Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7135 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-10-11
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 119 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
One of the most beloved of all British films, A Canterbury Tale marks yet another occasion to celebrate the Criterion Collection's growing DVD legacy of Powell and Pressburger classics. Originally conceived as good-natured propaganda to support the British-American alliance of World War II, the film became something truly special in the hands of the Archers (a.k.a. writer/director/producers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger). Taking its literary cues from Chaucer's titular classic, it begins with a prologue that harkens back to Chaucer's time before match-cutting to present-day August of 1943, with the night-time arrival of U.S. Army Sgt. Bob Johnson (played with folksy charm by John Sweet, an actual American GI) on the shadowy platform of Canterbury station in the magically rural county of Kent (where Powell was born and raised). He is soon joined by two fellow train passengers: Alison Smith (Sheila Sim), a brashly independent recruit in the British Woman's Land Army; and Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price), a sergeant in the royal Army, and before long they're tracking clues to find "the glue man", a mysterious figure who's been pouring "the sticky stuff" on unsuspecting women as the midnight hour approaches. Their investigation leads to Thomas Colpeper (Eric Portman), a village squire whose local slide-shows celebrate life in an idyllic rural England threatened by wartime change. As Graham Fuller writes in an observant mini-essay that accompanies this DVD, is this a whodunit? Historical documentary? War film? Rustic comedy? It's all these and so much more: As photographed in glorious black and white by Erwin Hiller (faithfully preserved by one of Criterion's finest high-definition digital transfers), A Canterbury Tale has an elusive, magical quality that encompasses its trio of Canterbury "pilgrims" and translates into a an elusive, spiritually uplifting sense of elation that has made it an all-time favorite among film lovers around the world. --Jeff Shannon

DVD Description

A Canterbury Tale is a compelling drama set amidst the backdrop of World War Two Britain. Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger ("A Matter of Life and Death"; "The Red Shoes"), it has been acknowledged as one of the duo's finest films. Their reworking of Chaucer's epic fourteenth century tale--largely set in Kent--revolves around an American army sergeant, a British soldier and a land girl who, before making a modern-day pilgrimage to Canterbury, solve the bizarre mystery of a man who pours glue over the hair of village girls at night.

Synopsis
While World War II rages, an American G.I. and three Britons find themselves en route to the hallowed cathedral on the same Pilgrims' way taken by travelers some 600 years before and reported in Chaucer's epic poem.

Customer Reviews

A love song to England
This is something of a slow burner. Filmed in Black and White during WWII by the marvellous Powell and Pressburger it is, on the face of it, an inconsequential tale of latter day pilgrims re-tracing the steps of Chaucer's pilgrims to Canterbury Cathedral. Yet beneath this veneer it's essentially a study of the English character; of the values and traditions that the English held dear for so long and which have been under attack by liberal dogma for the last few decades. This was a love poem written to England at a time when it was by no means certain that England and all it stood for would survive, and it now seems sad and poignant that England survived the trials of WWII only to lose its way in peacetime through complacency and poor leadership. A masterly and moving film.

The Unease of Being English
This is the most effective account of what it is like to be English within the encroaching tide of American popular culture.

That it was made when it was makes it truly prophetic.

It's blissfully hard to categorise. It is sentimental, it does have comedy but there is an underlying menace - a malevolent incongruity that seems to hallmark director Powell's best work. The whole notion of a midnight prowler deliberately pasting glue into women's hair is a good example of this kind of alternate reality. There is a specific scene where a many hands are vigorously washing the hair which seems disturbingly loaded with sadism.

Yet the subject (and the reason for buying) is history - what in the middle of WWII can be realistically retained. What has to give way? So we see the cocky GI find an affinity with an English carpenter, a cynical cinema pianist collaborating with a cathedral organist and a middle aged magistrate judged and sentenced by one of his own victims.

It's beautifully photographed, particularly the scenes of rural life yet contains a strangely powerful message for this generation, faced with the cultural narrowing of globalisation of the arts.

Not a Multiplex fave...but you should see it for just this reason.

Recommended unreservedly.

A magical film
I had the extreme luck of watching this film for the first time at a special showing in Canterbury itself. I found it compelling and wonderful. It is British in the same sense as 'Brief Encounter'. Both of them capture the nuances of midcentury England. This film focuses on the beauty of the dwindling countryside, evoking wonderfully a way of life that was disappearing even then. The director, Michael Powell, came from Canterbury, and it shows. This film is clearly a labour of love. It even understands the magic of Canterbury cathedral, with each of the main characters setting out on a pilgrimage of their own, to have a boon granted or do penance. Even though it is in black and white, it is a film filled with sunshine. I recommend it to anyone who feels nostalgia for the past, even a past they never experienced.