Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Tyreece Hulme One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

blanche-2 TCM gave this movie two stars. Ridiculous. I saw this film YEARS ago. I never forgot it and at one point, I tried to find out the name of it and was directed to another film. I suspected when I read the plot on the channel guide that this was the movie.Set in flashback in pre-war Paris and in the present in post-war Paris, the story concerns a doctor, Michele, (beautiful Ingrid Thulin) hopelessly in love with Stanislaus, a chess-playing roué, excellently played by Maximillian Schell. He doesn't pretend to love her - he likes her, but what he loves is her money. They marry, but because she's Jewish, she's picked up and sent to Dachau. During the time she's gone, her husband becomes involved with her now grown-up albeit unstable stepdaughter Fabienne (Samantha Eggar). After the war ends, and Michele doesn't return, Fabienne and Stan assume she's dead. However, because of the laws in France they can't get their hands on her money.The truth is that Michele is alive, but had to go to a sanitarium after the war to recover from her horrendous experiences in the camp. She's scarred and aged, and when she finally returns to Paris, she stays in a hotel and turns to an old colleague, Charles (Herbert Lom) to fix her up. When Fabienne spots what she thinks is a Michele-lookalike (actually Michele), she comes up with a plan to have her stepmother return from the dead, with the imposter taking a cut.A really good movie, very intriguing, with good performances all around and excellent photography. I'm so sick of being burned by TCM's ratings - four stars for trash and two stars for a fine movie like this (not all the time, but occasionally).Highly recommended.

grantch 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.

theowinthrop I have only seen this film once or twice, and it's been four decades ago. It is a sharp little murder story, with a clever scoundrel (Max Schell) who plans to make a real killing - a once in a lifetime shot at a fortune.Schell is a first rate amateur chess player. He happens to meet Ingrid Thulin, a Jewish medical technician who was married before the war to an older, wealthier man. During the war she was in a camp, but she was lucky enough to survive.She is vulnerable now, and she falls for Schell's polite, and then increasingly tender concerns for her. It isn't that she is stupid. She has resumed her career thanks to her closest friend's assistance (more of that later). But her home life is harsh - she only has her step daughter (Samantha Egger) who hates her as a woman who supplanted her mother. Egger is not that much younger than Thulin, and she thinks of Thulin as an adventuress who robbed her (Egger) of her inheritance. Actually Thulin is nice enough to share her house with Egger.Schell sees the set-up as a golden opportunity. He woos Thulin, and marries her, much to the suspicions of her close friend. In the meantime he keeps Egger under control, because she is capable of giving him information useful for his future plans. And when she is no longer useful, but increasingly a romantic problem - she is suddenly found dead in an "accident". This effects Thulin, who is always just on the borderline because of her war experiences. Schell shows concern...he openly worries about possible suicidal tendencies. And then he sets his final plans into operation. And at that point, I will leave the plot line for the reader to seek out and see the film.It turns out (I won't say how) Schell does not really count on the close friend affecting his plans. And that was the final reason I enjoyed the film. I have always been a fan of Herbert Lom. Ever since I saw him in THE LADYKILLERS, GAMBIT, A SHOT IN THE DARK (and the other "Pink Panther" films he popped up in), I have enjoyed his menace, his mania, and his remarkable acting skills. Except for GAMBIT (perhaps - in one scene he briefly shows menace), Lom usually played dangerous men to cross. In this film he finally played a decent guy. I can only say that it's a good thing that he's there at the end, literally, to help pick up the pieces.

kakanimal I want this movie. I saw this as a child many times and this is my favorite movie of all time. Last time I knew it was going to be shown was when the Gulf War broke out and it never aired. I can't find it on video and it hasn't been on tv in 10 years. The plot, the actors, everything about this down to the black and white film was excellent. I have never seen another movie that I have enjoyed so much!