Release CalendarDVD & Blu-ray ReleasesTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsIn TheatersComing SoonMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV NewsIndia TV Spotlight
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsBest Picture WinnersBest Picture WinnersEmmysLGBTQ+ Pride MonthSTARmeter AwardsSan Diego Comic-ConNew York Comic-ConSundance Film FestivalToronto Int'l Film FestivalAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Sleeping Car Murder

Original title: Compartiment tueurs
  • 19651965
  • 1h 35m
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
  • Crime
  • Drama
  • Mystery
The witnesses of a train murder must take the investigation into their own hands if they want to survive.The witnesses of a train murder must take the investigation into their own hands if they want to survive.The witnesses of a train murder must take the investigation into their own hands if they want to survive.
IMDb RATING
7.3/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Costa-Gavras
  • Writers
    • Sébastien Japrisot(novel)
    • Costa-Gavras(adaptation)
  • Stars
    • Catherine Allégret
    • Jacques Perrin
    • Simone Signoret
Top credits
  • Director
    • Costa-Gavras
  • Writers
    • Sébastien Japrisot(novel)
    • Costa-Gavras(adaptation)
  • Stars
    • Catherine Allégret
    • Jacques Perrin
    • Simone Signoret
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 15User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 nominations

    Photos19

    The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    1 sheet movie poster
    Pierre Mondy and Yves Montand in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Jacques Perrin in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Claude Mann and Yves Montand in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Yves Montand in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Pascale Roberts in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Pierre Mondy and Yves Montand in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Claude Mann, Yves Montand, and Simone Signoret in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Costa-Gavras and Yves Montand in The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Catherine Allégret
    Catherine Allégret
    • Benjamine Bombat dite Bambias Benjamine Bombat dite Bambi
    Jacques Perrin
    Jacques Perrin
    • Daniel - le jeune voyageuras Daniel - le jeune voyageur
    Simone Signoret
    Simone Signoret
    • Eliane Darrès - une comédienne - 4e victimeas Eliane Darrès - une comédienne - 4e victime
    Michel Piccoli
    Michel Piccoli
    • René Cabourg - un représentant - 2e victimeas René Cabourg - un représentant - 2e victime
    Pascale Roberts
    Pascale Roberts
    • Georgette Thomas - la première victimeas Georgette Thomas - la première victime
    Yves Montand
    Yves Montand
    • L'inspecteur Graziani dit Grazzias L'inspecteur Graziani dit Grazzi
    Pierre Mondy
    Pierre Mondy
    • Le commissaire Tarquinas Le commissaire Tarquin
    Claude Mann
    Claude Mann
    • L'inspecteur Jean-Lou Gabertas L'inspecteur Jean-Lou Gabert
    Charles Denner
    Charles Denner
    • Bob Vaski - l'amant de Georgetteas Bob Vaski - l'amant de Georgette
    Jean-Louis Trintignant
    Jean-Louis Trintignant
    • Éric Grandin - un amant d'Elianeas Éric Grandin - un amant d'Eliane
    Nadine Alari
    Nadine Alari
    • Madame Grazianias Madame Graziani
    Monique Chaumette
    Monique Chaumette
    • Madame Rivolanias Madame Rivolani
    Maurice Chevit
    • Un inspecteuras Un inspecteur
    Jacques Dynam
    Jacques Dynam
    • Un inspecteuras Un inspecteur
    Bernadette Lafont
    Bernadette Lafont
    • La soeur de Georgetteas La soeur de Georgette
    Tanya Lopert
    Tanya Lopert
    • Mme Garaudyas Mme Garaudy
    Christian Marin
    Christian Marin
    • Le beau-frèreas Le beau-frère
    Jenny Orléans
    • La soeur de René Cabourgas La soeur de René Cabourg
    • Director
      • Costa-Gavras
    • Writers
      • Sébastien Japrisot(novel)
      • Costa-Gavras(adaptation)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

    More like this

    Shock Troops
    7.0
    Shock Troops
    The Confession
    7.8
    The Confession
    Special Section
    7.6
    Special Section
    Womanlight
    6.4
    Womanlight
    State of Siege
    7.7
    State of Siege
    Family Council
    5.3
    Family Council
    The Little Apocalypse
    6.1
    The Little Apocalypse
    Without Apparent Motive
    6.4
    Without Apparent Motive
    Eden Is West
    6.8
    Eden Is West
    Hanna K.
    6.5
    Hanna K.
    6.8
    Les ratés
    Z
    8.2
    Z

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Was restored by Lumières Numériques for image L.E. Diapason for sound and digitized by KG Productions in 2016 from the original magnetic band and 35mm negatives, under the supervision of director Costa-Gavras.
    • Connections
      Featured in Mémoires pour Simone (1986)

