Return from the Ashes

I just want to briefly agree with the previous comments here. I haven't seen this movie in over thirty years, since high school, but it stands out vividly in my memory. Intriguing story beautifully acted by three outstanding stars. Why do films fall by the wayside? I hope this isn't one of the lost films that we keep hearing about. I guess our only hope of seeing this now is if TCM broadcasts it....or if it becomes a Criterion DVD release. Criterion has been wonderful in giving us beautiful prints of rare or hard to find classics. If anyone hears of Return from the Ashes returning from the ashes (LOL) please post the info here.

Classy mid 60s thriller with plenty of meat in the burger and almost no cheese. "Return" goes to all the familiar places but never lingers long on cliches. I remember the theater cards in the lobby saying "Nobody enters the theater after Fabienne enters her bath". It's twisty and pushes the plausibility envelope some, but the ride is good enough to cover the bumps.

This is one of the last films to use lobby hype, and it didn't need any hype. Ingrid Thulin shines in a truly convincing way, what a talent. Samantha Eggar simmers with heat and hate. Schell and Lom both set their person bars a little higher in this one..

Bottom Line: Just Find It And Watch It.

Once upon a time, before the giallos and the slasher films took over, there was an undercurrent of clever thrillers ... where you knew who had done it, but the question was could they get away with it? The earliest one I can remember is The Unsuspected with Claude Raines as a DJ with a mission ... In the '60's we had director William Castle's twisted thrillers (Homicidal is my favorite) and Bette Davis as Baby Jane and Charlotte ... then along came Return from the Ashes, at about the same time as Bunny Lake Is Missing. Ladies and gentlemen, RftA is a stunning thriller which will keep you enthralled from the expositionary opening to the wonderfully complex plot developments. Why is this not available to viewers today? This is a movie I would like to show friends. Hard to believe it was 40 + years ago I sat in a darkened theater enraptured by the clever plot with more twists and turns than you could believe. If you see this movie in any listings, record it! Ingrid Thulin, Samantha Eggar and Maximilian Schell pull out all the stops but they make you BELIEVE the lurid goings-on. Too bad movie makers can't look at these old classics and learn how to pace and plot a good thriller.

In a flash of incredible foresight, I recorded this gem as I watched it for the first time (maybe like 2 years ago...) The signature music has a waltzy, hypnotic cadence that completely draws you in, & a fascinating story unfolds in "post-war Paris", shot in appropriately atmospheric black & white. >From the very opening train scene, I was riveted. This one is on my shelf of films that I watch over & over again. Maximilian Schell is brilliantly handsome/wicked, as Stanislaus. I'd never even heard of Ingrid Thulin before -- someone on here mentioned her character, Michele, as "middle-aged" - that's not the impression I got. Michele is a jaw-droppingly gorgeous, dazzling blonde Swede{?}, who was married to a much older man, with a daughter. So she appears to be a young widow with a step-daughter in her late teens. On top of her late husband's sizable estate, Michele is also an X-ray technician. Ingrid Thulin is wonderful as Michele, combining just the right balance of high intellect yet vulnerability - very believable central character. Herbert Lom & Samantha Eggar also give stand-out performances.

I'm completely amazed that this incredible film has never "made it to video".... I'd really love to know who/how/why these decisions are made - seems like some really great work is allowed to sink without a trace.

J. Lee Thompson may have been only a jobbing director but he was one of the best, graduating from British studio pictures in the fifties to international hits such as "Ice Cold in Alex", "Northwest Frontier" and "The Guns of Navarone". The latter earned him an Oscar nomination and the chance to work almost exclusively in America where he made "Cape Fear", one of the best thrillers of the sixties. In 1965 he made another first-rate thriller, "Return from the Ashes", which used the War and the Holocaust as jumping off points for an almost Hitchcockian tale of murder and greed, set in Paris but filmed in a British studio with an international cast.

If the plot is more than a little convoluted, Thompson's handling of Julius Epstein's fine script and first-rate performances from Maximilian Schell, Ingrid Thulin and Samantha Eggar go a long way in making this one of his most entertaining films. Thulin is the rich Jewish doctor, thought to have died in a concentration camp, Schell the gigolo who marries her for her money and Eggar the duplicitous daughter who's having an affair with Schell and the good thing is it doesn't quite go the way you expect it to. It's also superbly shot in widescreen black and white by Christopher Challis and is certainly worth seeing.