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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |
(aka 'Il Salario della paura" or "The Wages of Fear" or "Vite vendute')
directed by
Henri-Georges Clouzot
France / Italy 1953
In 1953, before any American studio exec used the phrase
"high concept", Henri-George Clouzot's The Wages of
Fear boasted a premise so literally explosive that
audiences were excited before they got into the
theatres. With an oil-fire burning out of control deep
in the South American jungle, two lorryloads of highly
unstable nitro-glycerin have to be driven through miles
of unstable terrain littered with dangerous turns,
crumbling planks, falling rocks and mediocre hardtop.
One good jolt will vaporise truck, nitro, drivers and a
substantial swathe of the countryside, so the company
recruits desperate souls among the loser tramps who
loiter around the nowhere town of Las Piedras, begging
for any kind of work. *** One of the most nerve-wracking and exciting films ever made, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s masterpiece won the Grand Prize at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. An American oil company enlists four tough drifters for a high-paying suicide mission—transporting explosives across the rough terrain of Central America. *** 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 explosive cargo to a faraway oil fire, each bump and jolt tests their courage, their friendship, and their nerves. The result is one of the greatest thrillers ever committed to celluloid, a white-knuckle ride from France’s legendary master of suspense, Henri-Georges Clouzot.
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Theatrical Release: April 15th, 1953 (Cannes Film Festival)
Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews
Review: BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD
Box Cover |
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CLICK to order from: Coming to 4K UHD by Criterion (US) in March 2025: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD | |
Runtime | 2:33:02.333 | |
Video |
1.37:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,997,670,018 bytesFeature: 85,490,019,456 bytes Video Bitrate: 69.75 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video |
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NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes. |
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Bitrate 4K Ultra HD: |
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Audio |
DTS-HD Master
Audio French 856 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 856 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48
kHz / 768 kbps / 24-bit) Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps Guardian Lecture: Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps |
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Subtitles | English, None | |
Features |
Release Information: Studio: BFI
1.37:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,997,670,018 bytesFeature: 85,490,019,456 bytes Video Bitrate: 69.75 MbpsCodec: HEVC Video
Edition Details: 4K Ultra HD disc
•
A Road Trip Out of Hell? Or Into It? - Purgatory and The Wages of Fear
(2023, 14:31): a new video essay by filmmaker and photographer Nic
Wassell
Black 4K Ultra HD Case Chapters 15 |
Comments: |
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
and
4K UHD
captures were taken directly from the respective
discs.
It is likely that the monitor
you are seeing this review is not an
HDR-compatible
display (High Dynamic Range) or Dolby Vision, where each pixel can be assigned with a wider
and notably granular range of color and light. Our
capture software if simulating the HDR (in a uniform manner) for standard
monitors. This should make it easier for us to review more
4K UHD titles in the
future and give you a decent idea of its attributes on your system. So our
captures may not support the exact same colors (coolness of
skin tones, brighter or darker hues etc.) as the
4K system at your home. But the
framing, detail, grain texture support etc. are, generally, not effected by
this simulation representation.
NOTE:
56
We have reviewed the following 4K
UHD packages
recently:
The Roaring Twenties
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Universal Classic Monsters Limited Edition Collection
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Scarlet Street
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
eXistenZ
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Horrible Dr. Hichcock
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Conan the Barbarian
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Django
(no HDR),
Lone Star
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Suspect Zero
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Count Dracula
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Full Circle - The Haunting of Julia
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Warriors
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Blackhat
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Mark of the Devil
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Barbarella
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Last Picture Show
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Man Who Knew Too Much
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Rope
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Frenzy
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
American Graffiti
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
East End Hustle (software uniformly simulated HDR),
Three Days of the Condor
(software uniformly simulated HDR), Witness
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Fascination
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
Lips of Blood
(software uniformly simulated HDR),
The Others
(no HDR),
It Came From Outer Space
(software uniformly simulated HDR).
On their
4K UHD,
BFI use a DTS-HD Master dual-mono track (24-bit) in the
original French language.
