[4] In Tahiti, an ambitious woman, Dominique, promotes the fortunes of her simple husband, George, by extracting money from George's family to finance his operations and encouraging him to doublecross his boss on phosphate mine in Tahiti.

[5] The movie was the last of three co-productions Australians Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty did with French companies in the late 1950s, after Walk into Paradise and The Stowaway.

While Walk into Paradise was set in Papua New Guinea, then an Australian territory, and starred an Australian, Chips Rafferty, both The Stowaway and The Restless and the Damned were essentially French stories, albeit with international casts.

"[1] Edmond O'Brien later said his net from the film "will obviously exceed the $150,000 or $200,000 most actors can hope to realize from a Hollywood salary."

Producer Dorfman claimed "The revenue a European production can get without a Hollywood star is, at best, limited.

On the other hand many actors such as Mr O'Brien and Robert Ryan are top attractions in the European and Oriental countries where we obtain our major income."

Dorfman said they signed O'Brien on the strength of his performance in The Girl Can't Help It adding "throughout Europe it was considered a comedy of importance and established O'Brien as a major attraction there - much more, for instance than his Academy Award role in The Barefoot Contessa.

[9] The film screened at the Locarno Film Festival in July 1959 where it was reviewed by Variety who said: There is secondary marquee appeal for the U.S. in this via the names of Richard Basehart and Edmond O’Brien, However, this tale of ruthless ambition is somewhat plodding, making it primarily for dual spots in the U.S.... Yves Allegret's direction is listless.

[10]The film was a box office failure and did not achieve cinema release in England, the United States and Australia (although it was released in France) and ended the feature film partnership of Chips Rafferty and Lee Robinson.