A Canterbury Tale

Written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, A Canterbury Tale is the story of three different visitors who arrive in a small English town that is plagued by an incident as they decide to go after the man who caused this incident. The film is about the relationship between British and American personnel during World War II as they band together to solve a bizarre crime. Starring Eric Portman, Sheila Sim, Dennis Price, Sgt. John Sweet, and Esmond Knight. A Canterbury Tale is an extraordinarily rich film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

The film is about a trio of visitors who arrive in a town near Canterbury where they learn about a mysterious man who pours glue onto women’s heads where the three go on a search to find out who did this. With two of them being Army sergeants as one of them is an American and the third person of the party is a London woman seeking to work for a prominent local figure in Mr. Colpeper (Eric Portman). The trio suspect Mr. Colpeper as they do a lot of guesswork with the help of various locals as they also make some discoveries about the small town they’re in which relates to the pilgrimage to Canterbury that happened 600 years ago. There, the three deal with their own desires in life as they eventually make their arrival to Canterbury in a pilgrimage of their own.

The screenplay by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is a bit of a genre-bending film where it is a mystery but also a drama of sorts as it relates to these three different people. A British Sergeant in Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price), an American army Sergeant in Bob Johnson (John Sweet), and a London woman going to Canterbury to retrieve a caravan named Alison Smith (Sheila Sim). Each person have their own reasons to go to Canterbury yet they come together in a series of circumstances as well as teaming up to solve the mystery over the man who pours glue onto women’s heads. During this investigation in a small town, all three wander around the land they’re in as they all have a different reaction to it. The script gives the three characters a chance to find themselves in the town as they eventually arrive to Canterbury as they all go through some kind of transformation.

The direction of Powell and Pressburger is very engaging not just in the way they set up the film but also make similarities to the original pilgrimage to Canterbury to the journey Gibbs, Johnson, and Smith take part in. Notably as the film starts with a scene of pilgrims making their way towards Canterbury and then create this cut of a hawk flying in the air to a shot of a plane flying above. Things are much different in the scenes set in the present where it’s a world that isn’t ravaged by war. Though the people in this small town are aware of what is going on, they’re more concerned about what’s happening to them locally.

The direction is often filled with a series of stylish shots such as establishing location shots, close-ups, and a lot of group shots to present a world that is this mix between old and new. While the third act is about who is the culprit behind these incidents and why, it is then followed by the three main characters each going into their own individual journey to see what awaits for them in Canterbury as it’s ending plays into what they receive in the end. Overall, Powell and Pressburger create an enchanting yet captivating film about a group of people coming together to discover a world that is different from their environment.

Cinematographer Erwin Hiller does excellent work with the film‘s black-and-white photography from the use of very little lighting schemes to the scenes at night in its exterior settings to the array of shades and such in some of the film‘s interior scenes. Editor and sound supervisor John Seabourne Jr. does wonderful work with the film‘s stylized editing with its use of rhythmic cuts and some stylized transitions in wipes and dissolves while using the sound to maintain a low-key atmosphere in some scenes. Production designer Alfred Junge does nice work with the film‘s set pieces for the scenes in the small town from the inn the characters stay in to the office of Mr. Colpeper. The film’s music by Allan Gray is brilliant for its sweeping orchestral score to play out some of the bombast of the journey as well as more serene moments for its drama.

The film’s cast is amazing as it features some noteworthy small roles from Leonard Smith, James Tamsitt, and David Todd as a trio of boys who pretend to be soldiers as they befriend Gibbs and Johnson while Esmond Knight is excellent in a trio of roles such as the film’s narrator in the opening sequence, a village idiot, and as a soldier Johnson befriends during a town meeting. Eric Portman is wonderful as the mysterious Thomas Colpeper as a man who is revered by the locals while being gracious towards the visitors despite being ambiguous about where he goes.

John Sweet is terrific as the American Sergeant Bob Johnson as a man who arrives to the small town by accident only to be wowed by its beauty and its people as he deals with not having contact with a lady friend for seven weeks. Dennis Price is superb as Sergeant Peter Gibbs as a man who hasn’t been to the countryside while dealing with his own issues as a man in the army as he craves to go back to his old job. Finally, there’s Sheila Sim as Alison Smith who is a woman helping out locals while trying to uncover the mystery as she is also dealing with her own issues with the war.

