The Sleeping Car Murders

Compartiment tueurs
Directed by	Costa-Gavras
Screenplay by	Costa Gavras
Based on	The Sleeping Car Murders by Sébastien Japrisot
Produced by
Starring	Yves Montand Simone Signoret Catherine Allégret Jacques Perrin Michel Piccoli Jean-Louis Trintignant
Cinematography	Jean Tournier
Edited by	Christian Gaudin
Music by	Michel Magne
Release date	1965
Running time	199 min.
Country	France
Language	French
Box office	$8.1 million

The Sleeping Car Murders (also known as The Sleeping Car Murder, French title: Compartiment tueurs) is a 1965 French mystery film directed by Costa-Gavras from the novel by Sébastien Japrisot. It stars Yves Montand, Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Catherine Allégret, Jacques Perrin, Charles Denner and Pascale Roberts.^[1] This film was the first movie for Costa-Gavras, to be followed later by other, more politically-oriented work.

Plot[]

Six people travel by train overnight from Marseilles to Paris. When the train arrives at its destination, one of the passengers, a girl, is found dead in a sleeping berth. The police led by Inspector Grazzi investigate the other five passengers, suspecting that one of them was responsible. However, as the investigation is stepped up, the other passengers start turning up dead. It is then up to the last remaining two to solve the case, before they become the next victims.

Cast[]

• Yves Montand Inspector Grazziani "Grazzi"
• Jacques Perrin as Daniel
• Catherine Allégret as Benjamine Bombat aka "Bambi"
• Pierre Mondy as Superintendent Tarquin
• as Jean-Lou Gabert
• Jean-Louis Trintignant as Éric Grandin
• Simone Signoret as Éliane Darrès
• Charles Denner as Bob Vaski
• Michel Piccoli as René Cabourg
• Pascale Roberts as Georgette Thomas
• Jacques Dynam as Inspector Malec
• André Valmy as Inspector
• as Inspector Antoine
• Maurice Chevit as Inspector Moutard
• Nadine Alari as Mme Grazziani
• Monique Chaumette as Mme Rivolani
• as Rivolani
• Bernadette Lafont as Georgette's sister
• Christian Marin as Georgette's brother-in-law
• Serge Rousseau as train controller
• Jenny Orléans as Cabourg's sister.
• Claude Dauphin as Eliane's brother
• Daniel Gélin as the veterinarian
• Tanya Lopert as Mme Garaudy
• Charles Millot as medical examiner
• Albert Michel as bartender
• as journalist
• as Superintendent Tuffi
• as employee at the hotel Arizona
• as drunkard at the police headquarters
• Edmond Ardisson as the telephone voice from Marseille
• as Bambi's boss
• Dominique Zardi as Inspector in the café
• as Inspector in the café
• Marcel Bozzuffi as policeman
• Georges Geret as policeman
• as train employee
• as inspector
• : janitor in Eliane's building
• as a man in the Police headquarters
• Claude Berri as a train employee
• Françoise Arnoul as nurse in the veterinarian school
• Serge Marquand as Georgette's lover
• as drunk lady
• Bernard Paul

Reception[]

The New York Times said Costa-Gavras "whips it up with a lot of camera trickery and an abundance of cinematic style" but added that "the plot gets so thick and calculated that it becomes temporarily congealed."^[2] TV Guide called it "an intriguing, highly entertaining thriller" and praised "Costa-Gavras' taut direction" that "propels this somewhat impenetrable mystery along at breakneck speed."^[3] Time Out said that "the ending is one of those ingenious absurdities that haunt the genre, but the lively pace and attention to detail make up for the implausibility."^[4]

References[]

External links[]

• The opening and closing sequence on YouTube^{[dead link]}
• Compartiment tueurs at IMDb

This article about a psychological thriller film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t