    User reviews15

    Review
    Top review
    9/10
    An exciting and ingenious French film noir by Costa-Gavras
    This film, the original French title of which is COMPARTIMENT TUEURS, is known in English as THE SLEEPING CAR MURDER. I don't believe it has ever been available with English subtitles on DVD or video. I obtained a poor DVD copy of an off the air tape, which was dubbed into English. Despite the poor quality of my copy, it was well worth viewing. The film is directed and scripted by the famous Costa-Gavras, but is one of his least known films, because of the lack of distribution. It goes at a cracking pace and has a splendid cast. Probably the best job of acting is done by Michel Piccoli as a hopeless, creepy lech who is on the edge of madness and can't make it with women despite his uncontrollable lusts and interior rants of frustration, which we hear as voice-overs. Tthe film is filled with other well known actors. Yves Montand plays a world-weary Paris police inspector, Simone Signoret plays an aging woman who has fallen hopelessly in love with a mysterious young man played by Jean-Louis Trintignant. The scene where Montand interviews Signoret (the two in real life were a well known couple, as most people are aware) is amusing, because they struggle to control their giggles. Catherine Allégret plays a young girl just travelling to Paris for the first time in a sleeping car with five other people, two of whom are Signoret and Piccoli. They are on an overnight train journey from Marseilles (although the story starts at Avignon) to Paris. Upon arrival, a glamorous woman in the compartment is discovered to have been strangled to death. The police set about trying to find the killer and start by attempting to round up all the people who had spent the night in the sleeping car. But then, one by one, before the police can get to them, the people in the sleeping car are brutally killed by the same person, presumably to get rid of witnesses to the strangling of the woman in the sleeping car. However, the story has a lot more surprises than that. The film is based upon a novel by the very clever writer Sébastian Japrisot, who is famous for A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (2004) starring the Elf, Audrey Tautou, and THE CHILDREN OF THE MARSHLAND (1999, see my forthcoming review). This was the first feature film directed by Costa-Gavras, who was later to shake the world with his powerful political dramas such as Z, STATE OF SIEGE, MISSING, and MUSIC BOX. He is still with us, aged 81, and directed the film CAPITAL starring Gabriel Byrne and Philippe Duclos (one of my favourite actors) as recently as 2012, when he was 79. One curiosity of the casting is that Claude Berri appears as a porter in the film, though uncredited. It was in this same year that he produced his first short film, LE POULET. He had already been acting for twelve years. This film has many twists and turns and an extraordinarily ingenious plot. I will not spoil things by even hinting at an explanation of it. Costa-Gavras directs with verve and intensity, and he achieves a spectacular success with the complicated filming of a sequence where a speeding car is being chased by a gang of motorcycles. It is no easy thing to keep track of half a dozen speeding vehicles of different sizes streaking across the streets of Paris at night, and make it look convincing. The cinematography by Jean Tournier is a tour de force, and the editing by Christian Gaudin enables the director to achieve his sense of an insoluble mystery hurtling over a cliff into the unknown at ever-increasing speed, with Yves Montand, who is heavy-lidded and has a cold, streaking after it, determined to find out whodunit if it is the last thing he does (I mean, the last thing he does before going to sleep, as he so laid back that one often does not know whether he is thinking or napping). The spider's web of complexity of this film's plot and the explosive speed at which it travels creates what was to be the trademark Costa-Gavras sense of danger and excitement from this, his very first film. If you can find it and manage to see it, you certainly won't regret it. What a way to start his career as a director!
    helpful•6
    5
    • robert-temple-1
    • May 12, 2014

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 17, 1965 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • France
    • Official site
      • website
    • Language
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Kupe za ubice
    • Filming locations
      • Rue des Chantres, Paris 4, Paris, France
    • Production company
      • PECF
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 35 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

    Related news

    Contribute to this page

    Suggest an edit or add missing content
    The Sleeping Car Murder (1965)
    Top Gap
    By what name was The Sleeping Car Murder (1965) officially released in Canada in English?
    Answer
    • See more gaps
    • Learn more about contributing
    Edit page

    More to explore

    View list
    List
    The Best Movies and Shows to Watch in July
    See the full list
    View image
    Photos
    Hollywood Romances: Our Favorite Couples
    See the full list

    Recently viewed

    Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
    Get the IMDb App
    • Get the IMDb App
    • Help
    • Site Index
    • IMDbPro
    • Box Office Mojo
    • IMDb Developer
    • Press Room
    • Advertising
    • Jobs
    • Conditions of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Interest-Based Ads
    IMDb, an Amazon company

    © 1990-2022 by IMDb.com, Inc.