The Wages of Fear Blu-ray
HomeThe Wages of Fear Blu-ray
Posted September 23, 2017 08:39 PM by Webmaster
The British Film Institute has detailed its upcoming Blu-ray release of Henri-Georges Clouzot's The Wages of Fear (1952), starring Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli, Peter van Eyck, and William Tubbs. The release will be available for purchase on October 23.
Synopsis: Few films are as gripping as The Wages of Fear, largely because few have come up with as effective a mechanism for generating pure white-knuckle tension. In an unnamed South American country, four European ex-convicts are so desperate to escape that they accept the potentially suicidal mission of driving two trucks loaded with nitroglycerine over the roughest terrain imaginable in order to extinguish a burning oil well – assuming their own lives aren't extinguished first.
The slow build-up gives Henri-Georges Clouzot time to round his characters – cynical Yves Montand, grizzled Charles Vanel, rugged Peter Van Eyck, nervy Folco Lulli – and establish how lethal a single drop of 'nitro' can be when jolted. And then the trucks leave the town, warning sirens blaring, whereupon Clouzot begins to slice at the viewer's nerve endings with the clinical precision of a master surgeon, and doesn't let up until the characteristically pessimistic ending.
The film was directly remade as The Violent Road (1958) and Sorcerer (1977), and its influence can clearly be seen in Speed (1994).
Special Features and Technical Specs:
Synopsis: Few films are as gripping as The Wages of Fear, largely because few have come up with as effective a mechanism for generating pure white-knuckle tension. In an unnamed South American country, four European ex-convicts are so desperate to escape that they accept the potentially suicidal mission of driving two trucks loaded with nitroglycerine over the roughest terrain imaginable in order to extinguish a burning oil well – assuming their own lives aren't extinguished first.
The slow build-up gives Henri-Georges Clouzot time to round his characters – cynical Yves Montand, grizzled Charles Vanel, rugged Peter Van Eyck, nervy Folco Lulli – and establish how lethal a single drop of 'nitro' can be when jolted. And then the trucks leave the town, warning sirens blaring, whereupon Clouzot begins to slice at the viewer's nerve endings with the clinical precision of a master surgeon, and doesn't let up until the characteristically pessimistic ending.
The film was directly remade as The Violent Road (1958) and Sorcerer (1977), and its influence can clearly be seen in Speed (1994).
Special Features and Technical Specs:
- BRAND NEW 4K RESTORATION of the original French theatrical release of the film
- Interview with Assistant Director Michel Romanoff (2005, 23 mins)
- Interview with Clouzot biographer Marc Godin (2005, 10 mins)
- Interview with Professor Lucy Mazdon (2017, 35 mins)
- The Guardian Lecture: Yves Montand in conservation with Don Allan (99 mins, audio only): recorded in 1989, the star discusses his distinguished career
- Audio commentary with film critic Adrian Martin
- Original theatrical trailer
- Illustrated booklet with a new essay by Andy Miller, original reviews by Karel Reisz and Penelope Houston, an appreciation of Clouzot by Paul Ryan, and full film credits
