Firstly, this is a damn fine film - although we have it on our Film Noir page  - I, personally, don't know that it enters into that style listing... but I'm sure someone could create an argument to support its inclusion. The comparisons to The Wages of Fear are appropriate - although this might be considered a super Anglo version with just about every important name in the UK actor's guild appearing. Like the Clouzot classic it has its own seething intensity - gripping and harsh with male bonding (and betrayal) at its crux. Wow...

This DVD edition follows another poorer one from ITV that came out in 2004 and promptly went out-of-print in the UK very quickly. I can see that the film itself is the reason for the popularity. This Network DVD is a Special Edition - 2 disc effort - anamorphic, progressive and dual-layered. The image quality is very strong and although it borders on showing some moiring it never really achieves that negative attribute. I suspect this may be as good as you see this film look outside of a theatre showing. There are speckles but looked quite crisp on my plasma.  Audio is unremarkable but close, I'll wager, to the way it was produced. Unlike the weaker single-disc ITV edition there are no subtitles offered.

There was a lot of effort put into the supplements of this DVD package. There is an audio commentary with sound assistant Harry Fairbairn and journalist Andrew Robertson. Robertson has quite the strong Scottish accent but after a few sentences most will get used to it. It is not totally off-the-cuff but miles away from a Criterion commentary - still some interesting details are imparted and there are some gaps where the narrative is left to run. It is not a bad effort at all really. There is a 15 minute Interview with Stanley Baker - actually entitled The Stanley Baker Story. A good overview of the man and some of his work. There is also a featurette on Disc one entitled Looking in on Hell Drivers. It runs almost 15 minutes - is archival - a bit of promo on the film and some talk with real 'Hell drivers". Disc one concludes with a healthy slideshow stills gallery with 38 images, including some posters, another gallery from the comic strip that closely resembles the film - 19 panels worth and there is an un-restored theatrical trailer.

Disc 2 offers some unrelated TV work of some of the stars of the film. An hour long thriller starring Stanley Baker called Who Killed Lamb? - and a Danger Man episode called Loyalty Always Pays with McGoohan. Also less than a minute of silent footage of Stanley Baker unveiling a plaque at his birthplace. There is a 1960's Bruce Lewis interview of Stanley Baker about the violence in his films - it runs less than 5 minutes. Finally on the digital front there is an hour long 1965 documentary featuring Stanley Baker called Return to the Rhondda. Also included in the package is a nicely appointed 24-page booklet with an essay and some photos. Great job Network - probably the most complete DVD package I can recall seeing from them after their Black Narcissus.

I was very impressed by the film - really seems to have carved out a niche following for itself and is a genuine piece of grassroots history now. Strongly recommended! 

Gary W. Tooze