The Wages Of Fear
(The Criterion Collection)

Yves Montand stars as a Frenchman stuck in a South American oil town, who is so desperate for money, he agrees to be part of a four-man-crew tasked with driving trucks loaded with volatile nitroglycerin over a dangerous mountain pass to help cap a huge industrial blaze. The American oil company is depicted as a big corporation with little or no regard for the safety of its workers and pins the explosion and fires on the dead and injured victims. Although each of the characters appears to be headed for sudden doom, they accept the risk of death as a reasonable alternative to the miserable life they lead in town. The tension is palpable, as the drivers negotiate a rickety bridge that threatens to collapse at any moment, a pond filled with oil from a broken pipeline and hairpin turns on narrow roads filled with debris. Clouzout creates an oppressive atmosphere that permeates every frame and refuses to ease the tension until the film is finally over, keeping the viewer on the edge of their seat. In 1977, William Friedkin remade this movie as Sorcerer – a film that was often compared unfavorably to Clouzot’s original, but for my money, was equally as intense. This 1953 thriller by director Henri-Georges Clouzot was released by Criterion years ago, but has since been upgraded with a new high-def transfer, new subtitle translations and a second disc of interviews with actors and crew members. --David Bassin