The Railway Children 1970

     This film is based on a novel by E. Nesbit and the setting is 1905 in Edwardian London.  The Waterbury family lives in a middle class home.  Their father has an argument with their mother, he leaves and doesn’t come back.  They have three children, Robert is the oldest, then Phyllis and the youngest is Peter.  The family is forced to downsize, sell some of their furniture and move to Three Chimneys.  This is a house near the fictional Great Northern and Southern Railway in Yorkshire.  Later, they learn that their father worked at the Foreign Office and he has been imprisoned.  He was wrongly accused of selling state secrets but another man in the office has committed this crime.  The children spend their time waving to the train passengers and they become friendly with the railway workers.

     In the beginning, their new life is quite different from their former one.  They can’t afford to buy coal when the house is very chilly and they have to forego any treats with their tea.  Their mother is a writer and when she sells a story to a magazine, they can afford buns with their tea.  They soon adjust and they alert the train before an accident, they rescue a Russian dissident and reunite him with his family.  They also help a young man with a leg injury after a race.  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)  

    

109 min, Family directed by Lionel Jeffries with Dinah Sheridan, Bernard Cribbins, William Mervyn, Jenny Agutter, Iain Cuthbertson, Sally Thomsett, Gary Warren, Peter Bromilow, Ann Lancaster, Gordon Whiting, Beatrix Mackey, Dreddie Davies, David Lodge, Brenda Cowling.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 100% critic 82% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, The Telegraph 5* Anna Baddeley, The Guardian 4* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Empire Online 4* out of 5* Ian Nathan,

Special Note: Filmed in West Yorkshire, Hertfordshire and West Yorkshire, England, UK.  Sally Thomsett was 20 when she was cast as 11 year-old Phyllis.  She was forbidden by her contract to reveal her true age during filming.  She was also asked to refrain from smoking, drinking, going out with her boyfriend or diving sports cars.  The cars were her passion and even the film crew did not know her true age.  This film was the most popular British movie release at the box office in 1971.  The production costs were reimbursed just in the Britain alone.  Jenny Agutter is also in the Call the Midwife PBS series.