Review of Railway Children, The

Introduction

I`ve probably got a little more than your average reviewers interest in The Railway Children. Although I was originally born in Florida I have lived for some time now in the small village of Oakworth in West Yorkshire. This movie was film at the local village station and surrounding areas and we are delighted that now and again celebrations are held to commemorate this special occasion. Filmed way back in 1970 the production team took advantage of Keighley Worth Valley old railway line which has been used on many occasions for other feature films such as Yanks with Richard Gere and also may TV productions. My husband even took part in a TV series filmed on the same station called The Way We Used to Live many moons ago for Schools Television.

This is not just a great and classic movie based on a classic children`s novel. To me and my family it`s a piece of local history...but how does the DVD perform...

Video

The picture is very clean and crisp with no sign of artefacting. Blacks and whites contrast each other well with only a slight amount of haloing on very bright areas of the picture which are only really noticeable when bounded by darker colours. The picture is presented in its true 1.78:1 theatrical ratio with no visible cropping. Colours are bright and vivid and really show of our beautiful northern rolling, tree lined hills at their best. The only problem is that many of the areas shown in this movie are now covered in newer housing developments which is a shame, but at least we have this splendid DVD to remind us of the past.

Audio

The sound is muted Dolby Digital Mono. That said, dialogue was still clear and understandable but any ambience is lost in a mono mix. A re-mixed stereo track would have been better but a full-on redux in full-on 5.1 would have been awesome for the train sequences at least.

I did have a play around with my amp`s DSP modes and found the Stereo Movie mode with extra bass (Sony STRDB-925) beefed up the sound. I`m not fond of using DSP on DD 5.1 or DTS encoded discs but for Stereo or Mono or even some DD Pro-Logic platters it`s worth the tinkering if available.

Features

Extras are a bit limited but the interview with Jenny Agutter, would you believe it 30 years on, is fabulous. It`s a great insight into how she got involved and her fondness for our area of the UK. As I mentioned there are often many celebrations at Oakworth station and Jenny has attended many of them. She`s even been involved in charity walks in the area and is a great ambassador for local community. May I take this chance to thank her for her support and for a wonderful movie.

Conclusion

On a production standpoint this disc lacks the finesse of other older title releases. A making of documentary with behind the scenes footage would have also been a great bonus. On a personal note, I adored the novel, I love the movie, I will cherish this DVD with its images of past times on past times, in my very own village.