Fifty Years of Film in 50 Weeks, #24: A Canterbury Tale, 1944

"And when I turn the bend in the road, where they too saw the towers of Canterbury, I feel I've only to turn my head, to see them on the road behind me."
Magistrate Thomas Colpeper

Above images from the opening credits

A Canterbury Tale, 1944

Writers, Directors and Producers: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Cinematographer: Erwin Hillier
Starring: Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price, Sgt. John Sweet

Why I chose it
Before I watched The Red Shoes and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I was wary of the British filmmaking team Powell and Pressburger, because I had disliked Black Narcissus, the first of their films I saw. But after I saw those films, I fell under the spell of this duo and have enjoyed a couple of their black and white films from 1940s. When this film showed up on a 'best of 1944' list, I happily dispensed with my usual Twitter poll and dove right into this new-to-me film from the duo who called themselves 'The Archers'.

'No-spoiler' plot overview 
In war-torn England, an English army sergeant (Peter played by Dennis Price), a U.S. Army sergeant (Bob played by John Sweet), and a young woman recently assigned to the 'Women's Land Army' (Alison played by Sheila Sim) meet when disembarking a train in small town Kent, one stop from their eventual destination of Canterbury. As they walk away from the station in the dark, Alison is accosted by an unknown uniformed man who pours glue on the back of her head and gets away without being identified. The three make a pact to investigate this latest in a series of assaults by the mysterious 'glueman', while taking on their current assignments and planning to head to Canterbury. They encounter the enigmatic local magistrate Thomas Colpeper (Eric Portman) who is intent on lecturing the locally-deployed soldiers about the history of the region and the famous 'Canterbury' Pilgrims Road. As the three young friends get closer to solving the glueman mystery, they bond over their own personal burdens and secrets, with the hope that their visit to Canterbury will bring answers. 

Our three modern pilgrims share a train compartment:
Alison, (Sheila Sim) bottom; Peter (Dennis Price), upper
left, and Bob (John Sweet), upper right.

Production Background
Fresh off of his success with the wartime satire The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Michael Powell had grown up in Kent and was attracted to the non-conventional wartime story because of his love of English history and small village life. He and Pressburger filmed on location in the Kent town of Fordwich  but named it Chillingbourne for the story. They made use of many locals in small parts in which they mostly played themselves, along with professional, if largely unknown actors, for the main and other bit parts. While they were allowed to film exteriors in Canterbury in and around the Cathedral, they were unable to film inside and had to recreate the gothic interiors in their studios in Denham.

Sgt. Johnson (Sweet) takes in the majesty of the Canterbury Cathedral.

They cast a complete unknown, John Sweet, for the part of the U.S. Sergeant who struggles to adjust to life in England. And there was a reason for that: Sweet himself was an actual U.S. Army Sergeant stationed in England whom the duo just happened to see in an amateur play put on by his outfit. Not able to employ their first choices of Burgess Meredith or Tyrone Power who were also in active service at the time, Powell & Pressburger made do with Sweet, who, with a little coaching, was a natural screen presence who brought 'aw shucks' integrity to his role as Bob Johnson. 

Once Sweet returned to the U.S. after the war, he attempted to capitalize on his screen credit with Britain's top filmmakers but was turned down for anything more than bit theatrical parts, and a Hollywood career failed to materialize. He returned to his teaching career (first college, then high school) and fell into obscurity as A Canterbury Tale failed to make much impression in the U.S. (even if there were flashback framing scenes added for U.S. audiences to help with the context). Many years later, Sweet was tracked down by Paul Tritton for a contribution to his planned 'making of' book on the film. Sweet was happy to share his diaries and personal photos he kept from the time of production, and was caught up in a wave of rediscovery of the film due to directors Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorcese championing the work of Powell and Pressburger.

In 2000, Sweet returned to Kent for a special screening of the film and reunited with Powell, Sheila Sim (now Lady Richard Attenborough) and many of the locals; Dennis Price and Eric Portman were deceased by then. So over 50 years later, Sweet's talents were recognized and appreciated by new generations, a fact that greatly satisfied him during the last years of his life. He lived to 2011, when he died at age 95. His obituary had one line about the film as follows: "Sweet...served as an Army Clerk in WWII in London where he was cast into a British film which changed his life."

Sgt. John Sweet with some local boys in A Canterbury Tale

An older John Sweet (center) with Sheila Sim at the 2000
celebration of the film in England. (Photo attributed to Paul
Tritton and posted on www.powell-pressburger.org).

