Elaine Snode This film is a family for all the family. Yes you will find yourself reaching for the tissues quite a lot, but its all happy tears. My Daddy, My Daddy gets me every time. Anyone who can watch that without sobbing has no soul. This film is fantastic due to Bernard Cribbins being in this film with his character Mr Albert Perks. Wouldn't we all love to know a Mr Perks? He has so many scenes that make you smile and laugh at, his kindness and simple enjoyment of life. Of course his Birthday scenes, entering the home and saying 'Hello Woman!' to his wife is one of the best. I could go on and on about this film, it has so many parts I love. The scenery is stunning, not to sure about the earthquake trees sliding down the hill, but we'll over look that one! I dare you to watch it and not like it. I'm off to wave at trains and send my love...

Hotwok2013 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!.

robert-temple-1 I recently saw this again, having a few months before seen the live production of the play at Waterloo Station in London, which was a wonderful experience. The old Eurostar platforms are not in use for trains and passengers at the moment, so the performance is given on the platforms, and a live steam train actually chugs up the tracks in front of the audience during the story. It is highly recommended, and a joy for all children. This is more than just a children's' classic, however. It is for people of all ages who like a story about a more wholesome and innocent age than the corrupt and decadent one in which we now live. Based on the famous book by E. Nesbit, the screenplay was written by the actor Lionel Jeffries, who also directed the film. It was a labour of love, which shows in every frame. The film is beautifully photographed by our old friend the late Arthur Ibbetson, with Paul Wilson as his operator. It is one of the best jobs that Arthur ever did in his long career. The mother is played by Dinah Sheridan, who as an ingénue played 'Steve' in SEND FOR PAUL TEMPLE (1946, see my review). She is just right for the part, combining the stiff upper lip with warm and deep sympathy and a stoical character in times of adversity. This film was a runaway hit at the box office in 1970, a year in England famous for its spectacularly warm and endless summer, a summer which I spent largely on Primrose Hill. For the past 41 years, this film has never lost its appeal to families and children and those adults who are sentimental by nature. The oldest girl of the family is played by Jenny Agutter, a role which made her famous in England at an early age. In terms of acting, however, Sally Thomsett takes the prize. Agutter went on to appear in 106 films, attracting great admiration, whereas Thomsett, who only appeared in 31 (mostly television, and a lot of comedy), could more appropriately be said to have endeared herself to the British public as a kind of household pet because of her mischievous charm. Bernard Cribbins shines as Mr. Perks, the station master. He has also been a great British favourite (94 titles). Gordon Whiting plays the Russian novelist, but we really don't see enough of him, indicating that the script was cut, as much more is made of him in the play at Waterloo. Beatrix Mackey plays Aunt Emma, but she appears so briefly and meaninglessly that there was really no point in having her. Presumably this also suggests that cuts were made in the film as released. (I wonder what a 'director's cut would look like?) Deddie Davies does very well as Mrs. Perks. William Mervyn looks exactly right as the Old Gentleman, especially when waving benignly from the train. The casting for this classic was certainly spot-on. This film is of timeless appeal to all good folk, but especially those who are still enwrapped in the golden dream of childhood. These laurels are certainly sufficient for Lionel Jeffries to rest on, although he also has so many others.

Terrell-4 The Railway Children, at least this 1970 movie version written and directed by that long-time British character actor, Lionel Jeffries, is an unmitigated...classic. It tells a childhood story with great simplicity and charm; the sentimentality is muted; the evocation of childhood adventures is involving; and Jeffries brings cleverness and style to his production. The Waterbury family is leading an idyllic life in Edwardian London. The father is prosperous, the mother is beautiful and loving, the children are well-mannered and affectionate, their home is warm and cozy. Then one night during the Christmas holidays two men appear at the doorstep, talk quietly to the father, and then take him away. In a moment the lives of Mrs Waterbury (Dinah Sheridan) and Bobbie, 14 (Jenny Agutter), Phyllis, 12 (Sally Thomsett) and young Peter (Gary Warren), have been changed. Only their fortitude and good spirits are going to see them through. Now teetering into poverty, Mrs. Waterbury takes her children to live in a musty old brick house in the countryside near a rail-line, not too far from a small village with a train station. The children discover the rail and regularly sit on a small hill to wave at the passengers as the train chugs by. One day an old gentleman, going to his business in the city, looks up from his newspaper and finds himself waving back. It's not long before he will play an important part in the story. As time passes, Mrs. Waterbury brings all her love and intelligence to bear on her children. She begins to write stories to earn money. She teaches them their lessons and provides a home of warmth and security for them. The story, however, is about these three children, especially Bobbie. At 14, she is old enough to want to share her mother's worries, yet young enough to enjoy the adventures she has with her sister and brother. They find a poor man at the station who cannot speak English. They discover he is a Russian refugee who no longer knows where his wife and child are. They insist he must come home with them, and their mother takes him in. Before long the children have written a large sign to the old gentlemen on the train asking for his help. They help a young man taking part in a steeplechase who breaks his leg in a train tunnel. Soon, he is at their home recuperating. They decide to have a birthday party for the station master, a man with few friends and several children who is a stickler for his dignity. It's not long before the children help him realize the difference between friendship and charity. In other words, the three children encounter all sorts of problems in their childhood adventures, and manage to be instrumental in seeing that all the problems have happy endings. But what of their own problems? Bobbie finally learns from her mother that her father was taken away because he had been accused of treason, of giving state secrets to the Russians. Will Bobbie be able to find a way to help? Will the old gentleman be something more than simply an old gentleman on a passing train? Will their father's case be reopened? Will there be a happy ending? Jenny Agutter was almost 18 when she filmed her part; she plays the 14-year-old Bobbie with great naturalness and charm. As important as the other players are, especially Dinah Sheridan as the mother, Agutter is the heart of the story. For me, it is Jenny Agutter's talent and Lionel Jeffries' style and restraint that make this movie so memorable. The story's problems come with no serious doubt but that they will be solved. And Jeffries does not just give us an expertly adapted and directed movie, he adds touches that are barely noticed but which charm us. This might include just a split second of a freeze frame as two people talk; or a slow close-up of a small, yellow wildflower in the grass outside Bobbie's home, then a slow pull-back from a yellow oil lamp being turned up inside; or the realization that a delightful interior shot or a view of the green countryside or a look at the train station from a hill...all suddenly recall those charming Edwardian hand-tinted drawings of a perfect by- gone time. Perhaps this gentle story can't compete for the time kids need nowadays to perfect their Nintendo monster-splatting skills. I'm almost positive it would never capture the attention of most of their parents, especially those weaned on Batman and Leone. Still, it's a perfectly put together movie and shouldn't be forgotten. As an aside, 19 years later the story was retold as a television program. This time, Jenny Agutter played the mother.