Some years back we discovered two series of archive railway films of exceptional quality, all restored, re-mastered, and given sound by a Dutch genius, Ton Pruissen - now we can offer many more of his films, covering railway scenes from the past in France, Germany, Austria, Poland and other countries when they were under the Red Star of communism, with further mouth-watering titles in the pipeline.
All of Ton's films we offer now have an English commentary either by Peter van Zeller or Ton himself, and the latest also have a German commentary. Currently twelve films are available and are featured here. Whatever language the commentary is in, it is not overwhelming and, on most of these DVDs, can be turned off, leaving you to enjoy the quality of Ton’s dubbed sounds to the full. These films really are exceptional in their quality - you will be amazed!
In the December 2009 Continental Modeller, in a review of "East German Narrow Gauge Memories", the reviewer said:
The picture quality is very good. The film is mostly black and white, with some colour, and all has been transferred very well.
The sound has been meticulously dubbed to create a convincing effect. There is some use of classical backing music......
........ Once again, Pruissen offers a fascinating film which allows us to share his remarkable rail travel experiences. Not only does the film takes us back in time, but his journeys must have seemed like time travel, to a country which had not changed in years. The contrast (where possible) with those lines that have survived is striking.
Stongly recommended.......
Part of the penultimate paragraph of this review doesn't really apply to the French railway films, very little of which Ton filmed, or to Wartime Rails, but the other comments do apply to all his films; Ton's aim is to make each film into a time capsule, and he really does succeed, especially by his attention to the sound dubbing. The sheer quality of his films is incredible as, of course, is the enjoyment to be gained from them!
The following contains clips from all Ton's films with English commentary; these differ considerably in most cases from the individual trailers you will find for each film.
