Time Out review
A Canterbury Tale
| (1944, GB, 124 min b/w)
|
| director / producer / screenplay
| Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
|
| director of photography
| Erwin Hillier
|
| editor
| John Seabourne
|
| production design
| Alfred Junge
|
| music
| Allan Gray
|
Cast:
Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, John Sweet, Dennis Price, Esmond Knight,
Charles Hawtrey, George Merritt, Edward Rigby
Michael Powell's extraordinary film proceeds from the faintly bizarre story
of three characters (a land girl, a British sergeant and a US sergeant)
who, arriving by the same train in a small Kent village, make friends and
set out to unmask the mysterious 'glue man' who pours glue on to the
hair of girls out late at night with servicemen. But the film shows a
sharp awareness of the tensions underlying a country community in
wartime - from ruralresentment of the influx of outsiders to more
long-term fears of the decay of a traditional social order. An assertion
of
stability to counterbalance these is provided by Powell's almost mystical
sense of historical continuity, epitomised by Canterbury Cathedral and
the Pilgrims' way as captured by Erwin Hillier's lyrical photography.
Though infuriatingly difficult to categorise, the film is bold, inventive,
stimulating and extremely entertaining.
Allan T Sutherland
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