Railway Children, The/Swallows & Amazons (Double Feature) (1970)

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     This pair of film adaptations from classic children's stories is likely to stimulate rich nostalgia in some watchers. Both come from a more innocent age - with nary a Nintendo or a Ninja Turtle in sight. Sigh. These films were made in days prior to mass-marketing (although I confess to owning a Railway Children book, with pictures from the film.) Gentle, whimsical and moral, they are a pleasant walk down paths of memory.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

The Railway Children (1970)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1970
Running Time	104:39
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Lionel Jeffries
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Dinah Sheridan Bernard Cribbins William Mervyn Iain Cuthbertson Jenny Agutter Sally Thomsett Gary F. Warren Peter Bromilow Gordon Whiting Ann Lancaster Beatrix Mackey Deddie Davies Christopher Witty
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Johnny Douglas

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Released in 1970, I must have been eight or nine years of age when I first saw The Railway Children, and promptly fell wholeheartedly in love with it. I recall receiving as a treasured gift a book illustrated with pictures from the film, and I'm sure I nearly wore out those pages. Now, 34 years later, I was delighted to reacquaint myself with this charming story, and, by default, indulge in all the cozy nostalgic feelings it provided.

     In Edwardian England, three children live an idyllic life, much loved by their doting parents. Roberta, or Bobby (Jenny Agutter) is sensitive and slowly emerging from childhood towards womanhood; Phyllis (Sally Thomsett) is a daffy, lovable sprite; and brother Peter (Gary Warren) is a train-mad lovable rogue. Their perfect and comfortable existence is shattered one Christmas, when some gentlemen come to call and mysteriously take their father (Iain Cuthbertson) away.

     Their mother (Dinah Sheridan) begs them to not press her further for details about their father's disappearance, announcing instead, rather overbrightly, that they will now "play at being poor" - moving to a cottage in Yorkshire.

     Estranged from every comfort and convenience, the children set about exploring their new world. Encountering the nearby railway line, they imagine being able to send their love to their father, via the train tracks, and they begin waving enthusiastically at the passing coaches. In so doing, they catch the eye of one regular traveller, an elderly gentleman with a kind face (William Mervyn), who becomes accustomed to looking out for the trio. The three children become firm friends with the Station Porter, Albert Perks (Bernard Cribbins), and even the local doctor (Peter Bromilow) is impressed with this fine family. When the children's mother becomes ill, their poverty makes the children desperately search for help, which comes from the kindly gentleman. However, their mother is mortified and chides her children that they are poor, but certainly are not beggars.

     In spite of their penury, the family endear themselves to their local community with their willingness to help wherever possible. Their particular care of a Russian émigré is wonderfully touching, and the mother's ministry to a young paperchaser with a broken leg completes a full circle of compassion with the old gentleman. The children add to their stature in the locals' eyes when they alert a speeding train to a landslide that has covered the tracks. They are feted as heroes and awarded merit prizes, to the sounds of a (very) erratic local brass band.

     When Perks donates some magazines and newspapers to Bobby she discovers an article that reveals her father's fate. Her mother confirms that he has been incarcerated under charges that he revealed state secrets. Bobby is crushed by the realisation that it may be a very long time before she sees her father again. Maturity descends upon the young girl as she grapples with the harshness and unfairness of life.

     The closing scenes of this film are still potently touching. (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) Feeling some unbidden desire to be alone, young Bobby finds herself drawn to the deserted railway station. She watches, detached, as a train pulls in. Clouds of steam and smoke billow over the platform, and slowly, through the vapours, the figure of a man materialises. Incredulous, Bobby focuses intently upon the man as his features begin to take shape. "Daddy, my Daddy!" she cries and runs into the arms of safety and love from which she's been so long denied. It is unashamedly sentimental, and still managed to moisten the eye of this nostalgic reviewer.

     There is a gentle sweetness to this film that I still found monumentally appealing after all these years. It's a genuine holiday for the senses - joyful and innocent, with the surety of happy endings and the conquering power of love. Highly recommended.

     This disc comes as a double feature with Swallows And Amazons.

Video

     This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 16x9 enhanced.

     The presentation is rather soft with high grain levels, but there is detail aplenty in both the highlights and the shadows.

     The colour range renders skin tones very well, and is generally quite rich and warm.

     This transfer does have significant dust spots and there is mild motion blur, but it's indicative of the age of the original stock.

     This is a dual layered disc, but the layer change is between the two features (this disc includes Swallows and Amazons as well) and consequently does not interfere with the presentation.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The soundtrack is delivered in English Dolby Digital 2.0 from a mono source.

     The dialogue is quite pristine, and there are no significant audio sync problems. There are no subtitles.

     The film score by Johnny Douglas is sentimental and warm as tea and toast.

