70 years of The Wages of Fear

On April 15, 1953, Henri-Georges Clouzot's movie "Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear)" premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival. The film is based on the novel of the same name by the French writer Georges Arnaud (real name Henri Girard), published in 1950.

At the time of publication of the novel "Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear)" its author was only 33 years old. A significant part of Henri Girard's life was filled with very extraordinary events and adventures, including German captivity and escape from it, accusation of triple murder and acquittal after a year and a half of being under investigation, participation in the armed struggle of the Algerian people against French colonial rule, squandering the inheritance and fleeing from creditors in South America. For more than two years, Henri Girard wandered around Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, changing professions and occupations: gold digger, taxi driver, truck driver, bartender, etc. Henri Girard's social circle during these wanderings consisted of murderers, swindlers, fugitive Nazis, smugglers and etc. In the same place, Henri Girard began to draw up his rich impressions in the form of literary notes. In 1950, Henri Girard returned to France and published his first novel under the name of Georges Arnaud.

The novel "Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear)" was a resounding success with readers: more than two million copies were sold. One of these copies was given to Henri-Georges Clouzot by his friend Pierre Lazareff, CEO of the weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. The gift coincided with a very significant event in Clouzot's life: he got married. His chosen one was the Brazilian actress Vera Gibson Amado. After reading the novel, Clouzot found that its theme was similar to what he had heard while courting his future wife in Brazil about the plundering of South America's natural resources by American oil companies. Then he decided to film the novel.

Initially, Clouzot planned to invite Gerard Philip or Serge Reggiani to the main role in his film, but both refused, citing employment. Then the proposal was made to Yves Montand, who gave his consent. But he immediately made changes to Clouzot's original plans. The director was going to shoot the film in Brazil, in places closest to those described in the novel. But shortly before the start of work on the film, Yves Montand, together with his wife Simone Signoret, visited Rio de Janeiro, and the Brazilian poverty made a depressing impression on them. Yves Montand refused to work in conditions far from comfortable. Similarly, he refused to appear in the film if the filming was to be made, as Clouzot had planned, in Catalonia. But for other reasons: Montand, who at that moment professed leftist views, hated the regime of General Franco that dominated those years in Spain. Clouzot had to choose the south of France as a filming location.

The shooting of the film began in June 1951, but literally immediately a chain of misfortunes fell upon the film crew. First, Vera Clouzot fell ill. Then Henri-Georges himself broke his ankle. But these were trifles compared with the natural disaster that struck. Heavy rains began, which did not stop for more than 40 days, caused a flood. The flood destroyed the scenery, the cars got stuck in the mud, the construction equipment broke down. But the most regrettable event was the death of two soldiers of the sapper regiment. The sappers were attached to the film crew for engineering and technical work. The soldiers simply drowned because of the flood.

All these disasters and cataclysms led to delays and rescheduling of filming and, as a result, to budget overruns. The moment came when there was nothing to pay the wages of extras, and they went on strike. In November 1951, Clouzot was forced to announce that filming had stopped. At least until funds are found to continue filming. The required amount was found only in June 1952, and work on the film was resumed. Such a long break in work led to the fact that the budget of the picture from the originally planned amount of 102 million francs grew to 197 million francs. But the film was finished and, as mentioned above, was presented to the guests and participants of the Cannes International Film Festival.

The jury of the Cannes Film Festival, chaired by the famous French film director Jean Cocteau ("Orpheus"), awarded Henri-Georges Clouzot's film the main prize - the Grand Prix. Among the contenders for this award was, in particular, the film by Luis Buñuel "El (This Strange Passion)". In June 1953, the film "The Wages of Fear" gained another victory - won the Golden Bear of the Berlin International Film Festival. Among the festival achievements of the picture of Henri-Georges Clouzot, one should also include the BAFTA Award for Best Film from Any Source, awarded by the British Film Academy in 1955. Moreover, the rivals of Clouzot's film in the fight for this award were, in particular, the British film "Hobson's Choice" by David Lean, Elia Kazan's film "On the Waterfront", Alfred Hitchcock's film "Rear Window".

