I kept trying to pull the narrative together in my head, until I rolled my eyes at myself and thought, "The Canterbury Tales, duh." So much of this tracks Chaucer, from this journey as a place where people from different worlds meet, to the juxtaposition of stories ranging from sentimental to broad & silly. And oh the magnificent way the Archers make use of metaphorical darkness, from the wartime blackouts to Colpeper's slide show to that haunting moment in the train tunnel. Intellectually I realize there's also something fitting about an amateur playing Sgt. Johnson, but it's still kind of a chore enduring his line readings. But it's worth it all to get to that triumphant finale, with Canterbury Cathedral--just as it was 600 years earlier--becoming a place where all the people of a nation come together in the belief that miracles are possible.

Big beautiful shadows contrast glorious moments of illumination both physical and spiritual. Characters struggle with a small mystery but cover a wide range of big questions about love, war, loss, provincial life and international affairs. Charming and impeccable on every technical level-the Archer way.

Man sure loves his wood

Couldn't get into this very much at all. Sorry, Archers.

Favourite from Powell and Pressburger.

A splendid yet captivating film about a trio of different people visiting a small British town near Canterbury to solve a mystery while making their own pilgrimage to Canterbury.

I kept trying to pull the narrative together in my head, until I rolled my eyes at myself and thought, "The Canterbury Tales, duh." So much of this tracks Chaucer, from this journey as a place where people from different worlds meet, to the juxtaposition of stories ranging from sentimental to broad & silly. And oh the magnificent way the Archers make use of metaphorical darkness, from the wartime blackouts to Colpeper's slide show to that haunting moment in the train tunnel. Intellectually I realize there's also something fitting about an amateur playing Sgt. Johnson, but it's still kind of a chore enduring his line readings. But it's worth it all to get to that triumphant finale, with Canterbury Cathedral--just as it was 600 years earlier--becoming a place where all the people of a nation come together in the belief that miracles are possible.

In which a community of ever-wandering pilgrims gets three new members. Not as flashy as the other Archers films, but I find it very hard not to call this my favorite. The movie has the same power as the Canterbury Road, an almost hypnotic pull to keep watching. Such humane brilliance.

“A Canterbury Tale” is poignant, surprising, and rich with achingly beautiful scenes of the bygone English countryside. It is also hauntingly strange. Featuring a mystery over the village “glue man” incidents, this film is not one to watch for the plot. Rather, it is a film in which to become as lost, starry-eyed, and searching as the modern pilgrims whose journey to Canterbury is chronicled throughout. Begins with a fitting homage to Chaucer, just as you would predict. Ends with blessings and benedictions, but of an unexpected nature. A lovely film whose strange beauty seems only to ripen with second viewings.

Oh. This is so dumb. I spent so much of this year falling in love with Powell and Pressburger. I get to this one, I’m all excited, and I get “The Glueman”? You have a movie called A Canterbury Tale and you waste it on a plot that is centrally “Who put the glue in Alison’s hair?” Come on now.

LAME.