Year: 1944
Director(s): Powell & Pressburger
Country: UK
Language: English
Most of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's pictures are bonifide classics; fairytales for adults in the purest sense. Shot in 1943, while the Second World War was raging in the allies favour, A Canterbury Tale proves to be quite splendid. The whimsical tale echoes the pride in ancestral knowledge, which makes the villain's motives almost admirable.
A 'Land Girl', an American GI, and a British soldier find themselves together in a small Kent town on the road to Canterbury. The town is being plagued by a mysterious "glue-man", who pours glue on the hair of girls dating soldiers after dark. The three attempt to track him down.
It would be hard to find a kinder, more loving, and more tender picture about England, and particularly Kent, than A Canterbury Tale. Its beautifies nature, romanticizes myth and history, and admires the customs and traditions of the England of old. It connects big sweeping themes about life and love to the intimate and everyday.
A Canterbury Tale is charming, a love letter to history that can be seen in every little camera movement. A "war" film, from the view of civillians, has never felt so peaceful. Shots of the English countryside revel in the true glory that is England. The plot, while important, is secondary to gorgeous black and white photography which displays the beautiful countryside with ample shots of wide sky and billowing fields.
A Canterbury Tale makes me want to fight for England...and I'm not English and there's not even a war going on! While its story is not as enthralling as Black Narcissus & A Matter of Life and Death I must admit I've fallen head over heels for this picture.
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