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The Restless and the Damned
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Wikipedia article
'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 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 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 Allgret directed both.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, 'Australian Film 19001977: A Guide to Feature Film Production', Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p227
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'.Graham Shirley and Brian Adams, 'Australian Cinema: The First Eighty Years', Currency Press, 1989, p203
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'.Irene Papas Will Team With Quinn: Actress Fills Out 'Navarone'; O'Brien Hails Europe's Silver. Scheuer, Philip K. 'Los Angeles Times' 22 March 1960: C9.
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 and Lee Robinson.[http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/1.1/Robinson.html 'King of the Coral Sea: Lee Robinson in interview with Albert Moran' 'Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture' vol. 1 no 1 (1987)] It was sold to American TV under the title 'The Climbers'.
References
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