Lists
- ranked 18 in O Magazine's "50 Greatest Chick Flicks of All Time"
- ranked 44 in BFI 100
- ranked 116 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- ranked 123 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 125 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- ranked 236 in Empire 500 Greatest Movies (2008)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
My understanding is that Black Narcissus, an erotic story about sexually repressed nuns (or, at least, what passes for one if you're a thoroughly repressed Englishman in 1947), is notable in the history of cinema primarily for its Oscar-winning cinematography.
Released in the same year as Indian independence, it's also Colonialism: The Movie; if portrayals of colonial excesses are not necessarily celebrated, neither are they condemned -- and they're not condemned by various actors of entirely the wrong ethnicity.
There are some great shots in this film, but great shots aren't enough and the rest has aged badly.