Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Sleeping Car to Trieste

Play trailer Poster for Sleeping Car to Trieste 1948 1h 35m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 0 Reviews 43% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Espionage agents Valya (Jean Kent) and Zurta (Albert Lieven) break into an embassy in Paris to steal a diary filled with crucial political secrets. The spies pass the diary on to accomplice Karl (Bonar Colleano) -- who then double crosses them, fleeing on the Orient Express to sell it abroad. The agents go after Karl to regain the diary, and a police inspector pursues the agents -- while on the train, an unfaithful couple, a writer and a bird-watcher become unwitting participants in the drama.
Watch on Prime Video Stream Now

Where to Watch

Sleeping Car to Trieste

Audience Reviews

View All (5) audience reviews
Bob W Wikipedia said this film did better in the US than in the UK. I imagine it might because the scandalous plot probably wouldn't have been okayed by the Hays office in 1948 and Americans enjoyed the naughty change of pace. Aside from the main story involving murder and a stolen diary, most of the plot concerns attempts by British males at what they used to call "ilicit relations." I kept expecting to find out that the couple who constitute the primary love interest weren't actually about to commit adultery but I was proven to be quite naive! In the end, a French detective is the only seemingly upright character and the English are hypocritical and buffoonish. This includes several utterly extraneous scenes in which an ambitious English military cook and aspiring restaurant entrepreneur refuses to listen to the cooking advice of a French master chef. Instead, the upper class twit lectures the increasingly distraught chef on the glories of UK military cooking. It turns out to be a remake of an earlier British comedy thriller cowritten by Sidney Gilliat, so the mild resemblance to "The Lady Vanishes" and "Night Train to Munich" aren't a cooincidence. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/28/25 Full Review Jaci M We loved it. We stumbled on it one evening when we just had no particular "I want to watch" idea. We love our B&W oldies. This one is well done...it was suspenseful, surprising and at times funny. Certainly not in the vein of Noir that was always so serious but not as light hearted as a Thin Man. It combined everything you could want...illicit sex, murder and mayhem, spies, secrets AND the Orient Express. Could it get any better? Try it.... we thought it a fun escape. And it DID leave you wondering...what IS in that diary? Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 10/08/24 Full Review nick s A very well acted Agatha Christie type adventure. But it did take a long time to get going and I found it to be a bit on the dull side. The dialogue was rather verbose and the events convoluted. The big gotcha moment at the end was a bit of a fizzer. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/06/24 Full Review paul d A little gem of a 1940's British spy movie, played out on a train, with all the typical attributes of both spy films and train films. If you can get past the arch style, which harkens more to the 1930's, it is a rather well-crafted B movie. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Fantastic,don't miss this classic Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Sleeping Car to Trieste

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Movie Info

Synopsis Espionage agents Valya (Jean Kent) and Zurta (Albert Lieven) break into an embassy in Paris to steal a diary filled with crucial political secrets. The spies pass the diary on to accomplice Karl (Bonar Colleano) -- who then double crosses them, fleeing on the Orient Express to sell it abroad. The agents go after Karl to regain the diary, and a police inspector pursues the agents -- while on the train, an unfaithful couple, a writer and a bird-watcher become unwitting participants in the drama.
Director
John Paddy Carstairs
Producer
George H. Brown
Screenwriter
Clifford Grey
Production Co
Two Cities, George H. Brown Productions
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
British English
Runtime
1h 35m
Most Popular at Home Now