Can you believe it’s 40 Years since the classic film version of E. Nesbit’s The Railway Children first arrived in cinemas? Since then it’s become a favourite for generations or people, with fans of all ages moved by its simple yet powerful story. To celebrate the 40th Anniversary, a newly restored and re-mastered version of the film is hitting cinemas this Friday (April 2nd), and will come to DVD and Blu-ray on May 3rd. But what is it that’s made the film such a classic? Mike Martin sat down with Railway Children actress Jenny Agutter to find out...
Jenny Agutter has a theory on why The Railway Children has lodged in people’s minds and hearts for so long, and continues to do so. As the film celebrates its 40th anniversary, Agutter, who plays Bobbie Waterbury in the classic children’s tale, said: “There are lots of classic films, but they are very much of their period. Blow-Up is an amazing film, so is Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment, but boy are they rooted in their time. The Railway Children doesn’t have a style, it is just very honest.”
Agutter remembers the times – the film was made in 1970 – as being very different to the Edwardian world the film inhabits. She explained: “It was all very sex, drugs and rock and roll at the time, and people think that’s what films should be as well. We had a director in Lionel Jefferies who just knew what he wanted, and wrote an honest script and created this wonderful feeling on set which seemed to come through in the finished film.”
Agutter has made over 100 films and TV shows but will forever be remembered as the oldest child of the struggling Waterbury family who move to Yorkshire when the father mysteriously disappears. Her scene at the end, with the simple quote “Daddy, my Daddy”, still brings a tear to the eye: “It’s the only film I know where grown men happily admit they cry,” she laughed. “That scene gets people every time – it’s that fantastic music by Johnny Douglas.”
The great British actress, now 58, said the film was received well on its release but took time to really find its place among the great children’s films: “It had good reviews and a lot of publicity on its release, so it was known, then it appeared on TV and was a Christmas favourite. Then, years later, it did really well on video, and now of course the children who saw it are showing it to their children which is wonderful. It found its audience over time, which is a lovely thing.”
 Jenny Agutter in The Railway Children |
It’s not the only Agutter film which lodged in film history – Walkabout and An American Werewolf In London have also taken their place amongst the greats. The actress has a theory about why all three films are so loved: “They didn’t have any script changes – they are pretty much as the director and writer saw them. Lionel wrote his screenplay for the Railway Children and it was very tight, and we stuck to it. Walkabout was an Edward Bond screenplay so we stuck to that, and the same for Werewolf – they are just honest films of how the writer envisaged them. So often you make a film and there are changes, and they can slightly spoil things.”
Agutter believed the other thing they have in common are just really great stories: “Walkabout I made first, and it had strange things in it that just lodged in your brain, you want to go back to it and unravel it. Railway Children is just a terrific story, and American Werewolf too has so much in it – it’s funny, it’s engaging, it’s different, and my part of Alex was great. She’s sexy, she’s funny and she falls in love with a werewolf – what’s not to love?”
Seeing the remastered, cleaned up version of the Railway Children was a revelation for Agutter, who must have seen the film dozens of times: “It reminded me how good it looks. We had a very small budget - £350,000 - and had to make the best of it, but the costumes and cinematography were just great. The cinematographer, Arthur Ibbetson, should have been nominated for a Bafta.” On learning that he wasn’t, but Sally Thomsett was for ‘Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles’, Agutter simply said “Aaah”.
It’s a huge shock to many people that Thomsett, who plays younger sister Phyllis, was actually two years older than the elegant Agutter. “She had a car, a boyfriend and smoked,” laughed Agutter, “but somehow she was a child – she acted like a 12-year-old. But the chemistry was real, and that all came from the director Lionel – it’s such a shame he died recently and cannot see his restored version of the film, he would have loved it.”
For the second part of Mike Martin's interview with Jenny Agutter, click here.
The Railway Children: 40th Anniversary is out in cinemas 2nd April, and on DVD and Blu-ray 3rd May.
