagh. Yeah, it was actually a great death scene, though I knew Ruth would try to murder Clodagh and she did.
However, this ends the Sisters time at the palace, now known as St. Faith, living up to Mr. Dean's prediction that they would be gone by the time the rains came.
While the film is deeply flawed, with some big plot holes in the screenplay, the performances are nevertheless the great, though Bryon's is off the rails, and you don't know why. I thought she was struggling with her vows, not her mind. And the romance between the Young General (Sabu) and the misguided youth Kanchi (a good but grossly miscast Jean Simmons) is barely developed and showed almost completely off screen. Simmons's role needed to be larger. In fact, she never says a word in English in the whole film.
The editing, on the other hand, is very innovative. Despite my problems with the film, it is worth watching, with the fully fleshed out characters and strong women. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Instead of all the crops Sister Philippa (Flora Robson) was supposed to plant, she plants flowers. I wonder where the seeds came from.
-Also, when Sister Ruth loses her mind and flees the convent, where did she get her dress?
-There are some excellent flashback scenes with Sister Clodagh and her sweetheart, Con (Shaun Noble) who picks success over her even though she had shown him that she loved him (read: had sex with him). She escaped to the nunnery so she could leave first. It is a decision I don't think she regrets even though there is some smolder between her and the no first name Mr. Dean.