Criterion's Wages of Fear

Wages of Fear
available on DVD (39.95) and laserdisc
1953/148 minutes/Black and White/Monaural/In French, Spanish, Italian, English and German with optional English subtitles/1.33:1
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. Criterion is proud to present Wages of Fear in its original 148-minute version.
Special Features

The 148-minute director's cut of the film, including scenes censored for the 1954 U.S. theatrical release
Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition

From DVD-Daily Magazine, February 2, 1999
Wages of Fear

Four desperate and forgotten men (as the boss reasons, "They don't belong to a union, and they don't have any relatives, so if anything happens, no one will come around causing trouble") take off on a hazard-paid suicide mission: driving two trucks loaded with nitroglycerin 300 miles across a South American jungle to a remote oil field. Believe me -- you'll feel every single bump!

[NOTE: (1) Once again, accept no substitutes -- it was the subject of an inferior '77 remake (Sorcerer) at the hands of Exorcist director William Friedkin. (2) The film was cut for its US run due to its reference to corrupt US business practices in Latin America. Thanks again go to Criterion for restoring this one to its full 148 minutes.