La versión cinematográfica de los chicos del tren de Edith Nesbit

Abstract

This article examines the film version that Lionel Jeffries made in 1970 of Edith Nesbit's classic “The Railway Children” (1906). The comparative analyisis shows the film's fidelity to the book in spite of the changes introduced. It is argued that the film's success is due to Jeffries” ability to translate the spirit of the novel (Nesbit's irony and humour) to the big screen. To achieve this purpose, Jeffries makes use of the sound and visual means the film media offers, he exaggerates the subtle comicity of the adult characters in the book, he transfers the original dialogues to the screenplay very faithfully and he introduces the voice-over to preserve as much as possible the irony of the omniscient narrator in the book. The examination concludes that Jeffries' film adaptation is a literary translation” that successfully encapsulates the essence of the book.