smiffy

Thank you Tim R , for such an eloquent and informative post

This was probably, the most accurate critique / synopsis , I have read with regard to ACT and I am sure Mr Crook would agree with you thoroughly .

I welcomed Bernardos post as It made me question my own perspective of the film ,although It didn't alter anything for me , as I had the same warm glow after rewatching It that I had the first time I watched It .

You are spot on Tim about this being the place for civil discourse I hope other members read your post ,in the hope It will remind them that civil , informative responses ,promote healthy discussion

I May be getting older ,but I refuse to grow up

Keechelus

The Glue Man sub-plot still puzzles me, after a dozen viewings of this poetic film.

British rural bogeyman legends are a long tradition, so maybe Powell thought this was an introduction to the oddity of Kentish life. Thank goodness, the Glue Man mystery was ended early, and the story drove forward.

A minor fault: US Sgt Johnson (John Sweet) met his soul mates at a timber yard. They discussed how to cure green lumber until it was ready for use. My gripe: Sgt Johnson said he was from Oregon, and talked about oak and chestnut.

Grr. Oregon is a western state that produces fir, pine and cedar - Pacific coast softwoods that are unlike British hardwoods. Their conversation would have been credible had Sweet's character been from Ohio or Pennsylvania.

These are minor quibbles. ACT suspended belief to make important points, and sometimes focussed on tiny details for effect. "Oy, mister, are you a Sergeant? Yer stripes are wrong-way up!"

That's right, USA chevrons are opposite to British stripes. That gave ACT a brief laugh.

In the end, A CANTERBURY TALE made its points well. The pilgramage was accidental for Sgt Johnson. He got off the train one station short of Canterbury. His new friends created a different life than he expected.

When they got to Canterbury, each had their their own duty, but every one had been affected by their companions.

Was this a flagwaver? Oh yeah. As seen in the search of bombed-flat Canterbury streets for an address lost in the rubble. British defiance was rightly shown in the signs "Messrs Smith & Watkins relocated to 140 Church Street" etc.

MNP

Hi all,
Sorry to stumble across this thread so late!
I love the film. As a 10 year old moving to West Kent in 1968, I could still feel some of the charm of the old county portrayed in the film before it became commuter zone by the time I left in 1987.
My old school friend from Sevenoaks who now lives in the States so enjoyed it when he was over, he sent me the US version with both endings and special programme of John Sweet returning to Canterbury around 2000. Great DVD!!
Mark

TimR

Thanks Smiffy - always good to talk with you.

Yes, a good disagreement does make me think about why I like or dislike a film, and at times - especialy here on this forum - I have looked again at a film that I didn't enjoy as a boy and tested my own response.

In the case of The Battle of Britain I realized that my initial response, at the wise old age of 15, had to be reconsidered. I only wanted to see documentaries then (that was when The World at War was shown here for the first time....) and I was biased against the mixture of history and fiction.

After seeing the discussion here, I watched it again - and was moved impressed.

TimR

Yes, Keechelus - nicely observed from a fellow North American.

I was also surprised when Johnson said he was from Oregon because of his speech, as he has the flat accent and rolling tempo of the midwest, with the slight twang found in the northern states near the Canadian border. But it doesn't really matter: he becomes a living symbol of the US.

Yes - and it started the gentle banter between Johnson and the English that forms so much of the dialogue. There are so many examples of this. Very nice.

Precisely. And this is the real plot of the film: the journey that appears to be haphazard and circumstantial, yet develops the inevitability of a calling. That is, literally, what legends are made of.

Indeed. Enormously moving.

The sequence of Alison walking along the streets of Canterbury, and her observations, is as rich and telling in its own way as The Battle of Britain.

tali122

I feared the Sims mistake!
Is it only Ms Sims and John Sweet who are surviving members?
Also intruiged by Kathleen Lucas who towards end of film played "Passer-by" - her only film role - any more known about her?

I hear the Union Jack still remains.I see Namijira in custody
and I see Truganini's in chains.

Keechelus

Thanks, TimR, for your thoughts.

On first viewing last year, A CANTERBURY TALE was a nice little story. My wife thought so too and liked it. I have seen it twice since, and I am ready for another look. It may not become an obsession - but there is more to enjoy I believe.

