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Dom Robinson reviews
Optimum Home EntertainmentBlu-ray:
DVD:
- Cert:
- Running time: 110 minutes
- Year: 1970
- Cat no: OPTBD1789R0
- Released: May 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Picture: 1080p High Definition
- Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio (Dolby Stereo)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.66:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: BD50
- Price: £19.99 (Blu-ray); £12.99 (DVD)
- Extras: Now and Then: A Retrospective Documentary, Interviews
Director:
- Lionel Jeffries
(The Amazing Mr Blunden, Baxter!, The Railway Children, The Water Babies, Wombling Free)
Producer:
- Robert Lynn
Screenplay:
- Lionel Jeffries
(based on the novel by Edith Nesbit)
Music:
- Johnny Douglas
Cast :
- Mrs Waterbury: Dinah Sheridan
Albert Perks: Bernard Cribbins
Old Gentleman: William Mervyn
Charles Waterbury: Iain Cuthbertson
Roberta ‘Bobbie’ Waterbury: Jenny Agutter
Phyllis Waterbury: Sally Thomsett
Peter Waterbury: Gary Warren
Doctor Forrest: Peter Bromilow
Russian: Gordon Whiting
Jim: Christopher witty
Mrs Hilda Viney: Brenda Cowling
Released for its 40th anniversary, The Railway Childrenis the best-known filmed version of Edith Nesbit’s novel, which was first published in 1906.
In the well-to-do Waterbury household it’s Christmas, and Peter’s just received a train set from his civil servantfather. Before thety know it, there’s two blokes at the two who are whisking him away… well, as fast as you can ona horse and cart, and taking him to Scotland Yard. These days, they’d want answers in seconds but everyone’s tight-lippedhere.
Before too long they move to Yorkshire and expect the new house to be just a slight step down from what they’re usedto, but it’s an absolute hole with rats and water dripping in; and they know how to live with a supper of sardines,biscuits and ginger. Yum(!)
It’s all frightfully prim and proper, but there are some interesting ideas along the way. While their mum (DinahSheridan) is temporarily laid up with the flu, the children invent social networking by initially smiling at andwaving to and old bloke on the train, then they hold up a banner and ask him to stop at the next station and give hima note. Later on, they put up another banner, the next time he passes, announcing the fact that she’s feeling muchbetter. Of course, you could ask why a Frank Bough lookalike is accepting notes from supposedly prepubescent children,despite the fact Sally Thomset was around 20 at the time of filming.
And if you’re on Twitter, then at the time, here’s a selection of tweets I posted at the time of watching this film:
- What did they take high-up civil servant Mr Waterbury away for? Expenses fiddling? Duck house?
- The Waterbury children seem to have invented social networking, putting up banner for an old man to read as be passes by. And why is a Frank Bough lookalike is accepting notes from them?
- I’m betting Mr Waterbury is now holed up in Guantanamo Bay. Will Barack Obama have freed him by the end?
- If the Railway Children are meant to be poor, how come they’re living in a massive house with a HUGE garden?
- And how do those trees fall down whilst staying vertical?
- And if Peter’s 10, why is he growing a moustache?
- Mrs Perks just said in bed, “Oh alright, Bert, since it’s your birthday”. He then picked up a bottle and sneaked it back into bed!
- Mr Waterbury’s been charged with selling State secrets! These days that would be rewarded with a seat in the Lords!
- The Railway Children are watching a paper chase. Isn’t that just legalised littering?
- Mrs Waterbury can no longer write AND take a job as a matron? I thought women could multitask?
- “Daddy, my Daddy!” It’s not quite “Captain, my Captain”, is it?
- The Railway Children had the weirdest end credits I’ve ever seen with all the actors waving goodbye to the viewer. Continuity bods – HUSH!
Presented in the original 1.66:1 theatrical ratio, the print is still anamorphic because it’s placed within a 16:9 frame.The quality of the image is fantastic. For a film that’s 40-years-old it’s detailed for more than you’d expect andOptimum have done an excellent job with this print.For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
As for the sound, it’s clearly a stereo soundtrack, so don’t expect nuclear explosions going off all over the place.It’s a gentle family drama and the audio does the job.
For a 40th anniversary special edition you’d expect lots of extras… there are two of them, although they do last a fairwhile. One of a them isNow and Then: A Retrospective Documentary of The Railway Children (20:11), where various people with a connectionto the film talk about what it means to them but… this doesn’t include any of the main people involved. Okay, we’lllet Lionel Jeffries off given the notable handicap that he died in February at the age of 83, but there’s stillthe three kids, who are all now on the verge of reaching 60 (well, Sally Thomsett already has), and Bernard Cribbins.All the film clips in this piece are in the original ratio of 1.66:1.
That said, Sally (9:26), Bernard (8:15) and Jenny Agutter (17:09) feature in the Q&A interviews section along withacclaimed children’s author Jacqueline Wilson (10:44).Annoyingly, whenever you come out of one of these pieces, it throws you back to the main menu so you’ve got to trek backinto it again.
The menu mixes clips from the film with a short piece of the incidental music.There are subtitles in English, but the Chaptering is, again for Optimum, a typical embarrassment with just 12 over the110-minute running time. How can the same company keep making the same mistakes over and over? Do the bigwigs actuallyread the reviews?
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.