The Railroad Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

The Railroad Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 26, 2025

When is a Neorealist film not a Neorealist film? Maybe when the film was released several years after the perceived ending of Neorealism in Italian Cinema, when, as one of the supplements on this disc alludes to, "new" movements like Commedia all'italiana were already at least nascent, and when even more dramatic outings were moving in what the supplement calls a melodramatic direction. All of this said, and with regard to The Railroad Man in particular, citing it as some kind of post-Neorealist film may in fact be a distinction without much of a difference, and that is not necessarily a bad thing by any stretch. This film's emphasis on the relationship between a hard toiling father and a devoted young son will no doubt remind some of one of the epochal achievements of the entire Neorealist movement, Vittorio De Sica's classic Bicycle Thieves. And if in fact The Railroad Man may admittedly depict an Italy that while not quite yet into an economic boom and La Dolce Vita (so to speak) was at least not still in the absolute wake of the destruction left by World War II, there is still a rather similarly aching tone to a lot of this film that is probably undoubtedly reminiscent of the De Sica masterpiece.

Andrea Marcocci (Pietro Germi, who also co-wrote and directed) is the workaday title character, though Andrea, while idolized by his young son Sandro (Edoardo Novela) is shown to have both some professional and personal issues. When a suicidal man jumps in front of Andrea's train one day, the professional and personal collide (no pun intended), sending Andrea spiraling into an emotional tailspin. Things have already been shown to be roiling on the home front courtesy of Andrea's much older son Marcello (Renato Speziali) and pregnant daughter Giulia (Silva Koscina). There may be less of an overt socioeconomic aspect here than in the De Sica film, which is not to say it's not present, especially when through no fault of Andrea (at least initially) he livelihood is threatened and none of the "official" support systems offers any assistance.

Through it all, though, is the cohesive force of the family, as exemplified by Andrea's long suffering wife Sara (Luisa Della Noce), and probably especially by the adorable little Sandro, who is too young to really understand what's going on completely, and so is probably untroubled by moral shades of gray and who continues to basically worship his father, even after some of the veritable scabs have been ripped off.

The Railroad Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Railroad Man is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Radiance Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Radiance provided only a check disc for purposes of this review, and so I'm not privy to any verbiage about the transfer that might be included in an insert booklet, but there are some prefatory text cards before the main presentation that disclose the following information:

This 4K copy of The Railroad Man (Germi, 1956) was restored by the Cineteca di Bologna Foundation and Surf Film based on original film and sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna, in 2021 and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture.

This is a pretty ravishing looking presentation from the get go, as little Sandro rushes through the train station to greet dear old Dad, and even in motion the fine detail on Sandro's tufted jacket is clearly defined. Contrast is often luscious looking throughout, and is remarkably consistent given the almost insane number of optical dissolves the film offers. Both "artier" framings like several POV sequences shot from moving trains and more stationary set bound vignettes tend to offer excellent fine detail levels throughout. Grain resolves without any issues, another big plus considering the surplus of dissolves.

The Railroad Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Railroad Man features LPCM 2.0 Mono audio in the original Italian. While there's a certain flatness to things here that may defeat huge variances in dynamic range, all elements are supported well, including everything from the railroad sound effects to some diagetic music (Andrea plays guitar) to the underscore by Carlo Rustichelli. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Railroad Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Mario Sesti (HD; 29:07) offers Sesti's interesting overview of the film and the context of its timeframe. Subtitled in English.


• Edoardo Nevola (HD; 23:02) is featured in this appealing interview shot in 2025. Subtitled in English.

Radiance provided a check disc for purposes of this review, but their website mentions their usual assortment of packaging extras.

The Railroad Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's maybe a little curious how under appreciated The Railroad Man has been. It's a lovely, admittedly at times bittersweet but ultimately affirming story that has some knockout performances. Technical merits are solid and the supplements appealing. Highly recommended.