_best_: The Ribald Tales Of Canterbury -1985- -classic-
The Ribald Tales of Canterbury has been preserved for a new generation of film enthusiasts, thanks to the efforts of the boutique Blu-ray label . They offer a definitive Blu-ray and DVD double-feature release, which also includes Bud Lee's 1985 follow-up film, Tasty . This release features a stunning new 2K scan and restoration from the original 35mm camera negatives , which is widely praised for its crisp, detailed picture quality.
Loosely adapted from Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th-century masterwork, The Canterbury Tales , the film adopts the original text's modular storytelling structure. Instead of a pious religious pilgrimage, the plot centers on a group of 15th-century noblemen, knights, and travelers journeying through the English countryside.
Is "The Ribald Tales of Canterbury" a faithful adaptation of Chaucer? Absolutely not. The film takes significant creative liberties, using its source material as a loose framework for a series of increasingly daring sexual set pieces. But is it a delightful, visually striking, and historically important slice of 1980s cult cinema? Undeniably yes. The Ribald Tales Of Canterbury -1985- -Classic-
"The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer is a classic work of Middle English literature, written in the late 14th century. It consists of a collection of stories told by pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury. Given its ribald humor and themes, it's plausible that a 1985 edition could focus on the more bawdy aspects of Chaucer's tales.
Medieval Mischief and 80s Excess: Revisiting The Ribald Tales of Canterbury (1985) The Ribald Tales of Canterbury has been preserved
At its core, "The Ribald Tales of Canterbury" is a work about humanity. Chaucer's characters, flawed and relatable, grapple with universal themes such as love, lust, power, and mortality. These themes, explored through the lens of medieval society, remain remarkably relevant today.
To understand why this film is a “Classic,” one must place it in the timeline of adult cinema. 1985 sits precisely between the “Golden Age” (1972-1984), which produced narrative-driven films like Behind the Green Door and The Opening of Misty Beethoven , and the “Dark Age” of the late 80s, when VHS and cheaper production led to the “looping” of plotless scenes. Absolutely not
While there have been many adaptations of The Canterbury Tales , including Pier Paolo Pasolini’s critically acclaimed 1972 version, the 1985 "Ribald Tales" offering serves a different purpose. It acts as a fun, quick-paced, and explicitly comedic interpretation.
If you can identify the publisher, their website might have a catalog entry or a way to request more information about the specific edition.
What follows is a series of delightfully absurd and vividly depicted vignettes. The anthology structure allows the film to explore all the standard scenarios of the genre—threesomes, lesbian encounters, and comic misunderstandings—but with a self-aware, playful overtone that separates it from more straightforward productions.
