Repertory Pick: The Complete Pasolini
December 13, 2012
Eight of Geoffrey Chaucer’s lusty tales come to life on-screen in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s gutsy and delirious The Canterbury Tales, which was shot in England and offers a remarkably earthy re-creation of the medieval era. From the story of a nobleman struck blind after marrying a much younger and promiscuous bride to a climactic trip to a hell populated by friars and demons (surely one of the most outrageously conceived and realized sequences ever committed to film), this is an endlessly imaginative work of merry blasphemy, framed by Pasolini’s portrayal of Chaucer himself.
| Sir January | Hugh Griffith |
| Wife of Bath | Laura Betti |
| Peterkin | Ninetto Davoli |
| Devil | Franco Citti |
| May | Josephine Chaplin |
| Old man | Alan Webb |
| Geoffrey Chaucer | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Cook | J. P. Van Dyne |
| Franklin | Vernon Dobtcheff |
| Fighter | Adrian Street |
| Chief witch-hunter | Ot |
| Pardoner | Derek Deadmin |
| Friar | Nicholas Smith |
| Host of the tabard | Goerge B. Datch |
| Merchant | Peter McGregor |
| Damian | Oscar Fochetti |
| Informer | Tony Moore |
| Simkin, the miller | Albert King |
| Simkin’s wife | Eileen King |
| Molly, Simkin’s daughter | Heather Johnson |
| Alan | Patrick Duffett |
| John | Eamann Howell |
| Nicholas | Dan Thomas |
| John, the carpenter | Michael Balfour |
| Alison | Jenny Runacre |
| Absalom | Peter Cain |
| Witch-hunter | Daniel Buckler |
| Greedy friar | John Francis Lane |
| Angel | Settimo Castagna |
| Lecherous rich man | Athol Coats |
| Alice | Judy Stewart-Murray |
| Jenkin | Tom Baker |
| Director | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Produced by | Alberto Grimaldi |
| Assistant directors | Sergio Citti and Umberto Angelucci |
| Screenplay | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Based on the stories of | Geoffrey Chaucer |
| Director of photography | Tonino Delli Colli |
| Supervising editor | Enzo Ocone |
| Editor | Nino Baragli |
| Art director | Dante Ferretti |
| Costumes | Danilo Donati |
| Music selections by | Pier Paolo Pasolini |
| Music collaborator | Ennio Morricone |
| Continuity | Beatrice Banfi |
By November 13, 2012
Moving to Chaucer’s gray-skied England, Pier Paolo Pasolini pushed his trilogy into darker . . . Read more »
By November 13, 2012
Moving to Chaucer’s gray-skied England, Pier Paolo Pasolini pushed his trilogy into darker . . . Read more »
By November 13, 2012
Moving to Chaucer’s gray-skied England, Pier Paolo Pasolini pushed his trilogy into darker . . . Read more »