https://trappedinthecinemablog.wordpress.com/2016/08/04/a- canterbury-tale-1944-%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85%E2%98%85/Very loosely inspired by Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', Powell and Pressburger's wartime drama 'A Canterbury Tale' (1944) was made during one of the most extraordinary consecutive directorial 'runs' ever: 'One of Our Aircraft Is Missing' (1942), 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' (1943), 'A Canterbury Tale' (1944), 'I Know Where I'm Going!' (1945), 'A Matter of Life and Death' (1946), 'Black Narcissus' (1947), and 'The Red Shoes' (1948). All seven of them are British classics. And A Canterbury Tale is no different.The film opens with a Chaucerian knight, trekking through a forest on horseback, who lets free a bird of prey. And then, in a truly extraordinary moment of cinema, the swooping bird becomes a WW2 aircraft, and the knight becomes a tank. Technology and people have developed and 600 years of history have past.It is a remarkable moment of both magic and originality. It is also indicative of how under-appreciated Powell and Pressburger are. This scene has been forgotten from the public consciousness – never even remembered in the first place – yet when Stanley Kubrick referenced this moment in '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968) with a bone spinning in mid-air and becoming a spaceship (similarly indicating the passage of time and the development of technology), he is acclaimed as a genius for his originality.The rest of the tale leaves behind any Chaucerian plot, but does keep the tendency for eccentric characters. A small town near Canterbury is being terrorised by "the glueman", a mysterious man who pours glue over women's hair at night. There is probably a reference to a particular Chaucerian character here, which sadly went straight over my head.Into this town arrives a US soldier who gets off at the wrong station, and a British woman from the city who has come to work as a land girl for the war effort. And as they begin to turn their attention to investigating the Scooby Doo-esque glueman, they find themselves caught up and encapsulated in the nature of English rural life.The film is a love letter to the English countryside, landscape, and pastoral life. Characters regularly take walks up hillsides, just to admire the views. The film shows rural life and its traditions in great detail, and with great affection. And we see Canterbury Cathedral, a permanence in the country for so many centuries.The war, meanwhile, is relegated to a mere subplot. This indicates exactly what Powell and Pressburger are trying to say. The war is an incidental feature. It does not obstruct any of the characters' lives. It is a mere passing inconvenience. In one hilltop scene characters discuss a remarkable view, but do not mention the dozens of barrage balloons which litter the sky. P&P – which they should never be referred to as – are telling us that England and English life will continue as it always has done, from 600 years ago in the medieval era, through the present era unaffected by world war, and forever into the future.On a side note, for those worried about their ignorance of Scotland and Scottish life, they dealt with that in their following film, I Know Where I'm Going! And for those worried about their ignorance of Wales and Welsh life, as far as I can tell, they didn't give a sh*t.Perhaps A Canterbury Tale lacks the same magical spark as the greatest of their works, A Matter Of Life Or Death, or The Red Shoes, for instance. But this in no way should be seen as a dismissive comment. A Canterbury Tale still contains some remarkable moments from a pair of remarkable directors, especially the moment that Stanley Kubrick clearly thought so highly of.

This superb allegory by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger follows the pilgrimages of three disparate people during WW II as they make their way to Canterbury along the 600-year-old Pilgrims Path. Each is seeking a miracle or consolation from their journey.Alison (Sheila Sim) is a London shop girl who ventures to the English countryside to work on a farm as a "land girl" and to revisit the spot where she vacationed with her now dead soldier boyfriend. Bob (John Sweet) is a naive American GI who's girlfriend back in Oregon has stopped writing to him. He told his mother he'd visit Canterbury. Peter (Dennis Price) is a disillusioned organist whose career has been limited to playing in movie theaters and who is soon to ship out overseas.The three disembark a train together and venture toward the great cathedral city when Alison is attacked in the dark by a strange offender known locally as the "glue man." He's poured nasty glue all over her head. As the three find lodgings and talk to locals they learn that the glue man has struck many other times.Alison settles into her farm job while Bob discovers the countryside still (in 1944) very much tied to 19th-century ways. Peter tries to find out more about the glue man. They all meet a local eccentric (Eric Portman) who may be the glue man. He lectures locally on the rewards of country life and works as a magistrate in Canterbury. They all meet at the cathedral as they meet their fates.Absolutely gorgeous B&W photography lovingly displays the beautiful countryside with ample shots of wide sky and billowing fields, rustic farms and buildings, and always Canterbury in the background.The simple story lines are set against the complex allegory of a journey of discovery. Each of the pilgrims finds something in Canterbury, but what happens to them afterwards is left to our imagination. Both Alison and Bob find answers to their private sorrows, and Peter attains a cherished dream. All three are changed in deep and moving ways.John Sweet was an amateur actor stationed with the US Army in England when he was discovered for this role. His plainspoken American is both naive and deeply wise. His growing love of the countryside and the old ways is infectious. Sheila Sim plays a sturdy and practical girl who deals with her loss while loving her new life in the country. Dennis Price plays the most complicated character, since his loss is more a loss of ambition and opportunity than a loss of human love. His discovery at the cathedral is very moving. Portman is a lonely and aging man who may be attracted to Alison as a kindred spirit, but all paths do not lead to the same destination.Many notable actors in small parts include Edward Rigby, Charles Hawtrey, Hay Petrie, Freda Jackson, Esma Cannon, Graham Moffatt, Eliot Makeham, Esmond Knight, and Judith Furse.Powell and Pressburger scored a major success with this moving and seemingly simple story. But the characters will stay with you long after watching this glorious masterpiece.

An American GI on his way to Canterbury inadvertently gets off the train at a small town where he is joined by a young lady from London and a British Soldier. Powell and Pressburger do well in the director's chairs but their script is lackluster. This "tale" has no plot - it just meanders pointlessly for over two hours, far outstaying its welcome. There's a silly plot line about a madman on the loose in town who pours glue on women's heads. As the London lass, Sim is pretty good in her film debut. Sweet, a real GI making his only film appearance, has a natural presence and is quite likable as the American. The rest of the cast is also good but the tale is rather plodding.

One of the great pleasures of Powell & Pressburger films (and there are many) is that they exist outside of genre categories and constraints. The fun of watching them is that they always trust the audience to find their own way through idiosyncratic material. On top of that you're always observing filmmakers working in a very open, artful idiom. Granted this movie is supremely light stuff, the rough equivalent of a Nancy Drew mystery, but so much of it is charming and the P & P approach is of very high quality.The 'plot' is inexplicably inept. It's about a loose criminal whose method, motive and moniker are beyond bizarre. But everything else more than makes up for it. Freed as it is from genre clichés, there's plenty of room for viewers and their readings; you detect, pursue and ponder what you like, and this movie does its best to stay out of your way. Watching earnest people for any length is pretty trying, but this is so striking it's hard to complain. It's shot so beautifully I'd watch it again just for the compositions. I feel about this movie as many do about Night of the Hunter, a similarly visual but thoroughly mediocre film.The only really bad aspect of the movie is the American GI; an overearnest pinhead, as dense as they come, played by a horrible, off-putting actor whose skills would be inadequate even for community theater. I was aware that this is an "American" as presented to British audiences, and likely about as realistic in intent as British characters in American films. But for god's sake, after 5 minutes with this irritating simpleton I'd be giving his coordinates to the Nazis. I'd cheer to see him strangled.The movie is MUCH too long, and pacing is out the window, but the location photography is stunning and there are a handful of memorable/funny sequences. This movie actually made me wish that Hitchcock had been less contrived and controlled in his presentation of England and Englanders.