Return from the Ashes is a 1965 British thriller film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Ingrid Thulin, Maximilian Schell, Samantha Eggar and Herbert Lom.

[1] It is based on a novel by French crime writer Hubert Monteilhet, adapted for film by prolific screenwriter Julius J. Epstein.

The British film starts shortly before the Battle of France (1940) when chess master Stanislaus Pilgrin and Dr. Michele Wulf, a Jewish woman, have a romantic relationship.

Surprised at the resemblance, Stan tells her that Michele's step-daughter Fabi cannot inherit her step-mother's estate because no body was ever produced.

While taking a bath after consuming alcohol and barbiturates, the jealous Fabi tells Stan her plan for killing her step-mother.

When he hears the shot, he will know she is dead, and he can return home to adjust the scene to make the death appear a suicide.

The film was based on the novel Le retour des cendres (Phoenix from the Ashes) by Hubert Monteilhet, which was published in 1961.

The Los Angeles Times said if the plot "seems on the surface incredible, the marvel is that Monteilhet brings it off, achieving that suspension of disbelief.

The other films were A Shot in the Dark, The Satan Bug, Bandoola, The Confessor, and The Dazzling Hour (which became Kiss Me Stupid).

[8] Filming was pushed back – in June 1964 the Mirisches said the movie would be part of a slate of 14 films made over 18 months worth $51 million (others including Hawaii, The Hallelujah Trail, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, A Rage to Live, Bandoola, The Confessor, The Law and Tombstone, Cast a Giant Shadow, What Did You Do in the War Daddy, A Garden of Cucumbers, Return of the Seven, The Off-Islanders and Richard Sahib).

Thompson said he liked to move the camera "to accent the restlessness, the emotional strains of these people, who are highly strung and neurotic.

"[4] Variety in its original review said that "Return from the Ashes does not always reach its mark as a thriller... Thompson... establishes a tense mood frequently, but level of interest suffers from character fuzziness which occasionally clouds the issue.