
Shown: January 10, 2014 at 6pm
Director : Henri-Georges Clouzot
Country : France
Release Date : 1953
Duration : 132 mins
Language : French
Subtitles : Yes
WINNER : PALME D’OR (GRAND PRIX) AT 1953 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
WINNER : GOLDEN BEAR AT 1953 BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL
The manager of a Central American oilfield offers big money to four lorry drivers who will take nitro-glycerine into the jungle to put out an oil-well fire. The incentive of money and the greed this causes creates results which are as black a vision of human infidelity as is possible to imagine. Cliff-edge tension wracks the nerves but never obscures the fact that the men in contest with each other will crack up and die in a series of craftily managed shocking bad moments.
“It has some claim to be the greatest suspense thriller of all time: it is the suspense not of mystery but of Damocles’ sword.” (Basil Wright)