A Canterbury Tale is a splendid film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Armed with a great cast and engaging themes about pilgrimage and seeking one’s desire for a life outside of war. It’s a film that is definitely one of Powell and Pressburger’s finer films as well as one that is very accessible in the way it allows characters to find themselves. In the end, A Canterbury Tale is a remarkable film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Powell/Pressburger Films: The Spy is Black - (The Lion Has Wings) - Contraband - (An Airman’s Letter to His Mother) - 49th Parallel - One of Our Aircraft is Missing - The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - (The Volunteer) - I Know Where I’m Going - A Matter of Life and Death - Black Narcissus - The Red Shoes - The Small Black Room - (Gone to Earth) - The Tales of Hoffmann - (Oh… Rosalinda!!!) - (The Battle of the River Plate) - Ill Met by Moonlight - Peeping Tom - (They’re a Weird Mob) - (Age of Consent) - (The Boy Who Turned Yellow)

© thevoid99 2013

One of Our Aircraft is Missing

Written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, One of Our Aircraft is Missing is the story about a British bomber crew who try to evade from the Nazis with the help of the Dutch underground. The film is a story of survival as it involves an entire group of men who have to work together and deal with the Nazis during World War II. Starring Godfrey Tearle, Eric Portman, Hugh Williams, Bernard Miles, Hugh Burden, Emrys Jones, Googie Withers, and Pamela Brown. One of Our Aircraft is Missing is a marvelous suspense-war film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

During this tense period of World War II where Nazi Germany has occupied many countries to maintain their rule, there is always an underground force to resist the powers of the Nazis while helping the Allies in defeating the Germans. The film is about a British bomber crew whose plane has been shot down following a raid in Stuttgart, Germany where the six men land in Nazi-occupied Netherlands. Yet, one of them is separated from the rest of the gang leaving five of them to find shelter in a local village where a schoolteacher named Else Meertens (Pamela Brown) helps them as they’re lead to seek help from the Dutch underground that includes a woman named Jo de Vries (Googie Withers) who organizes their escape. Yet, all six men realize what is at stake as they do whatever to help not just themselves but the Dutch who are dealing with the control of the Nazis.

While it is a film that does support the Allies cause against Nazi Germany and to support the Dutch resistance, it is a film about men trying to survive in war and helping out the Dutch resistance who are helping them get back to Britain. These six men not only count each other for help and support but also are aware that they’re in danger and could lose all hope if they’re captured. While they do struggle with a few language, cultural, and religious barriers with the Dutch, they do accept it as a way to survive while getting a chance to realize the kind of the help they needed. Even as they help expose a Dutch Nazi sympathizer (Robert Helpmann) who is confronted by both these men and his own countrymen as he realizes he’s fucked. Still, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger slowly take their time with the script to explore the men in their situation as well as what the Dutch have to go through under Nazi occupation.

The film’s direction by Powell and Pressburger is quite simple as it doesn’t play to any kind of conventional tactics as well as the lack of a music score. Instead, they aim for a realism from the use of tight close-ups and claustrophobic framing to capture the atmosphere of what it would be like in a bomber plane. Things do get looser once they’re in the Netherlands though it’s shot in Britain due to the fact that the Netherlands was occupied by the Nazis during the film’s production. Yet, there is an air of suspense that occurs throughout the film as well as bits of humor such as the discovery of the lost sixth member of the crew. The film’s third act which is about the escape that involves these intricate moments of how to escape through the canals and to the sea are very intense as Powell and Pressburger create unique camera angles and framing to play out the sense of danger that is happening. Overall, Powell and Pressburger create a fascinating and intense film about war and the urge to survive.

Cinematographer Ronald Neame does excellent work with the film‘s black-and-white photography to create some amazing lighting schemes in the canal scenes to maintain that air of suspense as well as some light-hearted moments in some of the daytime exterior scenes. Editor David Lean does terrific work with the editing to play out the suspense in a very slow yet meticulous manner to see how things are planned out and what the men do to kill time as well as rhythmic cuts in some of its more eerie moments. Art director David Rawnsley does wonderful work with the set pieces from the look of the Dutch homes and their underground canals. Sound supervisor A.W. Watkins does nice work with the sound to capture the atmosphere of war with air sirens and gunfire.

