The Restless and the Damned
| The Restless and the Damned | |
|---|---|
![]() French poster  | |
| Directed by | Yves Allégret | 
| Produced by | 
Robert Dorfmann Lee Robinson  | 
| Written by | René Wheeler | 
| Based on | novel Manganese by François Ponthier | 
| Starring | 
Edmond O'Brien Richard Basehart  | 
| Music by | 
Henri Crolla André Hodeir Ray Ventura  | 
| Cinematography | 
Carl Kayser Henri Persin Louis Stein Giles Bonneau  | 
| Edited by | Albert Jurgenson | 
Production company  | 
 Silverfilm (France) Australian Television Enterprises (Australia)  | 
Release dates  | 15 October 1959 (France) | 
Running time  | 98 minutes | 
| Country | Australia | 
| Language | 
English French  | 
| Box office | 767,540 admissions (France)[1] | 
The Restless and the Damned (also known as L'Ambitieuse) is a 1959 French-Australian film co produced by Lee Robinson. It was shot on location in Tahiti and the Tuamotu Islands. There are French and English-language versions.
Synopsis
In Tahiti, an amibitious woman, Dominique, promotes the fortunes of her husband, George, by extracting money from George's family to finance his operations and seducing a prospective business partner. But when George decides to leave her for another woman, Claire, she tries to kill him.[2]
Cast
- Edmond O'Brien as Buchanan
 - Richard Basehart as George Rancourt
 - Andrea Parisy as Dominique
 - Nicole Berger as Claire
 - Nigel Lovell as Andre
 - Reg Lye as Mathews
 - Jean Marchat as Uncle Albert
 - Denise Vernac as Aunt Edwige
 
Production
The film was shot in late 1958. Originally Lee Robinson was to direct the English-language version but after a few days Yves Allégret directed both.[3]
Rafferty and Robinson contributed ₤40,000 of the film's budget, coming from hire of studio facilities to two films shot in Tahiti and their involvement in several episodes of the US documentary series, High Adventure.[4]
Release
The film was a box office failure and did not achieve cinema release in England, the USA and Australia and ended the feature film partnership of Chips Rafferty and Lee Robinson.[5] It was sold to American TV under the title The Climbers.
References
- ↑ French box office hits of 1959 at Box Office Story
 - ↑ "THE RESTLESS AND THE DAMNED.". The Australian Women's Weekly. National Library of Australia. 1 April 1959. p. 65. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
 - ↑ Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p227
 - ↑ Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years, Currency Press, 1989, p203
 - ↑ 'King of the Coral Sea: Lee Robinson in interview with Albert Moran' Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 1 no 1 (1987)
 
External links
- The Restless and the Damned at the Internet Movie Database
 - The Restless and the Damned at National Film and Sound Archive
 - The Restless and the Damned at Oz Movies
 
