Whan That Bonus — Lucas Blogs About A Canterbury Tale
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| Huh, I guess the library lost the Criterion Collection booklet. |
Wait a minute, this is the last Monday of the month, shouldn't this be Whan That Augustus?
It should, but you may recall that A Year of Unfortunate Events started to feel like a homework assignment after awhile.
You may have complained about that at some point.
I did. And since I'm taking a month off from The Canterbury Tales I thought we could talk about A Canterbury Tale instead.
So this is gonna be like that time when you talked about A Knight's Tale last month?
This is gonna be like that.
Did a lot of people read that one?
Nope!
You know, I can't say as I'd heard of A Canterbury Tale before.
I'd heard of it, but I'd never seen it before. So let's talk about it.
I'm game.
A Canterbury Tale was written, directed, and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (aka The Archers) during WWII. It's a mystery in small town, but describing it that way may be missing the point. It starts with three strangers meeting at a train station in rural Kent: Sgt. Bob Johnson (Sgt. John Sweet) of the US Army, Sgt. Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price) of the British Army, and (what other name could the female lead have but) Alison Smith (Sheila Sim) of the Women's Land Army. They've arrived late at night, and on their way to check in at the town hall, Alison is attacked by the Glue Man.
The Glue Man?
Yeah, he's been pouring glue in women's hair late at night. Particularly if they've out with soldiers earlier in the evening. In any case, they chase after the Glue Man but he seems to get away after climbing into a second story window in Town Hall. But all they find in the town hall is Mr. Colpeper (Eric Portman) an avuncular, if standoffish, gentleman farmer and magistrate with a keen interest in local history.
Gee, I wonder if there's any connection?
Well, you say that, but the film isn't so much about about figuring out who the Glue Man is. (Our trio is pretty convinced about the who from the start.) It's more about their efforts to prove it, and the ways in which they interact with the local community to do so. For a movie about catching a creep with an occasional German Expressionist look (thanks to cinematographer Erwin Hillier) it's got a pretty chill vibe. A lot of the movie is made up of the characters hanging around and talking. Speaking of I gotta call out the scene where Johnson strikes up a conversation with a British soldier (played by the narrator Esmond Knight) and they bond over the fact that they both come from places named "Sisters" (Johnson from Three Sisters Falls Oregon, the other soldier from Seven Sisters Street in London).
And does the film have any connection to The Canterbury Tales besides its title?
Oh, yeah! So it takes place in the fictional town of Chillingbourne which is on the road to Canterbury. And the ending features the principal cast taking the train to Canterbury with the action culminating at Canterbury Cathedral itself.
Is that it?
No. It opens with the narrator reading a modernized version of the start of the General Prologue and with scenes of medieval pilgrims traveling along the road. You even can spot the Miller playing his bagpipes.
This is gonna be like that.
Did a lot of people read that one?
Nope!
You know, I can't say as I'd heard of A Canterbury Tale before.
I'd heard of it, but I'd never seen it before. So let's talk about it.
I'm game.
A Canterbury Tale was written, directed, and produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (aka The Archers) during WWII. It's a mystery in small town, but describing it that way may be missing the point. It starts with three strangers meeting at a train station in rural Kent: Sgt. Bob Johnson (Sgt. John Sweet) of the US Army, Sgt. Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price) of the British Army, and (what other name could the female lead have but) Alison Smith (Sheila Sim) of the Women's Land Army. They've arrived late at night, and on their way to check in at the town hall, Alison is attacked by the Glue Man.
The Glue Man?
Yeah, he's been pouring glue in women's hair late at night. Particularly if they've out with soldiers earlier in the evening. In any case, they chase after the Glue Man but he seems to get away after climbing into a second story window in Town Hall. But all they find in the town hall is Mr. Colpeper (Eric Portman) an avuncular, if standoffish, gentleman farmer and magistrate with a keen interest in local history.
Gee, I wonder if there's any connection?
Well, you say that, but the film isn't so much about about figuring out who the Glue Man is. (Our trio is pretty convinced about the who from the start.) It's more about their efforts to prove it, and the ways in which they interact with the local community to do so. For a movie about catching a creep with an occasional German Expressionist look (thanks to cinematographer Erwin Hillier) it's got a pretty chill vibe. A lot of the movie is made up of the characters hanging around and talking. Speaking of I gotta call out the scene where Johnson strikes up a conversation with a British soldier (played by the narrator Esmond Knight) and they bond over the fact that they both come from places named "Sisters" (Johnson from Three Sisters Falls Oregon, the other soldier from Seven Sisters Street in London).
And does the film have any connection to The Canterbury Tales besides its title?
Oh, yeah! So it takes place in the fictional town of Chillingbourne which is on the road to Canterbury. And the ending features the principal cast taking the train to Canterbury with the action culminating at Canterbury Cathedral itself.
Is that it?
No. It opens with the narrator reading a modernized version of the start of the General Prologue and with scenes of medieval pilgrims traveling along the road. You even can spot the Miller playing his bagpipes.
Neat!
And you could even say that the protagonists are modern day pilgrims themse—
Boo! Could there possibly be a more cliché, surface level observation about a movie where the action culminates in a church?
Fine, but they are all grappling with uncertainty. Sure, there's the uncertainty of the war, but they still have to deal with the same uncertainties that any young person has. Johnson hasn't gotten a letter from his girlfriend in months, Alison's fiancé has been reported killed in action and before that her fiancé's family didn't approve of her because she was a shop girl, and Gibbs, a classically trained organist, is worried that he's wasting his time working at a movie theater instead of pursuing a more prestigious position. Then there's Colpeper who, when he's not busy enforcing sexual morality through vigilante glue-slinging, worries that young people don't have any appreciation for history or nature.
Wait, is that why he's doing it?
Well . . . kinda.
Doesn't he know that they might rather go out dancing instead of attend a history lecture because they're worried they might die in a German bombing raid or in the invasion of Normandy?
Look, I'm not particularly satisfied with the way the Glue Man mystery is resolved, but I do think the movie is relate-able precisely because the characters' concerns are sort of evergreen: I haven't heard from someone I care about, I'm not good enough for my S.O.'s family, I'm unfulfilled at work, I wish people cared more about this thing I value. And the fact that the plot largely exists as an excuse for the characters to hang out and interact with each other makes it more or less acceptable that the resolution is kinda meh, because the characters themselves do find resolution to their own concerns.
Okay, so do you recommend it?
Sure, if nothing else it's the only chill-hangout-noir-WWII-semi-comic-mystery film I've seen, and it makes a pretty solid case for the genre.
And there'll be a for realsies Whan That Month in September?
Only time will tell.
You're the worst, Lucas.
‾\_(ツ)_/‾
P.S. — The movie is available to stream on Amazon, and, obvs, as a DVD from the Criterion Collection (it might even be available at your local library), but if you're extraordinarily lazy or cheap, someone's also just put the whole thing up on YouTube. I mean, I don't know if it's public domain or not, but it's there.
P.P.S. — For its post-war release in America (it was not a hit) new scenes were shot to frame the story as a flash-black, and I'm pretty sure that material is on the DVD but I didn't watch the extras.
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