     There is virtually no sense of direction in the audio, and the subwoofer is nonexistent. There are occasional distortions and pops throughout the production.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     The menu is static with theme music from Swallows and Amazons.

      There appears to be no difference in extras between R1 and R4 (or lack thereof) so I'm going for the PAL presentation.

     E. Nesbitt's book about three children learning about life has been faithfully transferred to the screen in this charming and sentimental classic. If you've seen it before, you may, like me, very much enjoy a return visit. If you've never seen it before, this is just the ticket for an hour and a half's balm to the soul.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Swallows and Amazons (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	88:39
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Claude Whatham
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Virginia McKenna Ronald Fraser Simon West Suzanna Hamilton Sophie Neville Stephen Grendon Kit Seymour Lesley Bennett Brenda Bruce Mike Pratt John Franklyn-Robbins Jack Woolgar David Blagden
Case	?
RPI	?	Music	Wilfred Josephs

     When I was a child, my mother, father, brother, sisters, assorted cousins, aunts, uncles and family friends would descend each holiday on the tiny town of Yunderup, nestled on the Murray River in Western Australia. The children ranged in ages from babes-in-arms to sophisticated and knowledgeable sixteen year olds. It was always a blissful week of long walks and "messing about in boats." Inspired by my father's experiences as a navigator in the merchant navy, we spent hours negotiating the tiny rivulets and estuary sweeps, mapping out "Snaggy Alley" and recording dire warnings about the dangers of toe-nipping crabs in the estuary shallows. And best of all, we had our own island - Alan's Island, named after our erstwhile leader. We each had landmarks named after ourselves - Lou's Lagoon, Santhia's Sandpit, Neale's Nest - my dubious honour was to lend my name to Mirella's Mudpatch! Most of our holiday was spent on our own private island, which occasionally we'd share with our parents, if they bore the appropriate "visas" (handwritten at night, with Neale charged with hand-drawing our Island seal on each chit.) Watching Swallows and Amazons was therefore a nostalgic blast from a gentle part of my past. It is a film that harks back to a time which bears little relationship to the modern day.

     Set in 1929 but filmed in 1974, this adaptation of the well-loved book by Arthur Ransome is a kids' adventure story, much in the mode of the Secret Seven or the Famous Five. Our main heroes are John, (Simon West) - the leader of the group; Susan, (Zanna Hamilton) - the mother figure; Titty, (Sophie Neville) - the imaginative firebrand tomboy and Roger, (Stephen Grendon) - a bit of a duffer. On their holidays in the Lake District, they are given permission to take their little boat, The Swallow, over to an island to set-up camp. On their journey, they encounter a houseboat, with a shifty occupant (Ronald Fraser) who has a parrot on his shoulder. No doubt, this suspicious character is a pirate, or at least an ex-pirate.

     As they settle in to their island idyll, their tranquillity is disturbed by arrows being shot over their head. The Swallows have just encountered the Amazons, namely Nancy (Kit Seymour) and Peggy (Lesley Bennett). Also there on their holidays, the group parley and decide upon a contest to try to capture each other's boat. After sundry adventures and strategies going awry, Titty manages to save the Swallows' honour, but they all find themselves on the same side when some sinister men are observed concealing a treasure chest on their island. What are they hiding, and what does it have to do with the houseboat pirate?

     In truth, this production of Swallows and Amazons is a little clumsy and awkward. The children are rather stilted in their performances, and the entire direction is particularly self-conscious. But, in many ways, this is a film that has more value in its innocent nostalgia than in its inherent cinematic merits. If your children are fond of slick, smash-em-up video games and 3D animations, then this may be a little crude and facile for their tastes, but it does provide a gentler moment and counterpoint to today's harsher times.

     This disc comes as a double feature with The Railway Children.

Video

     This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.29:1, which is probably a pan and scan effort.

     The presentation is rather soft and flat, with significant evidence of compression and some low level noise. The highlights tend to be rather burned out, and there's not a lot of detail in the shadows. Grain levels are extremely high.

     The colour range is rather limited and somewhat pallid, although the skin tones are generally reasonably accurate.

     This transfer is plagued with significant dust spots and scratches, and some aliasing is present.

     This is a dual layered disc, but the layer change is between the two features (this disc includes The Railway Children as well) and consequently does not interfere with the presentation.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The soundtrack is delivered in English Dolby Digital 2.0 from a mono source.

     The dialogue is relatively clean, but there are occasional audio sync sins committed. There are no subtitles.

     The film score by Wilfred Josephs is adequate, though unremarkable.

     There is virtually no sense of direction in the audio, and the subwoofer is nonexistent. There are occasional distortions and pops throughout the production.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

     The menu is static with theme music from Swallows and Amazons.

      This does not appear to be available as a DVD in R1 so we have a winner by default.

     Whilst the filming and acting looks very self-conscious by today's standards, there's some homespun, bully-beef charm in this rather plummy presentation.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall