Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth: Greatest Female Performance Ever

As far as I'm concerned, no other female performance in the cinematic medium that I have ever seen, including Deborah Kerr in the same film, "Life & Death of Colonel Blimp" and "From Here to Eternity," Jeanne Moreau in "The Lovers" and "La Notte" and Ellen Burstyn in "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," tops Kathleen Byron's "Sister Ruth" in this film. Certainly no other performance has ever left such an indelible mark on my imagination. She is absolutely transcendent and mythic in that role while tempering it perfectly with harsh realism. One of the main attractions of "Black Narcissus," a consummately "old school" romantic film like most Powell/Pressburger works, is exploration of areas of possible overlap between realism, fantasy and romance and the feedback they transmit to each others' domains, often bringing them closer together than previously thought possible. Any suggestions other performances on the level of KB as SR in BN from other movie buffs?

Byron is also fantastic in "The Small Back Room" opposite David Farrar, which Powell wrote specifically as a lead part for her

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Back-Room-Criterion-Collection/dp/B0019X400I/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1477363787&sr=1-1&keywords=small+back+room

If the out-of-print Criterion dvd is too expensive for your movie-budget, you should have picked up an all region blu-ray/dvd player so you can get it for 12 bucks on Region 2 dvd from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_te_2?rh=i%3Amovies-tv&pa=B000AX4J0Y&field-availability=-1&suppress-ve=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1477363787&lo=movies-tv

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-BDP-S1200-Region-Player-Bundle/dp/B00M0U7AGK/ref=sr_ph_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1477366571&sr=sr-1&keywords=all+region+sony+blu-ray

I also find it ridiculous that 20,000 people have rated "Black Narcissus" and only 700 people have rated "Gone to Earth," the Powell version of which, the one that Selznick did not get to butcher, is one of the greatest films, certainly one of the most romantic and beautiful technicolor films ever made. The Korean dvd sold on Amazon is all-region, has an excellent transfer of nearly Criterion quality with vibrant colors, and should be immediately picked up and enjoyed by everyone who has never experienced its artistic grandeur.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R1DV0P0NKUBHML?ref_=glimp_1rv_cl