''Return from the Ashes'' is a 1965 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by

J. Lee Thompson John Lee Thompson (1 August 1914 – 30 August 2002) was a British film director, active in London and Hollywood, best known for award-winning films such as ''Woman in a Dressing Gown'', ''Ice Cold in Alex'' and '' The Guns of Navarone'' along w ...

and starring

Ingrid Thulin Ingrid Lilian Thulin (; 27 January 1926 – 7 January 2004) was a Swedish actress and director who collaborated with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She was often cast as harrowing and desperate characters, and earned acclaim from both Swedish ...

, Maximilian Schell,

Samantha Eggar Victoria Louise Samantha Marie Elizabeth Therese Eggar (born 5 March 1939) is a retired British-American actress. After beginning her career in Shakespearean theatre she rose to fame for her performance in William Wyler's thriller '' The Collec ...

and

Herbert Lom Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939. In a career lasting more than 60 ye ...

. It is based on a novel by French crime writer Hubert Monteilhet, adapted for film by prolific screenwriter

Julius J. Epstein Julius J. Epstein (August 22, 1909December 30, 2000) was an American screenwriter, who had a long career, best remembered for his screenplay, written with his twin brother, Philip, and Howard E. Koch, of the film ''Casablanca'' (1942), for whic ...

. The novel would also serve as the source material for the 2014 German film ''

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

'', directed by Christian Petzold, though the latter film makes multiple changes to the book's elements and concerns itself solely with the plot to reclaim an inheritance. The films starts shortly before the Battle of France (1940) when chess master Stanislaus Pilgrin and the Jewish woman Dr. Michele Wulf have a romantic relationship. They get married, but Michele is sent to a Nazi concentration camp. Following the end of World War II, Michele is released and attempts to reunite with her husband and her step-daughter Fabi. The two plan to kill Michelle and claim her estate. The main theme of the film is attempted

uxoricide Uxoricide (from Latin ''uxor'' meaning "wife" and -cide, from ''caedere'' meaning "to cut, to kill") is the killing of one's own wife. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context of the ki ...

Plot summary

Shortly before the

German invasion of France France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans. * the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...

, Dr. Michele Wulf (Thulin) encounters the younger Stanislaus Pilgrin (Schell) over a game of lightning chess, not being aware that Pilgrin is a chess master. She becomes intrigued with the fortune-hunting Pilgrin and the two begin a liaison. Upon the German invasion, in order to protect Michele, who is

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, Stan marries her, to no avail it turns out when the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

arrests her and sends her to a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

. Sometime after the war, Michele returns under the identity of Mme. Robert and encounters her colleague, plastic surgeon Dr. Charles Bovard (Lom), who at first does not recognize her because of her disfigured state. She undergoes plastic surgery to restore some of her looks and then by chance encounters Stan, who believes her to have died during the war. Surprised at the resemblance, Stan tells her that Michele's step-daughter Fabi (Eggar) cannot inherit her step-mother's estate because no body was ever produced. He asks "Mme. Robert" to impersonate Michele and she agrees. Upon moving back into her own house, Michele quickly becomes aware that Fabi, now a beautiful woman, resents her for her former neglect, and what is worse, is now Stan's lover. Eventually, Michele reveals herself and insists on resuming her relationship with her husband. While taking a bath after consuming alcohol and barbiturates, the jealous Fabi tells Stan her plan for killing her step-mother. Stan will go to another city on the pretext of attending a chess championship. He will set up a gun to go off when Michele opens her safe. After establishing his alibi, he will call her and tell her that he has put a gift for her in the safe. When he hears the shot, he will know she is dead, and he can return home to adjust the scene to make the death appear a suicide. Though it is not clear if Fabi is serious, the amoral Stan drowns her in the bathtub in such a way that it looks like an accident related to an overdose, and then carries out her plan. When he returns, he discovers what appears to be Michele's body, but is caught by the police in the act of manipulating the scene. Charles, who has loved Michele all along, had entered the room just as she was opening the safe and caused her to step aside to avoid the bullet.

Cast

as Dr. Michele "Mischa" Wolf *

as Fabienne Wolf * Maximilian Schell as Stanislaus Pilgrin *

as Dr. Charles Bovard *

Talitha Getty Talitha Dina Getty (; 18 October 1940 – 11 July 1971) was a Dutch actress, socialite, and model who was regarded as a style icon of the late 1960s. She lived much of her adult life in Britain and, in her final years, was closely associated w ...

as Claudine *

Vladek Sheybal Vladek Sheybal (born Władysław Rudolf Zbigniew Sheybal; 12 March 1923 – 16 October 1992) was a Polish character actor, singer and director of both television and stage productions. He was well known for his portrayal of the chess grandmast ...

as Paul, Chess Club Manager (dubbed by

Robert Rietti Robert Rietti, (born Lucio Rietti; 8 February 1923 – 3 April 2015), was an actor, and Oscar-nominated director of Anglo-Italian descent. With over 200 credits to his name, he had a highly prolific career in the American, British and Ita ...

