Night on the Galactic Railroad Movie Review 1985

Lonely student Giovanni, alone and caring for his sick mother, is out watching the stars one night when a gigantic train appears out of nowhere. Boarding it, he finds his sole friend Campanella, and embarks on an interstellar journey that might also be transporting the dead to the afterlife. This slow and somewhat ponderous animated feature is based on a novel written by Kenji Mayazawa, but recasts the characters as cats. There are some haunting moments (an episode involving victims of the "R.M.S. Titanic" is particularly effective) and a sad ending, but it somehow misses the mark.

Distribution

Central Park Media/U.S. Manga Corps, 250 W. 57th St., Ste. 317, New York, NY 10107, Phone: (212)977-7456, Toll-free: 800-833-7456, Fax: (212)977-8709, Email: info@teamcpm.com, URL: http://www.centralparkmedia.com

Available on DVD
Running time 108 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Fantasy, Anime

Screenplay

Minoru Betsuyaku

Director

Gisaburo Sugii

Music

Haruomi Hosono