The Wages of Fear 4K UHD - Yves Montand / Véra Clouzot

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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.

On the road, Clouzot stages a string of unforgettable sequences: one stretch of badly paved track can only be crossed by driving at under six miles an hour or over 40; a mountain turn requires that the trucks back out onto a rickety, rotten wooden structure; a 50-ton boulder has fallen into the road, and one of the drivers calmly drains a litre of nitro into his thermos to blow it up, only remembering when the fuse is lit that this will rain pebbles all over the countryside and a few good hits on the cargo will set it off. This is perhaps as great a mix of action-adventure and contest as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and still a textbook example of sustained suspense.

***

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.

Posters

Theatrical Release: April 15th, 1953 (Cannes Film Festival)

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Review: BFI - Region FREE - 4K UHD

Box Cover		CLICK to order from: 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 bytes Feature: 85,490,019,456 bytes Video Bitrate: 69.75 Mbps Codec: HEVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate 4K Ultra HD:
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) Commentary: 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
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: BFI 1.37:1 2160P 4K Ultra HD Disc Size: 97,997,670,018 bytes Feature: 85,490,019,456 bytes Video Bitrate: 69.75 Mbps Codec: 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 • Audio commentary by film critic Adrian Martin (2017) • Interview with assistant director Michel Romanoff (2005, 22:26) • Interview with Clouzot biographer Marc Godin (2005, 10:10) • Interview with Professor Lucy Mazdon (2017, 34:59): an in-depth interview about Henri-Georges Clouzot and The Wages of Fear • The Guardian Lecture: Yves Montand in conversation with Don Allen (1989, 99 mins, audio only): the star discusses his distinguished career Treasures from the BFI National Archive (1920-1960): a selection of archive gems, exploring some of the themes and iconography featured in The Wages of Fear • Take the High Road (24:25) • Fire Check By Explosives! (0:31) • Transporting Roads With or Without Loads (5:02) • Original theatrical trailer (3:20) FIRST PRESSING ONLY Illustrated booklet featuring writing on the film, original reviews and an appreciation of Clouzot by Paul Ryan 4K Ultra HD Release Date: February 19th, 2024 Black 4K Ultra HD Case Chapters 15

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: BFI 4K UHD (February 2024): BFI have released Henri-Georges Clouzot's "The Wages of Fear" to 4K UHD. It is described as a "4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)". We compared two DVDs to two Blu-rays back in 2017, HERE, and have done some frame-matching below. This is a 4K UHD transfer of the French Theatrical print. The transfer is, predictably, a bit darker but shows more detail (see the Charles Vanel capture below), more consistent grain texture, deeper black levels and more balanced contrast. It looked stunning on my system - like a new film.

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 more more full resolution (3840 X 2160) 4K UHD captures, in lossless PNG format, for Patrons are available HERE

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!

Gary Tooze