Discover
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s beloved classic A Canterbury Tale is a profoundly personal journey to Powell’s bucolic birthplace of Kent, England. Set amidst the tumult of the Second World War yet with a rhythm as delicate as a lullaby, the film follows three modern-day incarnations of Chaucer’s pilgrims—a melancholy "landgirl," a plainspoken American GI, and a resourceful British sergeant—who are waylaid in the English countryside and forced to solve a bizarre village crime en route to the mythical town. Building to a majestic climax that ranks as one of the filmmaking duo’s finest achievements, the dazzling A Canterbury Tale has acquired a following passionate enough to qualify as a pilgrimage all its own.
Original Release
08/21/1944
US Release
01/21/1949
Links
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Eric Portman | Thomas Colpeper, JP |
Sheila Sim | Alison Smith |
Dennis Price | Peter Gibbs |
John Sweet | Bob Johnson |
Esmond Knight | Village Idiot / Narrator (non-US versions) / Seven-Sisters Soldier / Narrator |
Charles Hawtrey | Thomas Duckett |
Hay Petrie | Woodcock |
George Merritt | Ned Horton |
Edward Rigby | Jim Horton |
Freda Jackson | Prudence Honeywood |
Directors
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Writers
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Cast
Name | Character |
---|
Eric Portman | Thomas Colpeper, JP |
Sheila Sim | Alison Smith |
Dennis Price | Peter Gibbs |
John Sweet | Bob Johnson |
Esmond Knight | Village Idiot / Narrator (non-US versions) / Seven-Sisters Soldier / Narrator |
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 |
David Todd | David |
Beresford Egan | P.C. Ovenden / P. C. Ovenden |
Anthony Holles | Sergt. Bassett |
Maude Lambert | Miss Grainger |
Wallace Bosco | Man A.R.P. Worker / A. R. P. Worker |
Producers
Name | Role |
---|
Michael Powell | Producer |
Emeric Pressburger | Producer |
Jock Laurence | Producer |