The film by Henri-Georges Clouzot "The Wages of Fear" along with the success of the festival showed high financial results. In France alone, almost 7 million people watched it in a year, or more than 16% of the country's population. In January 1955, the film was shown, albeit with small cuts, about 5 minutes, in the cinemas of the Soviet Union. But the Soviet communist censorship turned out to be a real baby compared to the American "democratic" censorship. A month after the screening in the USSR, the film was shown in US cinemas, but the "American" version was cut by 35 minutes compared to the original, i.e., by almost a quarter. American censorship could not allow representatives of the "exceptional nation" to contemplate the image of an American oil company in a negative context. And the fact that the American company is shown as the source of evil in Clouzot's picture is indicated by the fact that its abbreviation coincides with the abbreviation of Standard Oil.

But even after the castration by the American censors of this work of Henri-Georges Clouzot, the leading American film critics did everything to turn the American moviegoer away from viewing it. Thus, in the review of the film, which came from the pen of Bosley Crowther, film reviewer of The New York Times, you can find such characteristics of the film:

"At the outset, this lethally laden thriller looks as though it is taking off to be a squalid and mordant contemplation of the psychological problems of a group of men, stuck without hope of salvation in a fetid South American oil town....H. G. Clouzot's screen play of Georges Arnaud's novel goes wandering down slimy back alleys and gives evidence of having been trimmed.There's a vague bit about a young Frenchman who lives with a fat Italian, then mocks and deserts him to latch onto an older Frenchman who blows into town.What lies in this cryptic liaison is never clarified. It smacks of some noisome perversion, but the matter has obviously been cut. The film ran for two hours and a half in the original. It runs for an hour and forty-five minutes here.There is also a tow-headed German knocking around the town, being oddly sarcastic and mysterious. He, too, remains a blur.Further—and this is most bewildering—there are hints of resentment and fear on the part of these men and the natives against the American oil company that runs the town. Suggestions of hard-boiled exploitation dangle barrenly here and there. But nothing is ever made of them." - By Bosley Crowther, The New York Times Feb. 17, 1955

I do not know who has how, but personally, after reading this review, I had the feeling that its author tried in every way to present the film not as a social drama, but as a thriller about the complex, perhaps perverted, relationships of four men. And, of course, the role of the American oil company in the representation of this author is exceptionally benign.

It goes without saying that there was no question of any Oscar or Golden globe nominations for this film, which was recognized as a cinema masterpiece in almost all countries. However, just as there could be no question of participation in any other, much less significant, American film festivals. Since this film was directly and unequivocally accused of anti-Americanism by American critics. American filmmakers in 1958 tried to create a remake alternative to Clouzot's film. This refers to Howard W. Koch's picture "Violent Road". However, the film failed successfully at the box office. In 1977, a new attempt was made - the film by William Friedkin "The Sorcerer" with Roy Scheider in the title role. Very impressive financial resources were spent - 22 million dollars. But this attempt also resulted in a loss of $7 million.

The full version of Clouzot's film became available to the American audience only in 1992, almost 40 years after its release. Roger Ebert, who rated Clouzot's film with a maximum of 4 stars and included it in his list of "Great Movies", explained the return of previously cut episodes by the fact that they allegedly lost their political overtones over 40 years, and the film allegedly became what it was originally intended, i.e., a thriller. In addition, in his review from 1992, Ebert tried to explain the failure of the 1977 remake.

"One thing that establishes "The Wages of Fear" as a film from the early 1950s, and not from today, is its attitude toward happy endings. Modern Hollywood thrillers cannot end in tragedy for its heroes, because the studios won't allow it. "The Wages of Fear" is completely free to let anything happen to any of its characters, and if all four are not dead when the nitro reaches the blazing oil well, it may be because Clouzot is even more deeply ironic than we expect. The last scene, where a homebound truck is intercut with a celebration while a Strauss waltz plays on the radio, is a reminder of how much Hollywood has traded away by insisting on the childishness of the obligatory happy ending."

The modern moviegoer, despite the fact that several decades have passed since the release of the film, continues to appreciate the picture. 69% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users gave the film a score of 8 to 10. Based on this score and the above, Henri-Georges Clouzot's "The Wages of Fear" rating is 9,363 according to FilmGourmand, making it 101st in the Golden Thousand.