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6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Sleeping Car remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Look, if you are the type who needs constant pacing and high-stakes drama, skip this one. You’ll be bored within ten minutes. But if you have a soft spot for old-school, slightly dusty black-and-white comedies where everyone speaks in polished, quick-fire sentences, you might actually enjoy the ride. It’s light. It’s airy. It’s almost entirely inconsequential.
It’s the story of a sleeping-car attendant who fancies himself quite the catch. He bags a rich widow, thinks he is living the dream, and then realizes he is just a paper husband. Classic stuff, really.
Madeleine Carroll is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. She has this way of looking at the camera that makes you forget the plot is basically paper-thin. Sometimes she’s just staring, and you can tell she’s the only person in the room who knows exactly what the joke is.
The sleeping-car setting is neat, I guess. It’s cramped, it’s noisy, and it’s the perfect place for people to run into each other accidentally. There is a scene where a door opens and closes about four times too many, and it starts to feel less like a narrative device and more like a workout for the set crew. It made me laugh, though.
Watching this made me think about The Big Idea, mostly because both movies feel like they were cobbled together on a whim. There isn't that crushing weight of 'importance' that newer films have. It’s just people moving through rooms and trying to be clever.
Ivor Novello is… fine? He’s very much a product of his time, lots of expressive eyebrows and dramatic pauses. Sometimes it works, sometimes it’s just a bit much. There was this one moment where he pauses to adjust his collar, and I swear he held it for five full seconds. Why? Who knows. Maybe he liked his collar.
It’s not a masterpiece. It’s not going to change your life. It’s a movie that exists in a bubble. If you’re tired of modern cinema trying to explain every single motive to you, this is a nice break. You don’t have to work to understand why these people are doing these silly things. They just do them. That’s refreshing. ☕
Just don't go in expecting a tight script. It wanders. It meanders. It gets distracted by its own charm. Much like me when I’m trying to write a review, I suppose.
IMDb —
1931
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