Along with I Know Where I'm Going, The Small Back Room, and A Matter Of Life And Death, all misunderstood, neglected or downright rejected on their first release, A Canterbury Tale is a Powell-Pressburger film worthy of rediscovery, considered by Powell to be one of his most interesting films (and by his critics as one of his most perverse, along with Peeping Tom). A Canterbury Tale was condemned as a failure on its release, and immediately cut. Essentially it is an extended meditation on the positive and negative aspects of tradition - a call to adjust to the reality of wartime Britain while respecting the past - hung on the slender tale of a U.S. Sergeant spending several days' leave on his way to see Canterbury Cathedral. According to the National Film Theatre of London, where it was recently shown: “Beautiful black and white photography and a subtle, poetic construction make this one of the happiest re-discoveries of recent years.”