The Powell & Pressburger Pages Dedicated to the work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and all the other people, both actors and technicians who helped them make those wonderful films. A lot of the documents have been sent to me or have come from other web sites. The name of the web site is given where known. If I have unintentionally included an image or document that is copyrighted or that I shouldn't have done then please email me and I'll remove it. I make no money from this site, it's purely for the love of the films. [Any comments are by me (Steve Crook) and other members of the email list]

Submitted by Roger Mellor

A Canterbury Tale (1944)
"Radio Times" film guide

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Director - Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Screenplay - Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Producers - Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Starring - Eric Portman & Sheila Sim
Running Time - 119 mins
Country of Origin - UK

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's re-think of Chaucer is the most peculiar piece of wartime propaganda ever devised. Two army sergeants (one British, one American) and a girl arrive at a Kentish village which is within praying distance of Canterbury. The girls hereabouts fraternise with servicemen and one local yokel pours glue into their hair as punishment. Our three modern pilgrims set out to find the perpetrator. While it's hard to convey the film's eerie shifts of mood, it impresses as a study of a community resistant to change. In the year of D-Day, Powell and Pressburger seem torn between welcoming American support and warning of a loss of traditional English values. A far-sighted film, then, dismissed at the time, and lyrical in its celebration of a disappearing England.

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