Microphone “In some respects it feels like yesterday,” says Jenny Agutter. The British actress is reminiscing over the making of The Railway Children, a film which, slightly remarkably, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. “Mind you,” she adds with a laugh, “I can also tell by the number of events that have happened since that quite a bit of time has gone by!
“The interesting thing is when we made The Railway Children, I thought how terribly far away we were from the period, 1905. Now I’m very aware that already 40 years have gone by since making it and, actually, when we made it we were only 65 years from the actual time it was set!”
The Railway Children is undoubtedly a classic tale, a fact that Jenny attributes both to the late Lionel Jeffries’ ability as a director – “It’s so sad Lionel’s not around for the anniversary, he really deserves the recognition he’s finally getting because he was extraordinary to work with” – and to E Nesbit’s original story.
“Nesbit is a very clever children’s writer, she gets inside the child mind. She was never successful as an adult author, but I think she has the propensity to understand things from a child’s point of view. When you read it, you’re returned to a certain age, to a certain way of seeing things.
“It’s not because it’s a ‘nice’ story – the children go through a lot – I think it’s because even though today’s social structure has changed completely, there’s still enough of family life that people enjoy and identify with. And if they don’t have that, they want it.”
As for the power of perhaps the film’s most classic moment – “Daddy! My Daddy!” – Jenny explains the reason that perhaps has so much resonance. “Nesbit’s father died when she was four, so when she writes about wanting the father to return, that’s coming from a deep-seated desire to restore the family that she never had.”
There’s a sense of contentment to Jenny’s voice. Unlike some people asked to discuss a film they made a lifetime before, Jenny clearly has fond memories of her time on set and is proud to still be associated with the film. Not that anyone knew it would have this sort of longevity, of course.
“When the film came out, it got a lot of publicity, it was well received, it got a lot of good reviews but you can’t perceive how that might become a classic. Then about 10 years later, it came out on video, it was being shown on television, and it escalated from there.
“I lived in America for 17 years and nobody mentioned The Railway Children, it’s not part of their history, but when I came home to England at the age of 37, I was quite surprised that it had found this new life.
Jenny laughs. “That was 37. At 47 I played the mother in the Carlton TV version of The Railway Children and now I’m 57 and it’s the 40th anniversary. It just lives on!”
The Railway Children is on general release in selected cinemas and is available to buy on DVD and Blu-Ray from May 3, 2010.
You can buy the book of The Railway Children by E Nesbit in Saga's online bookshop. Click here for more details.