It's entertaining but certainly not for the faint of heart. Pier Paolo Pasolini's take on (at least some of) Chaucer's ribald tales is grotesque, funny, ugly and never dull. Pasolini himself plays a particularly cadaverous looking Chaucer and the large cast of both English & Italian actors is excellent. Hugh Griffith plays the blustery Sir January and Josephine Chaplin is his unlikely May in "The Merchant's Tale," the most flat-out entertaining vignette. Laura Betti plays it especially naughty in "The Wife of Bath's Tale." Tom Baker is her unlucky fifth husband. "The Summoner's Tale" is absolute insanity. It's far more Pasolini than Chaucer, as if Ken Russell had directed The Three Stooges! The great cinematography is by Tonino Delli Colli.
Review of The Canterbury Tales
