The 13-minute British PSA that traumatized a generation of children.
Young Robbie, a keen footballer and a railway enthusiast, is persuaded by his big brother to go through a hole in a railway fence on to the track for some reason. His laces become caught on the tracks and he has an accident so serious that he will never play football again. A film for showing to eight to eleven-year old children and their parents, which points out the folly of breaking railway fences and trespassing on the line, and illustrates the immediate dangers. Part of BFI collection "The Age of the Train".
Direction
Dunkley milks 13 minutes for maximum childhood dread.
Practical Effects
That train collision is genuinely stomach-churning.
Director
Ronald Dunkley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of British Rail's 'The Age of the Train' campaign—the same marketing push that gave Jimmy Savile his famous slogan. The 70s were a time.
Peter Purves, the narrator, was a Blue Peter presenter—essentially the UK's Mr. Rogers. Imagine Mr. Rogers describing your legs getting mangled by a locomotive.
GB
