Stars: Heath Ledger, Mark Addy, Rufus Sewell, Paul Bettany, Laura Fraser, Christopher Cazenove, James Purefoy, Shannyn Sossamon

Director: Brian Helgeland

Summary: In the Middle Ages, before television or professional sports, there's only one form of competition to separate the men from the boys, jousting tournaments. William Thatcher (Heath Ledger), a poor and humble squire, has always dreamed of proving himself worthy as a knight in a jousting match. When he gets a lucky chance seeing an opportunity to disguise himself in the identity of a knight, William decides to maintain the illusion for as long as possible. He is aided by his friends Wat (Alan Tudyk), Roland (Mark Addy), and Geoffrey Chaucer (Paul Bettany, in a role loosely based on the real storyteller) a writer with a knack for forging official papers. Under his new title, Sir Ulrich of Liechtenstein, William wins tournaments and receives monetary awards. However, the only way for William to prove himself as truly noble and win the heart of the beautiful Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon) is to beat out all of his enemies, including the arrogant and undefeated Count Adhemar (Rufus Sewell), in a series of jousts. Writer-director Brian Helgeland creates a unique blend of rousing adventure, comedy, and modern sensibility in A KNIGHT'S TALE, giving a contemporary make-over to the medieval genre with a soundtrack that includes hit songs from Queen, David Bowie, Sly & the Family Stone, and Thin Lizzy.

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One of the most beloved of all British films, A Canterbury Talemarks yet another occasion to celebrate the Criterion Collection's growing DVD legacy of Powell and Pressburger classics. Originally conceived as good-natured propaganda to support the British-American alliance of World War II, the film became something truly special in the hands of the Archers (a.k.a. writer/director/producers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger). Taking its literary cues from Chaucer's titular classic, it begins with a prologue that harkens back to Chaucer's time before match-cutting to present-day August of 1943, with the night-time arrival of U.S. Army Sgt. Bob Johnson (played with folksy charm by John Sweet, an actual American GI) on the shadowy platform of Canterbury station in the magically rural county of Kent (where Powell was born and raised). He is soon joined by two fellow train passengers: Alison Smith (Sheila Sim), a brashly independent recruit in the British Woman's Land Army; and Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price), a sergeant in the royal Army, and before long they're tracking clues to find "the glue man", a mysterious figure who's been pouring "the sticky stuff" on unsuspecting women as the midnight hour approaches. Their investigation leads to Thomas Colpeper (Eric Portman), a village squire whose local slide-shows celebrate life in an idyllic rural England threatened by wartime change. As Graham Fuller writes in an observant mini-essay that accompanies this DVD, is this a whodunit? Historical documentary? War film? Rustic comedy? It's all these and so much more: As photographed in glorious black and white by Erwin Hiller (faithfully preserved by one of Criterion's finest high-definition digital transfers), A Canterbury Talehas an elusive, magical quality that encompasses its trio of Canterbury "pilgrims" and translates into a an elusive, spiritually uplifting sense of elation that has made it an all-time favorite among film lovers around the world. --Jeff Shannon

Aspect Ratio:	1.78 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Subtitles:	Arabic, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Turkish
Year:	2001
Release Date:	September 1, 2005
Runtime:	127 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	P S P 31828
Keywords:	Action, Comedy, General, Wide, Adventure, Knight's
Genre:	Action/Adventure