Made two years before his slightly better known DIABOLIQUE, Henri-Georges Clouzot's nail-biter of a suspense film is the story of four broke and desperate men stranded in Latin America. Eager for a way out of their respective situations, they accept an American oil company's impossibly dangerous offer to transport two truckloads of nitroglycerin across hazardous jungle terrain. Remade by William Friedkin as SORCERER in 1977.

Henri Georges Clouzot directed this tense and suspenseful drama about four men so desperate for freedom that they willingly risk their lives to deliver a dangerous cargo.
In a small, isolated, hot and dusty Central American village, there's only one thing to do: dream of getting out. An opportunity for escape presents itself -- but only to those with nerves of steel. An American oil company has offered to pay big bucks to get two trucks filled with nitroglycerin over to a well fire. The catch: the unpaved terrain contains enough bumps and crags to make the unstable material explode... and instantly kill the driver. Nonetheless, the company has many applicants hungry for work, and a quartet of the coolest are chosen. But even these stalwart men will discover that fear of their deadly payload can ignite even the most frozen emotions.

The print used for the Home Vision Cinema VHS version is from the Janus collection. It is full-length, restoring an additional 43 minutes of footage. It also includes the original theatrical trailer.

Winner, Best Film, Berlin Film Festival.

DVD Features:
Notes: This is a new, restored high-definition digital transfer. Has new and improved English subtitle translation.

Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - French
Additional Release Material:
Interview - 1. Michel Romanoff - Assistant Director
2. Henri-Georges Clouzout & Biographer Marc Godin
3. Archival Interview with Yves Montand
Trailer - 1. Theatrical Trailer
Text/Photo Galleries:
Essay by novelist Dennis Lehane.

Yves Montand: French Actor/Singer
Charles Vanel: Character Actor/Director
Vera Clouzot: Actress/Wife Of Henri
Peter Van Eyck: Actor/B. Germany
Folco Lulli: ITALIAN CHARACTER ACTOR
William Tubbs: AMERICAN CHARACTER ACTOR

Henri-Georges Clouzot: French Director/Screenwriter

Raymond Borderie: PRODUCER
Henri-Georges Clouzot: French Director/Screenwriter

Henri-Georges Clouzot: French Director/Screenwriter

Georges Auric: French Composer

Henry Rust: EDITOR\"ENFANTS..PARADIS"
Madeleine Gug: Editor

"...Seldom have the exquisite pain and pleasure of motion-picture suspense been mixed with quite the intoxicating effects that [Clouzot] achieves [here]....Classic..."
Rating: B
"...The film's extended suspense sequences deserve a place among the great stretches of cinema..."
"...This original is one of the most exciting movies ever..."
"[I]t's a masterpiece of tension, precision, and a very specific form of masculine desperation." -- Grade: A-
4 stars out of 4 -- "Memorable performances, precise pacing, subtle detail: Now that's thrilling."