"The Wages of Fear" is filled with mostly mild
machismo-posturing violence but only the trucks, fire etc. have
requirements for significant bass response. The sounds is authentically
flat but the depth is present and can punctuate scenes. The impacting
score is by
Georges Auric (The
Queen of Spades,
The
Mind Benders, The
Lavender Hill Mob, Heaven
Knows Mr. Allison,
It
Always Rains on Sunday, Dead
of Night, The
Innocents,
Lola Montes,
Rififi,
Corridors of Mirrors)
it that
carries the film's suspenseful moods. Many will also recognize Johann
Strauss' The Blue Danube. The audio is excellent.
The disc offers optional English subtitles - and is, like all
4K UHD, region FREE,
playable worldwide. There is no secondary
Blu-ray
disc included.
There are plentiful
extras on the
4K UHD disc - notably
the repeated 2017 commentary by critic Adrian Martin who sees The Wages of Fear
as a bridge between arthouse and genre filmmaking, comments on its unusual
construction, he discusses how it was very successful for
Henri-Georges Clouzot,
the poverty in the opening and how the exposition forms an exploitive
community, and he explores and observes details regarding the characters,
story, bleak realism much more.
BFI duplicate the 22-minute, 2005, interview with Assistant Director
Michel Romanoff and the 10-minute interview with Clouzot biographer Marc Godin
(Clouzot cinéaste)
found on both previous BFI and Criterion releases. New is an excellent video
essay by filmmaker and photographer Nic Wassell entitled A Road Trip Out
of Hell? Or Into It? - Purgatory and The Wages of Fear
running 1/4 hour. I enjoyed it. Also is a 2017 35-minute
interview with Professor Lucy Mazdon where she gives an in-depth look at
Henri-Georges Clouzot and The Wages of Fear. She has written widely
on French cinema and television and her publications including books
Encore Hollywood: Remaking
French Cinema and
French Film in Britain:
Sex, Art and Cinephilia. You can watch the film, with over 1.5 hours
of audio from a Guardian Lecture with Yves Montand in conversation with Don
Allen from 1989 where the star discusses his distinguished career. There are
also 3 shorts - totaling 1/2 hour of "Treasures form the BFI National
Archive" (1920-1960): Take the High Road, Fire Check By
Explosives! and Transporting Roads With or Without Loads - a
selection of archive gems, exploring some of the themes and iconography
featured in The Wages of Fear. Lastly, is an original theatrical
trailer and included in the package is an illustrated booklet featuring
writing on the film, original reviews and an appreciation of Clouzot by Paul
Ryan.
Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1953 thriller "The Wages of Fear"
is based on the 1950
French novel by Georges Arnaud. It won both the Golden Bear at the
1953 Berlin Film Festival and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The story involves an American oil company who hire a handful of hard-luck
European men (French, Italian and German) to drive two trucks of
nitroglycerine over mountainous dirt roads, to help extinguish an oil well
fire. Christopher Nolan was strongly influenced by The Wages of Fear
for his 2017 film
Dunkirk. Clouzot's daughter approved the colorization of The
Wages of Fear in 1996. It was only broadcast on French television /
French VHS. Notable adaptations include William Friedkin's 1977
Sorcerer with Roy Scheider.
BFI's
4K UHD
release is kind of a must-own - the film has never looked better for
home theater release, it's stacked with extras - previous interviews and
commentary, new video essay, booklet etc. Brilliant film looking and
sounding flawless. Strongly recommended! |
Menus / Extras
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CLICK EACH BLU-RAY and 4K UHD CAPTURE TO SEE IN FULL RESOLUTION
1) Criterion (1999) - Region 0 - NTSC TOP2) BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD- BOTTOM
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1) Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray TOP2) BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD- BOTTOM
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1) Criterion (1999) - Region 0 - NTSC TOP2) BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD- BOTTOM
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1) Criterion (Restored Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC TOP2) Criterion - Region 0 - NTSC - MIDDLE3) BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD- BOTTOM
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More full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K Ultra HD Captures for Patreon Supporters HERE
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Box Cover |
|
CLICK to order from: Coming to 4K UHD by Criterion (US) in March 2025: Bonus Captures: |
Distribution | BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD |
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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r |