The Railway Children (1970) on Netflix
Their father is arrested on suspicion of betraying state secrets. Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter Waterbury move from London to a house beside a Yorkshire railway, where they wave to the trains.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.3/106,406 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1905 the Waterburys live in a villa in the London suburbs, where Charles Waterbury works at the Foreign Office. The day after Christmas brings his arrest on suspicion of spying, and his wife tells the children nothing of it. Left without money, Mrs. Waterbury takes Bobbie, Phyllis and Peter north to Three Chimneys, a house in Yorkshire near Oakworth station. The house is in a mess and rats have got in. The children amuse themselves by watching the trains go past and waving to the passengers aboard. They get to know Albert Perks, the station porter, and an old gentleman who travels on the 9:15. Their mother earns money by writing and teaches them at home.
Cast
- Beatrix Mackeyas Aunt Emma
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Railway Children (1970)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sally Thomsett was 20 years old when she was cast as the 11-year-old Phyllis, and her contract forbade her from revealing her true age during the making of the film. She was also not allowed to be seen smoking or drinking during the shoot.
- In 2013 the British Board of Film Classification said it had received and assessed a complaint that the film encouraged children to trespass on railway tracks. It noted that the children did trespass, but only to warn an approaching train of a landslide ahead.
- At the time of filming there were still very few heritage railways in Britain and only the KWVR could provide a tunnel. The tunnel is a lot shorter in reality than it appears in the film, so a temporary extension was made using canvas covers.
- Lionel Jeffries read The Railway Children for the first time while returning to Britain by ship from the US to make Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in which he appeared as an actor. He had lost his own books and borrowed the novel from his 13-year-old daughter Martha.
- Lionel Jeffries, who made the film as his directorial debut, later said he knew there were "slight bets among the technical staff as to how long I'd last" after Bryan Forbes suggested he direct it.
- Lionel Jeffries admitted he was tempted to play the station porter Perks himself, but decided to cast Bernard Cribbins because of what Jeffries called Cribbins's "lovely calm comedy".
