Search - Canada by Rail on DVD

More on trains than on Canada

Anton Karidian | Tennessee | 06/22/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I originally bought this 4-DVD set because I'm interested in learning more about Canada, and in my opinion the title of the set, "Canada By Rail," implies that it IS mostly about Canada. However, now that I've seen it I think this is really more intended for train enthusiasts. It's true that there is some very good footage here of Canadian scenery, but the overall focus is really on the trains themselves, specifically those of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Often there is shot after shot of the trains and many of their cars moving by, with the narrator describing the trains as well as railway history and facilities in quite much detail, while overall there is not much information about Canada or its history and wildlife here.

The DVDs vary a good deal in this. For instance, the second one in the set, A Yellowhead Winter, is the one that focuses most on Canadian scenery, and is very pleasant to watch with its narration minimized and accompanied by a nice musical score written for the film. The last two, "Canadian Pacific's Mountain Sub and Rogers Pass" and "Canadian Pacific Heart of the Rockies" are almost entirely about the trains, with mostly close-up shots of them so you don't see much else. The first one, "Tracks of the Beaver," provides a fair amount of scenery, but the amount of train footage can get tedious if you're not particularly interested in them, and the music on that DVD is more like bad elevator music that is often too loud.

The title "Canada By Rail" is also misleading because we actually just see WESTERN Canada, and a pretty limited area even of that, mostly along the border of Alberta and British Columbia, and not very far north. Considering all this, it seems likely to me that the films were originally not intended to be a set, but were probably made for different purposes and later cobbled together as a set. The photographic quality is quite good, and is presented on these in full screen. Each DVD runs from 75 to 85 minutes. If you're really into trains, "Canada By Rail" is probably a good set for you, but if you're mainly interested in Canada I would only recommend A Yellowhead Winter, although the whole 4-DVD set is just a few dollars more."