The Wages of Fear [Le salaire de la peur] ***** (1953, Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter van Eyck, Folco Lulli, Véra Clouzot) – Classic Movie Review 927

Co-writer/director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s awesome sweaty-palmed, uber-tense, ultra-tough 1953 action thriller established his international reputation. It also turned Yves Montand into a star as a member of the desperate quartet (Montand, Charles Vanel, Folco Lulli and Peter Van Eyck) who are risking their lives by driving two trucks packed with nitro-glycerine over scary and ruinous jungle terrain in South America.

The supplies are urgently needed at a remote oil field and the oil company pays the four men well to deliver the nitro. A dangerous rivalry develops between the two sets of drivers and on these rough roads the slightest jolt could result in death.

Clouzot turns his hard-boiled screenplay into an explosive entertainment and a veritable emotional rollercoaster ride for the audience with a formidable display of technical skill. It maintains its hold remorselessly over the long running time. Clouzot’s and Jéröme Géronimi’s screenplay is based on the novel Le Salaire de la Peur by Georges Arnaud.

The director’s wife Véra Clouzot plays Linda. She also starred in Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques [Diabolique] (1955). She died of a heart attack at 46 in 1960.

It comes trailing award victories as the winner of the 1953 Grand Prix at Cannes, the 1953 Golden Bear at Berlin and the 1955 British Bafta award for Best Film, but there was no Oscar success.

The full original movie runs 156 minutes but there are various cut versions at 140 minutes, 130 minutes and 105 minutes.

It was remade in 1977 as Sorcerer (aka The Wages of Fear) with Roy Scheider.

Clouzot also made Le Corbeau aka The Raven (1943), banned both by the Nazis and the victorious French forces, and Les Diaboliques [Diabolique] (1955).

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 927

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