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A Canterbury Tale (1944)
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Overview
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Directors:
Writers:
Release Date:
21 January 1949 (USA)
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Tagline:
Four modern pilgrims in a story of today - yet away from war.
Plot:
A 'Land Girl', an American GI, and a British soldier find themselves together in a small Kent town on the road to Canterbury...
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User Comments:
A deep & entertaining study
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Eric Portman | ... | Thomas Colpeper, JP |
| Sheila Sim | ... | Alison Smith |
| Dennis Price | ... | Peter Gibbs |
| Sergeant John Sweet | ... | Bob Johnson (as Sergt. John Sweet, U.S. Army) |
| Esmond Knight | ... | Narrator (non-US versions) / Seven-Sisters Soldier / Village Idiot |
| Charles Hawtrey | ... | Thomas Duckett |
| Hay Petrie | ... | Woodcock |
| George Merritt | ... | Ned Horton |
| Edward Rigby | ... | Jim Horton |
| Freda Jackson | ... | Prudence Honeywood |
| Betty Jardine | ... | Fee Baker |
| Eliot Makeham | ... | Organist |
| Harvey Golden | ... | Sergt. Roczinsky |
| Leonard Smith | ... | Leslie |
| James Tamsitt | ... | Terry |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
124 min | USA:95 min
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Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Gone with the Wind (1939) author Margaret Mitchell was on her way to see a showing of this film with her husband when she was hit by a speeding car. She was knocked out, and died five days later, having never recovered consciousness.
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Quotes:
Alison Smith:
Did you hear the news about last night Mr. Horton?
Jim Horton: There wasn't nothing on the wireless.
Alison Smith: No I didn't mean that sort of news. I meant what happened here last night.
Ned Horton: We get all our local news at 6 o'clock, Miss.
Bob Johnson: You got a local newspaper?
Ned Horton: No. That's when the pub opens.
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Jim Horton: There wasn't nothing on the wireless.
Alison Smith: No I didn't mean that sort of news. I meant what happened here last night.
Ned Horton: We get all our local news at 6 o'clock, Miss.
Bob Johnson: You got a local newspaper?
Ned Horton: No. That's when the pub opens.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in A Canterbury Trail (2006) (V)
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This is a multilayered, erudite, passionate exploration of England's national character. The route Powell and Pressburger take for this rather difficult task is to follow John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress'. During the second war a group of disparate people are thrown together one night at a deserted railway platform in Kent. Using a plot device of a mysterious, though harmless, assailant who preys upon women, P & P examines English country life, the Englishman's love for nature, the idisyncracies, the distrust of foreigners, the 'pubbing', the resilience, the faith in institutions (the church, the gentry), etc.
The scope of the movie is amazing, and in 2 hours it covers enormous ground. The entire thing is so skillfully and assuredly done that in spite of the absence of any stars and (almost) of a story, and the fact that John Bull is never my companion of choice in any desert island, I was riveted to this movie. Besides the acting, this effect was achieved also by Alfred Junge's brilliant art direction (I couldn't believe the Canterbury church was just a set) and William Hillier's black and white photography. Two scenes stand out - a bird 'turning into' an airplane signifying time going on ahead by a few centuries, and an armoured car breaking through bushes and undergrowth (a very 'Predator'-ish shot).
This is a must see.