The Railway Children (1971)

People are voting emotionally.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Other reviewers covered everything great, about this movie. I saw it once, on broadcast TV, even before the advent of video tape,, and always wanted to own it. In the ensuing forty seven years,,, for some reason, it has NEVER been available in America; Region 2 - England - only. The Big Questions is -- WHY?? Why doesn't a multi-national outfit like Amazon, have an American format for this DVD? WHY???

Based on the book by Edith Nesbit & the directorial debut of Lionel Jeffries, "The Railway Children" is a movie of immense charm. After the arrest & imprisonment of their father on charges of spying, a middle-class mother, (played by Dinah Sheridan), & her three children are forced to move to humbler surroundings. The Waterbury family move to a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales close to a railway which the three children Bobbie (Jenny Agutter), Phyllis (Sally Thomsett) & Peter (Gary Warren) frequently visit most days. They befriend the local station porter Mr. Perks (Bernard Cribbins) & an "old gentleman" passenger (William Mervyn). The latter helps to secure the eventual release of the children's father from his incarceration. Towards the films end when the father (Iain Cuthbertson) travels to Yorkshire to be re-united with his family, we witness what is probably the most moving "tear-jerking" scene in movie history. His eldest daughter Bobbie awaits at the station uncertain as to what is about to happen. Her father alights from a train in thick smoke from the steam engine. As the smoke clears & Bobbie slowly realises who it is standing on the platform she runs toward him & shouts "Daddy, my daddy". I must have seen this scene 20 times & it still brings moisture to my eyes. Jenny Agutter many years later narrated a documentary on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway at Howarth in Yorkshire where the movie's railway scenes were filmed. We learnt from the people in charge of its preservation that this movie was the single biggest shot in the arm for tourism that it has ever had in its short history!.

Proudly and defiantly working class porter Perks(Mr B.Cribbins)is eventually won over by upper middle class family down on their luck. Father(Mr I.Cuthbertson) incarcerated for treason - for which the penalty was death in those days,lest it be forgotten),mother(the very beautiful Miss D.Sheridan)brave and resourceful,loyal and loving,and - principally - older daughter (Miss J.Agutter) tottering on the cusp of adolescence - hurt and confused about the fate of her father. Mr Perks,like many working people of his time,will have nothing to do with anything that he considers smacks of "charity" and it is a key moment in the movie when he finally accepts that birthday gifts he has been given by the children do not compromise his principles. Although the lovely Miss Agutter has received all the accolades it is Mr Cribbins and Miss Sheridan whose performances dominate "The Railway Children".They both know how Edwardian society works from opposite ends of the spectrum but there is an unspoken mutual respect and understanding between them. But this is basically a movie about family.In an era when a mother can kidnap her own daughter and hold her to ransom and be considered as "socially inept" rather than unfit to live in decent society,and when two "human beings" can beat and kick a baby to death without being charged with murder,"family" may be seen as an old - fashioned,elitist, racist even homophobic concept,but a century ago it was the glue that held society together at all levels.Mr Cribbins' and Miss Sheridan's families are archetypal for the age.Strong and loving,sticking together against outside influences,integral units with a moral certainty mocked in the 21st century. What might seem to be a dull,preachy political tract is turned by Mr Lionel Jeffries into a delightful hymn to hope,faith,optimism and courage. That all those attributes were once considered the norm and are now too often the subject of scorn and cynicism is a reflection on our society rather than Miss Nesbit's. No one with more than a passing concern for the human condition can fail to be considerably moved by this quite perfect movie.

I think together all the reviewers have captured this film really well. I have seen it many, many times, but I still feel a sense of joy and warmth just as I did the first time. My emotional response to this film never seems to fade. The final scene certainly brings me to tears, but so does the scene between Perks and The Children on his birthday. And as for the Kindly Gentleman. Something else is going on with that character. The generous provider and solver of problems. He knows everything about everything and has connections everywhere. A perfect father to run to and make us feel safe. I do not know how the film does it, but it touches something very English deep inside, which has long gone from our daily experience, but yet we all instantly recognise and yearn for again.