The Railway Children (1970 film): Difference between revisions

The Railway Children is a 1970 British drama film based on the novel of the same name by E. Nesbit. The film was directed by Lionel Jeffries, and stars Dinah Sheridan, Jenny Agutter (who had earlier featured in the successful BBC's 1968 dramatisation of the novel), Sally Thomsett and Bernard Cribbins in leading roles. The film was released to cinemas in the United Kingdom on 21 December 1970.

The film rights were bought by Lionel Jeffries. It was his directorial debut, and he was also responsible for writing the screenplay for the film. The Railway Children turned out to be a critical success, both at the time of its release and in later years. It has gone on to gain a place in several surveys of the greatest films ever made, including surveys conducted by the British Film Institute and Total Film magazine.

The story follows the adventures of the Waterbury children, who are forced to move with their mother (Dinah Sheridan) from a luxurious Edwardian villa in the London suburbs to "Three Chimneys", a house near the fictional 'Great Northern and Southern Railway' in the Yorkshire dales, as the father (Iain Cuthbertson), who works at the Foreign office, has been imprisoned as a result of being falsely accused of selling state secrets to the Russians.

The three children, Roberta (Bobbie) (Jenny Agutter), Phylllis (Sally Thomsett) and Peter (Gary Warren), find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friendly with Albert Perks (Bernard Cribbins), the station porter, and with the Old Gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 down train. Meanwhile, to earn money to survive during her husband's absence, Mother writes and sells stories to magazines.

After many adventures, including saving the lives of dozens of passengers by alerting a train to a landslide, rescuing a Russian dissident, Mr. Szczepansky, and uniting him with his family, and caring for Jim, the grandson of the Old Gentleman, who is injured whilst participating in a paper chase, Bobbie eventually discovers the truth of her father's absence and appeals to the Old Gentleman for his help. He is eventually able to help prove their father's innocence, and the family is reunited.

The entire cast break the fourth wall and perform a curtain call as the credits roll. The camera moves slowly along a railway track towards a train which is decked in flags, in front of which all of the cast are assembled, waving and cheering to camera.

At the start of the credit sequence, a voice can be heard shouting "Thank you Mr Forbes" as an acknowledgement to Bryan Forbes who put up a security for the film to be completed.^{[citation needed]} Meanwhile Jenny Agutter holds up a small slate on which "The End" is written in chalk and says "Goodbye" as the credits conclude.

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Sally Thomsett was cast as the 11-year old Phyllis, despite being 20 years old at the time. Her contract forbade her to reveal her true age during the making of the film and she was also not allowed to be seen smoking or drinking during the shoot.^[1] 17-year old Jenny Agutter played her older sister, Roberta, and Gary Warren played their brother, Peter. Dinah Sheridan was cast as Mother, and Bernard Cribbins as Perks the porter.

Lionel Jeffries used the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway and its station at Oakworth as the backdrop for the film, referring to it as the Great Northern and Southern Railway.^[2] At the time of filming there were still very few heritage railways in Britain, and only the KWVR could offer a tunnel, which is important to a number of scenes. The tunnel is a lot shorter in reality than it appears in the film.

A number of working locomotives were used in the making of the film, including MSC67, 5775 (L89), 52044 (Preserved as L&Y 957), 4744 (69523), all of which survive. They carried fictional liveries for the filming, 5775 carrying brown, reminiscent of the Stroudley livery of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, 957 carrying apple green, similar to liveries used by the North Eastern, Great Northern and London and North Eastern Railways, and 4744 and MSC67 carrying plain black, as used by most railway companies in Britain at one time or another. 67 is now at the Middleton Railway, Leeds, 4744 is now at the Great Central Railway, Loughborough whilst the others are still on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. A wide variety of vintage rolling stock was used in the film, including examples from the Metropolitan and London and North Eastern Railways. Whilst different carriages appeared in different liveries, the dominant livery is white and maroon, reminiscent of the Caledonian Railway's livery. The most important carriage in the film, the Old Gentleman's Saloon, was a North Eastern Railway Director's Saloon, that has been used since in the stage production of the book. It and all the other carriages seen in the film are still in use on the KWVR and can be travelled in, usually at special events only due to their age.

A number of different locations were employed for various scenes. The house 'Three Chimneys' is in Oxenhope just north of the station. Bronte Parsonage in Haworth was used as the location for Doctor Forrest's surgery. The scenes of the children sitting on a bridge were filmed at Wycoller near Colne. Mytholmes Tunnel and the railway line running through it was used extensively in the film, including being the location for the paperchase scene and when the children tried to warn the train about a landslide by waving the girls' petticoats in the air. The landslide sequence itself was filmed in a cutting on the side of Mytholmes Tunnel nearest to Oakworth. The fields of long grass where the children waved to the trains are situated on the Haworth side of Mytholmes Tunnel. A leaflet 'Railway Children Walk' is available from the Railway Stations or Tourist Information Centre, 2010 price 40p.^[3]

Since its release, the film has received universally good reviews; it holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 6 reviews.

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A 40th anniversary Blu-ray and DVD was released on 05/05/10 with a new digitally remastered print. It includes new 2010 interviews with Sally Thomsett, Jenny Agutter and Bernard Cribbins. Sadly, the planned commentary from director Lionel Jeffries was not completed due to his death in February 2010.

The Railway Children received three nominations for awards at the 24th British Academy Film Awards ceremony. Bernard Cribbins was nominated in the category of Best Supporting Actor. However in a category also featuring John Mills, Colin Welland and Gig Young, the award went to Welland for his role in the film Kes. Sally Thomsett received a nomination for Best Newcomer in a Leading Role but again lost out to an actor from Kes, in this case David Bradley. Johnny Douglas was also nominated for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music but the award was won by Burt Bacharach for his film score for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.^[4]

Hornby Railways produced a 00 Gauge train set of the train from the film, and is quite rare. It had a 'Jinty' tank locomotive in GN&SR livery with Synchrosmoke, two period coaches, an oval of track and a station. It was very popular with children,^{[citation needed]} and it is highly sought after today as a collectors' item.

The film has left a lasting impression on the British film industry and audiences. In 1999, the British Film Institute (BFI) put The Railway Children in 66th place in its list of the Top 100 British films of all time. Five years later, the film magazine Total Film named it the 46th greatest British film of the 20th century. In 2008, the film made it onto Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Family Films at number 30. On 28 March 2010 the Bradford International Film Festival concluded with a new restoration of The Railway Children film with the 40th anniversary digital premiere.^[5]

Jenny Agutter also starred in a made-for-TV remake of The Railway Children in 2000 in the role of Mother. Much of the publicity for the 2000 film focused on Agutter's involvement in both films made a generation apart.

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The plot of the film is quite faithful to the novel, but there are still some differences within the storyline. Some notable differences include:

• In the novel, Peter iscaught by the station master one night after stealing coal for his mother; in the film, however, he is caught by his sisters.
• The canal scene is totally cut from the film.
• In the novel, after Bobbie's birthday, she takes Peter's broken engine to the crew of the train departing from the station and gets stranded on the engine while trying the get the attention of its crew as it puffs from the station. None of this happens in the film since they give Peter's engine to Perks when he comes up to their house with the supplies for their mother.
• In the novel, Peter gets his model engine for his birthday, while in the film he gets it for Christmas.

• The Railway Children at IMDb
• The Railway Children at AllMovie
• Locomotive MSC67
• Lionel Jeffries - Daily Telegraph obituary