The Film: Director Henri-Georges Clouzots nail-biting adaptation of Georges Arnauds novel saw a group of European long haulers being given the task of a lifetime by an American oil company: man a convoy of rigs across hazardous terrain in order to extinguish a burning oil well. Oh, and said trucks are loaded with uber flammable nitroglycerin. The setup is an absolute doozie and across this movies running time the staple format of the disaster picture was formed. Given the success of this movie, Clouzot went on to land the gig of directing Les Diaboliques, which didnt quite make the list. Classic Moment: The films climactic sting in the tail, where Marios luck sadly runs out, lends a dour ending to a picture not content with offering anything but some true grit to proceedings.