Product Details

• Actors: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Véra Clouzot, Folco Lulli
• Directors: Henri-Georges Clouzot
• Format: Black & White, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled
• Language: French
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion Collection
• DVD Release Date: April 21, 2009
• Run Time: 148 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001PYD0KM
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,212 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Art House & International > By Genre > Mystery & Suspense

Editorial Reviews

Review

A big, masterly movie...it joyfully scares the living hell out of you as it reveals something about the human condition. --Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Product Description

In a squalid South American oil town, four desperate men sign on for a suicide mission to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain route. As they ferry their expensive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The Wages of Fear (Le salaire de la peur) is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France s legendary master of suspense Henri Georges-Clouzot.

BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES:
Restored high-definition digital transfer with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
Video interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff and Henri-Georges Clouzot biographer Marc Godin
Interview with Yves Montand from 1988
Henri-Georges Clouzot: The Enlightened Tyrant, a 2004 documentary on the director s career
Censored, an analysis of cuts made to the film for its 1955 U.S. release
PLUS: An booklet featuring an essay by novelist Dennis Lehane

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well, the most suspenseful film I have ever seen, May 17, 2009

By	Robert Moore (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

There are two things often said about this film that I would like to strongly agree with: first, it begins rather slowly, and second, it really is one of, if not THE, most suspenseful films ever made.
The first third of the movie moves inexplicably slowly. I can understand many of the reasons why: the attempt to define the characters, to show their interactions with one another, to depict the quiet desperation of their lives to make it plausible that four men would undertake such an astonishingly dangerous job as hauling nitroglycerin over treacherous jungle and mountain dirt roads. Even granting all that, however, the start is by any standard really, really slow. And I suspect that of the people you encounter who proclaim the film a bore either gave up before getting to the good parts or never recovered from the slow start.

The most suspenseful film ever made? Some people assert that the film has been so overhyped along these lines that it would be impossible for any film to come up to one's expectations. There are two edges to this sword. I am far more impressed that despite being hyped as the most suspenseful film ever made, I was nonetheless utterly on the edge of my seat for most of the final 100 minutes. And if some of the scenes seem somewhat familiar, it is undoubtedly because of the score of films that have plundered this film for their own tension-filled scenes.

I have often thought that Yves Montand was, at his best, one of the more compelling performers of the last half of the twentieth century. He wasn't consistently successful internationally. Sometimes one or two decades would come between some of his greatest triumphs. To illustrate, I think Montand's two greatest film appearances were THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953) and JEAN DE FLORETTE/MANON OF THE SPRING (1986), only thirty-three years apart.

Many viewers are not comfortable with the very ending of the movie and I I have to agree somewhat. Nihilism was very fashionable in the early 1950s in European cinema. The ending, which seems completely unnecessary and not organically connected with the rest of the film, reflects less any inner necessity for a downer ending than the general mood in "serious" films at the time. So, in a sense, one could argue that this movie manages to be one of the great classics of cinema despite a slow beginning and an arbitrarily negativistic ending. Where the film shines is in the utterly riveting journey through the jungle and mountains.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars VISCERAL THRILLER IN BLU-RAY -- A MASTERPIECE OF WORLD CINEMA, April 21, 2009

By	Robin Simmons (Palm Springs area, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (VINE VOICE)

Iconic, vintage masterpiece in brilliant new transfer.

Criterion's restored hi-def transfer of Henri-Georges Clouzot's controversial, visceral and prescient thriller still grabs the viewer by the throat for a breathless, nihilistic ride.

This legendary film of suspense and despair was deemed "evil" by Time magazine during its 1955 US release. Based on the harrowing 1950 book by George Arnaud, it's a cautionary tale of the true blood-toll of oil and greed.

Filmed in 1951 and first shown in France in 1952, "The Wages of fear" (Le Salaire de la peur) is about four European men at the end of their ropes. In a hell-hole of a South American village, these desperate men accept a job from an American oil company to drive two trucks of unstable nitroglycerine along a treacherous mountain route to an oil fire.

Clouzot, who made less than a dozen films including the acclaimed "Les Diaboliques" and "Quai des orfevres" never flinches from his vision. Although the first half may seem a bit unfocused and meandering it is not because we get to know our characters, the squalid S.A. setting and the uncaring, greed-driven, business-as-usual of the American oil company. The movie literally jump starts when the four hapless men hit the road in their two trucks overloaded with nitro. We understand these men and we ride with them and their emotions. Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck and Antonio Centa are terrific as the frantic, fraught drivers.

There's a lot of post WW II existential angst in this tale and that's not surprising. After all, it is French and the ideas of Camus and Sartre permeate this film as they did the decade in which it was produced.

My only memory of this film was a washed out video tape copy with impossible to read subtitles and later a faded 16mm print in film school.

I've watched this Blu-ray version several times now and it is stunning. It looks like a print that just came from the lab. The black and white is crisp, with a wonderful range of grays -- velvety shadows to burnished silver. And the subtitles are always easy to read and perfectly synched to the spoken French. But more important, the rhythm and meaning of the spare dialogue remains.

This gritty film, devoid of sentimentality, follows men who live in fear. They know death is coming and yet continue with the task at hand until the end. Although my personal philosophy is not that of the drivers, it reminded me to relish the precious moments of life and to live it fully, bravely and in the moment.

This is one in the rather small handful of the greatest films in world cinema. It has never looked better. And it asks questions that are relevant today: How desperate are we in our need for oil? And what is the final price? Highest recommendation.

Superior extras include:
Interviews with assistant director Michel Romanoff, Clouzot biographer Marc Godlin and Yves Montand from 1988). A great documentary on Clouzot's career "The Enlightened Tyrant." "CENSORED," a revealing look at the cuts made for the initial 1955 U.S. release. And "No Exit," an insightful booklet/essay by novelist Dennis Lehane.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another home run by Criterion., July 30, 2009

By	Darsh - See all my reviews

I've owned both of the previous Criterion releases of this film and even though I've seen it at least a dozen times before when I recently watched the Criterion Blu-Ray I was on the edge of my seat! It was just like the first time I watched it years ago.

Set in a small South American desert town, director Clouzot does a wonderful job of conveying the smoldering heat and the desperation of the noncitizens who want nothing more than to just get the [...] out. The only way out is by getting a plane ride at the very small local airport, but none of the guy's who hang out outside of the local tavern can afford a ticket. There are no jobs to earn money, so they are just stuck in a purgatory of boiling heat.

Things look grim for the guys, but then a stranger (Jo, an ex-gangster) comes to town and soon the group is divided. Most of them hate the newcomer, but fellow Frenchman Mario mistakenly thinks that Jo is his ticket out and starts sucking up to Jo and even turns his back on his friend's in the process.

A oil fire erupts at an remote oil field and the oil company needs a truckload of nitroglycerin delivered in order to put it out. The job is way too dangerous to risk using their own unionized men so they offer the men who hang out at the cantina the job. Two men to a truck. Two trucks and $2,000 per person upon delivery.

I'm not going to give away anymore, but I think this film is excellent. Very suspenseful and like I said before the picture on the Blu-Ray is [...] amazing. If you are at all interested in art house or international cinema or even in just starting a rad Blu-Ray library then you should pick this one up.