Damn you, Powell and Pressburger! I am cursed and blessed with five of your movies on DVD. I may spend my waning years watching PnP.

Steve Crook

Lots of others have made it as well

Of the leading adult players, yes. There are still a few of the boys who are still with us and some who appeared in smaller roles as well as some of the crew.

David Todd (Commander Todd), Sheila Sim and Len Smith (General Leslie) in Canterbury Cathedral after a screening of the film. I caught Win Tamsitt, the widow of James Tamsitt (General Terry Holmes), looking over David's shoulder. Jimmy died in 1989.



Not too much. it was her only film role. She was in charge of the WVS (Women's Voluntary service) in Canterbury and did various other volunteer work. Not just during the war but before and after it as well. She's just a typical example of the sort of lady that was (and is) the backbone of this country - and you have to love that accent

Read Paul Tritton's book for more details, interviews with many of the people involved while they were still alive, details of locations and much more.

Steve

Steve Crook

I can think of worse ways to spend them, but not many better
And they even made one in Canada as well

Steve

Steve Crook

Not to mention that wonderful documentary A Canterbury Trail where we were filmed during our annual location walk

The part of North East Kent around Canterbury is still remarkably like it was in 1944. OK, there are a lot more cars and TV aerials, but there are a lot of places there that are still recognisable from the film. Most of the big development and the commuter zone happened in the Medway area, up to and beyond Sevenoaks (which is down to about 2 oaks after the great storm of October 1987) and along the M2 between London and Dover.

Canterbury itself has been "improved" and redeveloped (i.e. messed up) quite a few times, although there is still that big old church there. There are parts of Canterbury that haven't been touched for 3 or 4 hundred years.

But the villages like Chilham, Fordwich, Wickhambreaux and many others are still lovely

Steve

Keechelus

" And they even made one in Canada as well ".

Yes, and not just in Canada, but surprisingly about Canada. 49th PARALLEL explored some issues that Canada's wartime government was negligent in addressing, notably the loyalty of German-heritage farmers on our prairie. PnP's courage in showing a Hutterite community in Manitoba as loyal Canadians, despite their belief in opposition to military service, was a landmark in WW2-era movies, and is still a damn good statement today.

Steve Crook

All of their wartime films were a bit out of the ordinary.

First, none of them showed much fighting. They were about the effects of war on people, not about the guns and explosions and other things that many film-makers get side-tracked by.

Secondly, unlike most propaganda films (from any period) they didn't condemn everyone in the nation we were fighting against. They had likeable and reasonable Germans even when we were fighting for our survival in a war against Germany. From Capt. Hardt in The Spy in Black, Vogel the baker in 49th Parallel and Theo Kretschmar-Schuldorff in Colonel Blimp. Some of these were even in the armed forces fighting against us, but they were shown to be human.

Of course 49th Parallel was aimed at your neighbours to the South as much as to the Canadians. Showing them that their neutrality wouldn't keep them from being involved. It was released here in October 1941 but wasn't released in the USA until 1942 by which time they'd joined in anyway.

Steve

stevie boy

A Canterbury Tale is an unusual but rewarding film. It shows imagination, expertise and an object lesson in photography. When I watch this film I always see something new(as in AMOLAD & Blimp) but more than that I see an England that is much changed. However, genius is timeless, and when you look at this film you see something magical and endearing.

TimR

You're welcome.

That's a beautiful sequence, isn't it?

That was the first Powell-Pressburger film I saw, without knowing anything about them. There is a marvelous moment after Eric Portman is giving what he assumes to be a rousing speech that will stir up the Hutterites - and it is followed by complete silence. It really is a superb scene that conveys so much.

Glynis Johns is a charmer. And Anton Walbrook is entirely convincing as the opposite of the sophisticated aesthete he so often plays elsewhere.

I saw it as a boy, and much of the film introduced me to parts of Canada that I did not know.

I had been familiar with the maritimes because of its proximity to New England and my own family's attachment to Canada (both my parents were avid Canadaphiles) but knew little about the country west of Quebec (at that tme, that was also true of my own country. I had not traveled west of Pennsylvania) It serves as a sort of travelogue for the central provinces and parts of the pacific northwest.

TimR

Magical and endearing and genius are all apt words. The film never fails to move me from the opening credits.

I have attempted to analyze its effect and have succeeded only in part. They really were magicians.