Six people share a sleeping-car on a Paris-bound train. When it reaches its destination, one of them is found murdered. As the police (headed by Yves Montand) frantically search for the the killer, the razor-sharp plot quickens and thickens--as the murderer (always one step ahead of the cops) proceeds to kill, one-by-one, the remaining occupants of the car. Finally only two young lovers are left (Jacques Perrin and Catherine Allegret), and they decide to solve the murders themselves. Wrong move, as the killer(s) zero in on their last remaining quarry. Costa-Gavras first film is undoubtedly his best. He keeps the pace so chillingly frantic that moviegoers (when I first saw the film in its 1965 theatrical release) literally gasped at each twist and turn of the deviously complicated plot. Simone Signoret is stunning as one of the victims (an aging actress), the murder scenes are staged in a shivering, cold-blooded manner that must have made Hitchcock green with diabolical envy, and the cast is superlative (keep an eye on a young Jean-Louis Trintignant--he's not at all what he initially seems). The climax (with Perrin trapped in a drugstore pay-phone booth, with Montand on the other end of the line instructing him how to dodge the killers closing in on him) is as heart-pounding, terrifying a sequence ever committed to celluloid. Filmed in France, utilizing breathtaking CinemaScope and black-and-white photography, "The Sleeping Car Murders" was dubbed for its American release. Purists may quibble, but no matter. It remains one of the most hypnotic, audacious (the homosexual twist at the finale was a true audience shocker in '65, and still is)), frightening thrillers ever committed to celluloid. A one-of-a-kind classic--sadly unavailable on DVD, VHS, or cable.
Please let's get "The Sleeping Car Murders" back on the tracks. It's a rare must-see, for thriller-and-movie-buffs alike.
Please let's get "The Sleeping Car Murders" back on the tracks. It's a rare must-see, for thriller-and-movie-buffs alike.