That was an excellent one.

Sick Product of a Sick System

A Brilliant Conflict

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Apparently, this film (also an episode of the American show "Masterpiece Theater") is from a novel very famous in the UK--though I doubt if that many folks in the States have heard of it. "The Railway Children" is a very sweet tale about three siblings who manage to keep up their spirits and do good when their family suddenly is reduced to poverty.When the film begins, this family lives in a nice home and has no apparent worries. However, soon their father disappears and their mother gives them little idea where the man went. But, she also tells them that now that he is gone, they cannot afford to live in their home and move to the countryside. For some time, they can barely afford to eat--and things get only worse when mother gets ill. So, the three kids manage to do amazingly well to keep the family together, save many lives and live happily ever after.This is a very nice family film which promotes many nice virtues--such as faith, kindness and a willingness to give even when you are nearly without. Very well produced and extremely well acted by the children. Well worth seeing.By the way, Jenny Agutter played in the 1970 version of this story (as a child) and here she plays the long-suffering mother.

This is just an attempted copy of the 1970 film. It largely tries to only mimic the original film. That film was a masterpiece and so this film is quite simply an embarrassment. Had this film been its own interpretation of the story then it might have been a worthwhile remake. For example Gregor Fisher is simply acting Bernard Cribbins character rather than playing the role of the character in the story. There are many other ridiculous parallels. Jenny Agutter is of course just wonderful as the mother. This adds a cheesy twist but that is hardly a reason for a remake, or rather re-hashing, of the film. Having the 1970 film ingrained so much in my mind, I found this film to be a toe-curling embarrassment. A 'meddlement'. What was the point of it?

I really enjoyed watching The Railway children and it was nice to see Jenny Agutter as the mother as she had the part of Jemima Rooper as Bobbie back in 1970 and done a great job in both of The Railway children. Three kids live happily with their parents and are rich, until nearly everything changes. Their father is accused for something he did not do and the rest of the family have to move house. When they move house they find out that they live near a railway station and they save a train from an accident. A man helps the eldest child to find their dad and at the end they dad comes back from prison without the other two finding out.

What a sheer delight this TV film was. I saw it last night (Sunday, 23 April 2000) as it premiered on TV, and really enjoyed it. Jenny Agutter, as Mother (originally oldest daughter in the 1970 version) took a bit of a back seat, but I thought the young actors who played her children did a splendid job. This was particularly so for the oldest daughter (Bobbie, played by Jemima Rooper) who was very convincing in her roll. The young lad (Peter, played by Jack Blumenau) was a real natural as well. Hard to fault, but I was not sure of Gregor Fisher's roll as the Station Keeper, Perks. He tends to be too typecast in the UK, as an underclass Scotsman, to carry the roll off very well. I highly recommend this film - it really is a breath of fresh air, when we suffer so much from films which show much bleak dystopia, or over-sugary romantic mush. Well done to all involved - including the first class (pun!) actors, like the "Old Gentleman". A real treat.