The Ribald Tales Of Canterbury -1985-: -classic- !!exclusive!!
Hark, and I shall tell a tale of wandering hands and wandering hearts—
: Although trailers at the time claimed the film was shot on location in Scotland, it was actually filmed in Northern California (Petaluma and San Francisco).
The brilliance of Chaucer’s work lies in its framing device: a group of pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. To pass the time, they engage in a storytelling contest. This structure allowed Chaucer to bring together characters from every level of medieval society—from the noble Knight to the rowdy Miller—each bringing their own unique voice and moral perspective. 2. The Tradition of the Fabliau
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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. The Ribald Tales Of Canterbury -1985- -Classic-
Filmed on location in Northern California, the outdoor backdrops effectively stand in for the rolling hills of the British countryside.
Unlike the lofty ideals of courtly romance, fabliaux focused on the everyday lives of commoners.
This special edition, often packaged as a double-feature with Hyapatia Lee's Tasty , includes essential extras:
The script attempts a stylized, pseudo-Middle English cadence. While occasionally campy, the poetic dirty jokes and archaic insults honor the rhythmic wit of Chaucer's poetry. Legacy and Cult Status Hark, and I shall tell a tale of
The "full feature" includes several distinct bawdy tales, such as:
The film’s charm lies in its complete lack of pretension. It knows it’s cheap. It knows it’s silly. And it revels in it. The Wife of Bath is drawn with a cartoonishly enormous bustle and a voice like a Brooklyn truck driver. Chaucer himself appears as a drunk narrator who keeps losing his pages. The animation occasionally forgets to color in a character’s arm, leaving it flesh-colored on a flesh-colored background—bloopers that fans now celebrate as features.
Utilizing soft lighting and grainy film stock typical of the mid-80s, the movie has a dreamy, hazy quality that is now highly sought after by fans of "vaporwave" and retro aesthetics.
The film is bookended by a simple yet effective framing device. On their way to Canterbury, a group of noblemen, knights, and women find themselves with time to kill. To pass the journey, the "Hostess," played with undeniable star power by Hyapatia Lee, proposes a game: each traveler must tell the most erotic story they know, with the winner receiving a purse full of gold coins. This setup gives Lee the chance to shine as the narrative's charismatic anchor, moving from the lush medieval countryside to a mystical gypsy fortune teller within her own vignette. This structure allowed Chaucer to bring together characters
Here’s a conceptual viewer’s guide for The Ribald Tales of Canterbury (1985), treating it as a cult classic in the adult-film parody genre, inspired by Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales .
For modern collectors, finding a clean copy of The Ribald Tales of Canterbury (1985) is a holy grail quest. The film was originally distributed by VCA Pictures (a major player of the era) on VHS and Betamax. It was briefly transferred to DVD in the early 2000s under the “Collector’s Series” label, though those prints were often pan-and-scan, cropping the lush widescreen framing.
Unlike live-action pornography of the era, the film relied on cartoon absurdity to bypass obscenity laws. By being “just a cartoon,” it could depict acts that live actors couldn’t—or wouldn’t—perform. The animators used a limited cel technique, reusing backgrounds and character walks extensively, but compensated with manic energy and a punk-rock sense of humor.