''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 Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

and the

Tuamotu Islands The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...

. There are French and English-language versions.

Synopsis

In Tahiti, an ambitious 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.

Cast

Edmond O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. O'Brien w ...

as Buchanan *

Richard Basehart John Richard Basehart (August 31, 1914 – September 17, 1984) was an American actor. He starred as Admiral Harriman Nelson in the television science-fiction drama '' Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea'' (1964–68). He also portrayed Wilton Knig ...

as George Rancourt * Andrea Parisy as Dominique * Nicole Berger as Claire *

Nigel Lovell Nigel Tasman Lovell (27 January 1916 – 13 December 2001) was an Australian stage, radio, film and television actor, and producer of opera and both stage and radio drama. History Lovell was born in Sydney, a son of Tasman Lovell, Professor of ...

as Andre *

Reg Lye Reginald Thomas Lye (14 October 1912 – 23 March 1988), was an Australian actor who worked extensively in Australia and England. He was one of the busiest Australian actors of the 1950s, appearing in the majority of locally shot features at th ...

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 Yves Allégret (13 October 1905 – 31 January 1987) was a French film director, often working in the film noir genre. He was born in Asnières-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine and died in Paris. He was an assistant to film directors such as his broth ...

directed both. 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''. Edmond O'Briens fee was more than $200,000. He was cast on the strength of his performance in ''The Girl Can't Help It''("it was considered a comedy of importance" said Dorfman) and his Oscar. The film was also known as ''The Ambitious''.

Release

The film was a box office failure and did not achieve cinema release in England, the United States and Australia and ended the feature film partnership of

Chips Rafferty John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death ...

and Lee Robinson.'King of the Coral Sea: Lee Robinson in interview with Albert Moran' ''Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture'' vol. 1 no 1 (1987)
/ref> It was sold to American TV under the title ''The Climbers''.

References

External links

*
''The Restless and the Damned''
at National Film and Sound Archive
''The Restless and the Damned''
at Oz Movies 1959 films English-language French films 1959 adventure films Films directed by Yves Allégret Films set in French Polynesia Australian multilingual films French multilingual films French-Australian culture 1950s multilingual films {{adventure-film-stub