Some other notable film-related events in 1944 (from Filmsite.org):

• The first Golden Globe awards ceremony took place at 20th Century Fox Studios, at first marked by the awarding of scrolls (not statuettes) to honorees (not nominees) who were announced earlier.
• A Los Angeles court ruled, in the so-called "Havilland decision," that Warner Bros. had to release actress Olivia de Havilland after her seven-year contract expired. It said that the studio could not add time to her contract to make up for the periods when she was on suspension. This ruling undercut studios' ability to lock actors into long-term contracts.
• A few years after his first lead film role in 1938, western star Roy Rogers' future wife Dale Evans was first cast in a movie opposite him (as Ysobel Martinez) in 1944 - Cowboy and the Señorita (1944). Following the 1946 death of Roy's wife Arline due to complications during childbirth, Roy married Dale on New Years Eve 1947.
• Swimmer Esther Williams starred in her first Technicolor aqua-musical in the MGM production of Bathing Beauty (1944). It featured synchronized swimming and diving numbers.
• To Have and Have Not (1944) paired an unhappily-married Humphrey Bogart and young Lauren Bacall for the first time (this was Lauren Bacall's movie debut at age 19 ). She was sensational when she first appeared with the sultry question: "Anybody got a match?" The couple fell in love while making the film - and were married shortly afterward in 1945.

My Random Observations

• After about 20 minutes, I paused the film to marvel that I had a smile on my face; unlike last week's movie, this one was a true pleasure, a reminder of why the best movies have so much power to entertain. Perhaps I needed something that was anti-Hollywood. Powell & Pressburger defied genre here, with corresponding tonal shifts (noir, comedy, romance, fantasy, and back again) and an unconventional script which--partial spoiler here--avoided a traditional romance of leading man and lady coming together at the end of the film, even though there were plenty of romantic feelings pulsing through our characters.
  

  

  In the English countryside, Alison and Bob bond by sharing
  the losses both have suffered.

  
  
• Speaking of John Sweet as Sgt. Bob Johnson, I knew immediately from his accent that his actor was American and not a Brit attempting a midwestern accent. And I appreciated that his character was utterly believable if a bit idealized. That there were multiple scenes of interactions between Bob and locals in which they struggled to get past the language and cultural differences, in all cases thanks to patience and good humor on all sides, mutual understanding was achieved. Bob himself was a mild-mannered American who worked to understand and be respected by villagers.
  
  

  

  Bob encounters a boy at his hotel window (it's revealed that
  the youngster is standing a top a moving hay pile) in a scene
  that reminded me of the conclusion of A Christmas Carol.

  
  
• I love the spunky, unconventional women who know their own minds in many of Powell and Pressburger films - Alison Smith follows this tradition perfectly (think Joan Webster in I Know Where I'm Going! or June in A Matter of Life and Death). And unlike most Hollywood leading ladies, Alison is not afraid to go around the countryside in pants and a hair scarf, with little to no makeup, and throw hay around a barnyard. When she's asked if she's afraid to go about for fear of another attack by the 'glueman', she says, "On the contrary, I'll go about every night until I catch him!" 

Shelia Sim as determined, unfazed Alison Smith.

• While the pilgrim path of the three young people is what we follow, the mysterious Mr. Colpeper, self-appointed preserver of local history and misogynistic Victorian values, seems to be on a journey toward a conversion of his own. When he complains that soldiers must be arm-twisted into attending his local history lectures, our heroine asks him "Did you ever think to invite the girls?" "No." "Pity," Alison says, with a long stare that I would like to believe convinces that this is one middle-aged man who will no longer underestimate a woman (he had earlier refused to employ Alison on his own farm because of her gender). He later turns up to offer Alison some comfort during a particularly emotional moment, perhaps to help make amends.
  
  

  

  The first time we see Colpeper in his office appropriately adorned
  with medieval touches.

  
  

  

  Colpeper counseling Peter Gibbs.

  
  

  

  Colpeper attempting to comfort Alison in Canterbury.

  
  
• There are enough slightly eerie touches to suggest some supernatural element(s) at work. All of which added to the overall sense of wonder in the everyday experiences the characters live on their individual and collective journeys:
  
  

  

  The first time we see the hotel sign: 'The Hand of Glory'

  
  

  

  In the film's prologue we see an original Canterbury pilgrim...

  
  

  

  ...transform into a soldier as he looks skyward (in a 
  sequence that may have inspired Kubrick's opening of 2001:
  A Space Odyssey)

  
  
• Note to self: don't wait too long before watching another Powell & Pressburger film.

Where to Watch

For those who subscribe, the film is available on the online Criterion Channel; it's available on their DVD of course, too, with many valuable extras including interviews with Sheila Sim and John Sweet. Amazon Prime customers can purchase the film online for $3.99. An inferior print is available for free on YouTube here.

Further Reading (because I really didn't do this film justice)
Writer Xan Brooks offers his reasons for why the film is his favorite in The Guardian (2011)
Peter von Bagh analyzes the film here for The Criterion Collection.