, uncredited) *

Jacques Cey Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

as Hotel Desk Clerk * Jacques B. Bruniusas 1st Detective * Jean Marc as 2nd Detective (dubbed by

André Maranne André Maranne (14 May 1926 – 12 April 2021) was a French-English actor best known for playing roles in English-language films beginning in the mid-1950s. Life and career Born André Gaston Maillol in Toulouse, France, Maranne's best known r ...

, uncredited) * Andre Charisse as Restaurant Captain * Danièle Noël as Nurse *

Arnold Diamond Arnold Diamond (18 April 1915 – 18 March 1992) was an English character actor, regularly cast in small parts on television. He graduated from RADA in 1936, and his stage work included the RSC, and three years in Agatha Christie's '' The Mo ...

as Neighbour * Viviane Ventura as Receptionist

Original novel

The film was based on the novel ''Le retour des cendres'' (''Phoenix from the Ashes'') by Hubert Monteilhet, which was published in 1961. It was published in the United States under the title ''Return of the Ashes''. ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' said if the plot "seems on the surface incredible, the marvel is that Monteilhet brings it off, achieving that suspension of disbelief." The film softens some of the darkness of the 1961 source novel, ''Le Retour des cendres''. There it is her husband who betrayed her to the Germans and it is the girl, her daughter by a previous husband rather than a stepdaughter, who kills her in the end.

Production

The novel was optioned by Henri-Georges Clouzot, who ended up selling the rights to director

, whose films Clouzot admired. In May 1963 Thompson listed the film as among his projects. In October 1963 the Mirisch Company announced that the film would be one of six films which the company would make over four months at a total cost of $17 million. The other films were ''A Shot in the Dark'', ''The Satan Bug'', ''Bandoola'', ''The Confessor'', and ''The Dazzling Hour'' (which became ''Kiss Me Stupid''). In November Julius Epstein was reportedly working on the script. In March 1964

Hedda Hopper Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry; May 2, 1885February 1, 1966) was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, her readership was 35 million. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committ ...

announced that Sue Lyon would star. Filming was pushed back – in June 1964 the Mirisches said the movie would be part of a slate of 14 films made over 18 months worth $51 million (others including ''Hawaii'', ''The Hallelujah Trail'', ''The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes'', ''

A Rage to Live ''A Rage to Live'' is a 1965 American drama film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Suzanne Pleshette as a woman whose passions wreak havoc on her life. The screenplay by John T. Kelley is based on the 1949 novel of the same name by John ...

'', ''Bandoola'', ''The Confessor'', ''The Law and Tombstone'', ''Cast a Giant Shadow'', ''What Did You Do in the War Daddy'', ''A Garden of Cucumbers'', ''Return of the Seven'', ''The Off-Islanders'' and ''Richard Sahib''). In November 1964 it was announced the stars would be Maximilian Schell and

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (born 4 July 1927) is an Italian actress, photojournalist, and politician. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. As o ...

. Lollobrigida was replaced by Ingrid Thulin, and sued the production company for $1 million. Samantha Eaggar was under exclusive contract to Thompson's production company. The film was shot on the

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

Elstree Studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

. in February 1965. The sets were designed by the art director Michael Stringer. Thompson said he liked to move the camera "to accent the restlessness, the emotional strains of these people, who are highly strung and neurotic. For once, I hope, the camera will help create characters rather than just reflect them." Thompson says Schell's character "lives by the creed of ''

The Brothers Karamazov ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (russian: Братья Карамазовы, ''Brat'ya Karamazovy'', ), also translated as ''The Karamazov Brothers'', is the last novel by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky spent nearly two years writing '' ...

''. Anything is permissible that is necessary to achieve an end. He does not mean to commit murder."

Reception

Critical

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

in its original review said that "Return from the Ashes does not always reach its mark as a thriller... Thompson... establishes a tense mood frequently, but level of interest suffers from character fuzziness which occasionally clouds the issue."

References

External links

* *
Return from the Ashes
at Letterbox DVD

at Cinema Retro {{J. Lee Thompson 1965 films 1965 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s psychological thriller films British black-and-white films British drama films British psychological thriller films Films based on French novels Films directed by J. Lee Thompson Films scored by John Dankworth Films set in 1945 Films set in Paris United Artists films Films produced by J. Lee Thompson Films about the Battle of France Films about Jews and Judaism Films about chess Uxoricide in fiction Films about inheritances Adultery in films Films shot at MGM-British Studios 1960s British films