Was it a long street with every house a different sort of sadness in it?

A Canterbury Tale

(1944)

Classically idiosyncratic Powell and Pressburger. Dennis Price, an actual GI (John Sweet in his sole film role) and a land girl team up to track down a nutter going around putting glue in young ladies' hair.

Forget about any idea of justice or unmasking a sicko (although the perpertrator is clearly touched in the head, his actions gain a kind of unconvincing legitimacy in the context of the story being told).

There's a nice sweep to the fulfillment of the characters' yearnings, even with the uncertain backdrop of being shipped off to fight, but as a whole this is unashamedly lightweight, distracted and something of a paean to country, as opposed to harsh city, life. Price was five years away from his greatest role, by which time he was sadly on his way to becoming an alcoholic too.

****

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