The compression of blood vessels by surrounding tissue is an important problem in hemodynamics, most prominently in studies relating to the heart. In this study we consider a long tube of elliptic cross section as an idealization of the geometry of a compressed blood vessel. An exact solution of the governing equations for pulsatile flow in a tube of elliptic cross section involves Mathieu functions which are considerably more difficult to evaluate than the Bessel functions in the case of a circular cross section. Results for the velocity field, flow rate and wall shear stress are obtained for different values of the pulsation frequency and ellipticity, with emphasis on how the effects of frequency and ellipticity combine to determine the flow characteristics. It is found that in general the effects of ellipticity are minor when frequency is low but become highly significant as the frequency increases. More specifically, the velocity profile along the major axis of the elliptic cross section develops sharp double peaks; the flow rate is reduced in approximately the same proportion as in the case of circular cross section; and the point of maximum shear on the tube wall migrates away from the minor axis where it is located in steady flow.