Product Description

Set at the turn of the 20th century, three Edwardian children and their mother move to a country house in Yorkshire after their father is mysteriously taken away by the police. However, their mother refuses to inform the children of the circumstances surrounding their father's disappearance.

The children become fascinated by a nearby railroad, and they faithfully wave to passengers daily. Their kindness helps them make friends with some important travelers, one old gentleman in particular. Can he help solve the mystery of their missing father?

Special DVD features include: Cast list; Masterpiece Theatre poster gallery; access to The Railway Children Web site featuring essays, an interview with leading actress Jenny Agutter, biographies and photos of Golden Age authors, and more; scene selection; English audiotrack; and closed captions.

On one DVD5 disc. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Widescreen (Anamorphic)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14205 in DVD
• Brand: Masterpiece
• Released on: 2002-10-01
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Amazon.com
Jenny Agutter stars as the mother in this Masterpiece Theater remake of the beloved 1970 Lionel Jeffries film of the same name, in which she played the oldest daughter. This time that role is played by Jemima Rooper, whose face perfectly captures the conflict between her girlhood of railway adventures and her adulthood, in which she comes to understand far more about the disappearance of her father than her younger siblings do. This early 20th-century story based on Edith Nesbit's novel is set in motion when the children's father is taken off in the night from their London home and the family moves to the country in reduced circumstances. The trio take to waving at passing trains for amusement and wind up preventing a derailment, reuniting a Russian prison escapee with his family, and rescuing a schoolboy injured in a tunnel. A couple of their heroics are accomplished with the assistance of a jovial-looking gentleman (Richard Attenborough), who waves to them from the rear car. He turns out to be the owner of the railroad and helps Rooper's character clear her father of a false treason conviction. Agutter does well as the proper British mum with a heart, but this is clearly Rooper's picture. The movie itself is 97 minutes with a few minutes tacked on at the beginning and end for Russell Baker's customary commentary and historical context. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

Please Make Sure You See The 1970 Movie First
This PBS version of "The Railway Children" is nowhere near as
charming as the original 1970 movie. If you saw this TV version and liked it, you owe it to yourself to see the young Jenny Agutter in the earlier film. In my opinion, the PBS remake lacks the warmth and civility of the original.

Strong effort in remaking a classic
This is a valiant effort to remake the 1970 film based on Edith Nesbit's novel. In comparing the two, the new version features more "emoting"; things which went unsaid but were implied in 1970 are now told to us rather than shown. This is to the detriment of the newer version.
In spite of this, it is still a beautifully presented tale appropriate for the entire family; I think the production team was quite brave to even attempt a remake.

A Railway Classic
This 2000 Drama classic was shown on our local PBS station under the Masterpiece Theatre title. After viewing this movie, once again Masterpiece Theatre has done itself proud giving us a thoroughly enjoyable and quaint look into the past. The actors and actresses were well chosen and performed well in telling us the story of three young children and their mother taken from rich to poor for a temporary, but unexpected time during the absense of their father/husband. I enjoyed this film very much. The story was simple and easy going, no huge, tramatic drama, but rather with less complex problems of earlier years in history. I find this type of film much more enjoyable today, in a much harder, cold world where we live surrounded by far to much devastation and tragedy. We all could use more films portraying elegance, manners and gentility. A very relaxing film and great stress reliever. END