Yves Montand

Charles Vanel

Peter van Eyck

Folco Lulli

Véra Clouzot

Antonio Centa

Jo Dest

Darío Moreno

William Tubbs

Darling Légitimus

Luis De Lima

Grégoire Gromoff

Joseph Palau-Fabre

François Valorbe

Pat Hurst

Georges Arnaud

Henri-Georges Clouzot

Armand Thirard

Georges Auric

Étiennette Muse

Henri Rust

Jérôme Géronimi

Raymond Borderie

Madeleine Gug

Michel Romanoff

René Renoux

Henri Jaquillard

Georges Bouban

Robert Juillard

Jean Lallier

Louis Wipf

Louis Née

Roberto Savarese

Lucien Lippens

Lucienne Chevert

William Robert Sivel

Marc Desages

Drama

Thriller

Adventure

Le Salaire de la peur

Compagnie Industrielle et Commerciale Cinématographique

Véra Films

Fono Roma

Filmsonor

France

Italy

Français

English

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Italiano

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The Wages of Fear

petrol

fire

life and death

unsociability

central and south america

venezuela

tanker

nitroglycerin

truck

on the road

driver

James

It’s always my honour to write the first review for a film, especially ones like this. It, however, upsets me that not many have seen this magnificent and harrowing masterpiece.

CinemaSerf

Four men are stranded in, quite literally, a dead end town with no money to get out. All they do each day is kill time, drink and get gradually more disillusioned. Then their luck changes. Or does it? A major fire breaks out at a nearby oil drilling facility and the manager needs a brave/foolhardy gang to drive two truckloads of ultra-sensitive nitro-glycerin along some poorly maintained roads and across some treacherous terrain to the site so they can extinguish the fires. It's a pretty international convoy that sets off with their two travelling time bombs safe in the knowledge that the slightest vibration could blow them all to kingdom come. Of course, the sweltering heat and their fraying nerves all contribute to what now ensues - an almost perfectly paced drama that gradually raises the tension so that we almost share their perilous journey with them. "Mario" (Yves Montant) is a non-nonsense Corsican who pairs with,"Jo" (Charles Vanel) who is a bit of French thuggery. Luigi (Folco Lulli) just wants to get on with the job and he drives with the slightly enigmatic German "Bimba" (Peter van Eyck). There's not really another world for this film, despite it being filmed outdoors, in dense jungle. It's claustrophobic. Their world is reduced to two tiny cabs with danger around every corner, insects that would cheerily suck their blood and all for $2,000 each! The journey affects their characters too - the brash and confident "Jo" gradually succumbing to his fears whilst his partner steps up - and an inter-dependency of sorts develops that does rather surprise. Henri-George Clouzot creates a film here that really does have you caring for these men in the end - even if, at the start, you have little interest in or sympathy for them. He manages to convey to an audience the absolute sense of anguish and the sheer determination of these men as tragedy ensues and their priorities and perspectives take a jolt that would readily set off their cargo. I thought Vanel probably has the best character to portray here, but the increasingly effective dynamic with Montand works really well to create a must-see tale of survival.

The Wages of Fear( 1953)

‘Dynamic’ ‘Tremendous’ ‘Shattering’

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A review by James

Written by James on Thu Nov 09 2023

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