Return From The Ashes (1965)

Shortly before the Nazis invade Paris, a wealthy Jewish doctor (Ingrid Thulin, CRIES AND WHISPERS) marries her chess playing gigolo lover (Maximilian Schell). But she is soon arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Schell then becomes lovers with Thulin's daughter (Samantha Eggar) assuming his wife died in the Holocaust. But when she returns, it sets in motion a diabolical plot and a double murder. The plot's machinations are far fetched but director J. Lee Thompson (GUNS OF NAVARONE) maneuvers the storyline so precisely that it almost becomes plausible. Schell makes for a marvelous, debauched boytoy and Eggar a petulant brat. Thulin's character is more problematic. Normally, she would be the sympathetic character, the one the audience sides with. But although she sees right through Schell's greedy, selfish lifestyle and that he really doesn't love her, she willingly humiliates herself to keep him. The screenplay is by Oscar winning Julius Epstein (CASABLANCA) from the novel by Hubert Monteihet. The crisp wide screen Panavision lensing is by Christopher Challis (TWO FOR THE ROAD) and the sinewy score is by John Dankworth. With Herbert Lom and Vladek Sheybal.