The film’s cast is brilliant as it features some notable small roles from Robert Helpmann as Dutch Nazi-sympathizer who gets himself in trouble, Hay Petrie as a local Dutch official, and in his film debut, Peter Ustinov as a priest who helps out the British. Pamela Brown and Googie Withers are excellent in their respective roles as Else Meertens and Jo de Vries who help out the British men in their chance to escape. In the roles of the bomber crew, there’s Bernard Miles as front gunner Geoff Hickman and Godrey Terle as the rear gunner Sir George Corbett as they are excellent as is Emrys Jones as the wireless operator Bob Ashley who is a football fanatic. Hugh Williams is wonderful as the observer/navigator Frank Shelley who is also an actor as he observes everything around him. Hugh Burden and Eric Portman are superb in their respective roles as the pilots in John Glyn Haggard and Tom Earnshaw who lead the escape while making sure everything goes well.

One of Our Aircraft is Missing is a remarkable film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. While it’s kind of a propaganda-war film for the British and their Allies, it is still a captivating piece for how a group of men struggle to evade the Nazi and help out the Dutch resistance in the fight against Nazi Germany. It’s also a film that doesn’t play to conventions as far as war and suspense films go by allowing the audience to be engrossed in the situation and the people in the story. In the end, One of Our Aircraft is Missing is a superb film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Powell/Pressburger Films: The Spy is Black - (The Lion Has Wings) - Contraband - (An Airman’s Letter to His Mother) - 49th Parallel - The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - (The Volunteer) - A Canterbury Tale - I Know Where I’m Going - A Matter of Life and Death - Black Narcissus - The Red Shoes - The Small Black Room - (Gone to Earth) - The Tales of Hoffmann - (Oh… Rosalinda!!!) - (The Battle of the River Plate) - Ill Met by Moonlight - Peeping Tom - (They’re a Weird Mob) - (Age of Consent) - (The Boy Who Turned Yellow)

© thevoid99 2013

49th Parallel

Directed by Michael Powell and written by Emeric Pressburger, with additional work by Rodney Ackland, 49th Parallel is the story of a World War II U-boat crew who arrive in Canada after their boat has sunk. In order to avoid the Canadian army, the crew make their way to the U.S. to avoid capture. A film made during World War II, the project marks the third official movie by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger as they would become of the key forces for British cinema. Starring Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, Anton Walbrook, Raymond Massey, and Eric Portman. 49th Parallel is a superb yet suspenseful film from the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

After sinking a boat nearby the Hudson Bay in Canada, a German U-boat commander (Richard George) asks Lieutenant Hirth (Eric Portman) and Lieutenant Kuhnecke (Raymond Lovell) along with four crew members to go to a nearby camp to get food and fuel. During the journey, Hirth, Kuhnecke, and their men see their submarine attacked by the Canadian air force as they realize they have to escape Canada. Arriving into the camp, they take shelter into the home of a French-Canadian hunter (Laurence Olivier) and the camp leader (Finlay Currie) only to take over and deal Eskimo tribes and later steal a plane.

Arriving nearby a Hutterite community close to Winnipeg, the remaining gang led by Hirth seek shelter by the community as its leader Peter (Anton Walbrook) take them in. When one of the U-boat sailors in Vogel (Niall MacGinnis) finds comfort in the community, Hirth believes that the community could be of help when he gives a stirring speech about Nazism. Yet, Peter finds Hirth and his men trouble though he does accept Vogel who explains about his old life prior to Nazism. Hirth and his remaining men leave the camp as they continue to trek into Canada in hopes to reach Vancouver as there’s a bounty on them. During the journey, the men would encounter eccentric figures such as a novelist (Leslie Howard) and a deserting Canadian soldier (Raymond Massey) leaving them to wonder if they would ever escape.

While the film was made during the early years of 1941 as a propaganda piece of sorts for the then-neutral U.S. at the time. It is a film about survival but from the perspective of the Nazis as they trek through Canada in hopes to make it to the U.S. and return safely to Germany. During the journey which starts off with six men in the beginning, the team would eventually become smaller as the journey to the unarmed U.S.-Canada border near Vancouver. Yet, they would encounter places and people during this journey as one of their superiors want them to enjoy the splendor of Nazism in his belief that Germany will win the war. Unfortunately, a Hutterite leader disagrees while one of the sailors in that group regains his love for baking and comforts a young Hutterite girl (Glyins Johns) who lost her family because of the Nazis.

Emeric Pressburger, with help from Rodney Ackland on the scenario, creates a script that allows these men who are supposed to be the villains become more real during the journey. Particularly Vogel and Hirth where they would have some development during their journey while Hirth maintains his belief in the greater good that Adolf Hitler will bring with Nazism. What makes the journey more interesting are the people they meet such as a French-Canadian hunter who has been away from the world for some time along with the Hutterites and various people throughout Canada. In the end, the stakes of being caught or killed by 11 million Canadians is something Hirth and his men can’t endure while they hope to return to Germany as heroes.

