The Railway Children

The beginning of the twentieth century, London. One evening two men come to the house, the father goes out with them and does not come back. The mother tells the children it is a matter of government business and they move out of the city. The new home is in Yorkshire, a small stone house beside the railway. There is no money; the mother writes stories and tries to sell them. Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis spend their days at the station; they wave at the trains and become friends with Perks the porter. In time Bobbie works out what happened to her father and starts writing letters. Lionel Jeffries wrote and directed; it is his first film as a director. It is adapted from the 1906 novel by E. Nesbit. Jenny Agutter, Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins and William Mervyn are in the cast. It is a British production. The shooting was done on a real branch line railway in Yorkshire and the trains are right for the period. Jenny Agutter had played the same part in a television version of the same novel. The matter it treats is injustice; the children set out to correct a wrong and do it without the adults knowing. The film gives poverty through the children's eyes and asks for no pity. The landslide and the children's effort to stop the train are the most tense passage. The porter played by Bernard Cribbins is the warm centre of the film. The narrative moves very slowly and tells small days rather than large events. Its last scene is one of the most remembered reunions in British cinema. Its limit is pace; the narrative is calm, there is little tension, and it may be heavy going for a young audience today. Who it is for: viewers who like family films and British classics. Who it is not for: it is slow, uneventful, and the ending emotional.