Michael Powell’s direction is truly engaging in the way he captures the Canadian landscape as he got the chance to shoot the film on location in Canada. Yet, he also makes the country a character of its own from its gorgeous forest, vast mountains, and large wheat fields. It’s a place that is very different from Germany where Powell keeps the camera in tact of everything that is going on. From some great wide shots to close-ups, Powell makes sure the camera is always making sure something is happening. Yet, he allows characters such as Hirth and Peter to have their moments about the idea of the world as Hirth is the one character struggling to maintain his beliefs. While the film does have a few flaws as a propaganda piece, notably the way the film ends on a humorous note. It is a film that is a great piece of survival largely due to the writing of Emeric Pressburger and Powell’s compelling direction making it one of their finer collaborations.

Cinematographer Freddie Young does excellent work with the film‘s black-and-white photography to bring a wonderful bright yet broad look to the Canadian mountains and forests along with some great nighttime shots for the cities and places the character live in. The editing by future acclaimed filmmaker David Lean is very good for maintaining a leisured pace while keeping the film straightforward with some transitional dissolves and fade-outs to keep the film moving along throughout the film.

Art director David Rawnsley does some nice work with the look of the cabin the Nazis embark on along with the Hutterite homes and teepees they would seek shelter in. Sound supervisor A.W. Watkins does fantastic work with the sound from the way bombs fall to gun shots and the crowd interacting in the cities and town meetings. The film’s music by Ralph Vaughn Williams is superb for its intense yet serene score for many of the film’s tense moments along with some lighthearted pieces for some of the low-key and relaxing moments of the film.

The cast is definitely a highlight in the film as it includes some notable small performances from Ley On as an Eskimo in cabin scenes, Charles Victor and Frederick Piper as a couple of Hutterites, and Theodore Salt as a U.S. Customs officer. In other small roles, there’s some fantastic work from Glynis Johns as Anna, Raymond Massey as an AWOL Canadian soldier, and Finlay Currie as the Eskimo camp leader. For the roles of the Nazi sailors, there’s Basil Appleby, John Chandos, and Peter Moore as the three men who help along with Richard George as the U-boat commander. Raymond Lovell is very good as Lieutenant Kuhnecke, an officer who tries to get everyone to calm down as he tries to save everyone by flying the plane they stole. Niall MacGinnis is excellent as Vogel, a sailor who finds peace at the Hutterite home as he deals with Hirth’s brutal leadership and how much Nazism has changed his life for the worst.

Leslie Howard is superb as Phillip Armstrong Scott, a novelist Hirth and his men meet where Howard brings a great sense of charm to a man that is an outsider only to be aware of who he is facing. Anton Walbrook is phenomenal as Peter, a Hutterite community leader who takes the Nazis in only to be alienated by Hirth’s speech as he counters it with a wonderful monologue about the Hutterite life. Laurence Olivier is great in a very funny role as a French-Canadian hunter who learns about what’s going on in World War II while trying to aggravate the Nazis. Finally, there’s Eric Portman in a brilliant performance as Lieutenant Hirth. Portman’s performance is very captivating as a man trying to maintain his beliefs and instill them in the people he meets.

49th Parallel is a compelling war film from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger featuring a superb cast that includes Eric Portman, Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier, and Anton Walbrook. While it’s a film that might not have the grandeur as later Powell-Pressburger films like The Red Shoes, it is a film that is intriguing for its study of men who are on the other side of war. Particularly as it gives a more dimensional characterization to men who are Nazis during the early stages of World War II. In the end, 49th Parallel is stellar film from the great duo of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Powell-Pressburger Films: The Spy in Black - (The Lion Has Wings) - Contraband - (An Airman’s Letter to His Mother) - One of Our Aircraft is Missing - The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - (The Volunteer) - A Canterbury Tale - I Know Where I’m Going - A Matter of Life and Death - Black Narcissus - The Red Shoes - The Small Black Room - (Gone to Earth) - The Tales of Hoffmann - (Oh… Rosalinda!!!) - (The Battle of the River Plate) - Ill Met by Moonlight - Peeping Tom - (They’re a Weird Mob) - (Age of Consent) - (The Boy Who Turned Yellow)

© thevoid99 2011