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40 out of 52 people found the following comment useful :-
Incest through a third party., 14 August 2003
Author: dbdumonteil

The melodrama of which Stahl was one of the masters throughout the thirties had muted,probably because the importance of the film noir in the following decade."Leave her to heaven' is as much a film noir as a melodrama.What's particularly puzzling is the color. Like some Lang ,HItchcock or Tourneur works ("secret beyond the door" "spellbound" or "cat people",for instance) ,this is par excellence a Freudian movie.The heroine has never solved her Oedipus complex :she has always been in love with her father -dig the scene when Gene Tierney rides her horse as she throws her father's ashes away. The love she could not make with her father ,she will make it through a third party: a husband who resembles her dad. This could be fine.She loves her husband to the exclusion of all others .But there are others ,and they are all living threats.So these intruders will be enemies.The scene when Tierney sees her family coming through binoculars can be compared to an attack of Indians or bandits when the hero is alone in a remote fort in an adventure film ,as Bertrand Tavernier pointed out in "50 ans de cinéma américain". Had the heroine preserved her intimacy -and how stupid her husband was not to have understood that!-,maybe nothing would have happened.THe color,which might seem irrelevant in a film noir ,is actually necessary because "back of the moon" ,the island in the middle of the lake is a paradise ,soon to become a lost paradise,then a living hell. A probably never better Gene Tierney outshines every other member of the cast ,which is first-rate though.Little by little,we see her become a monster ,and the actress's performance is so convincing (along with a superb script from which a lot of today's writers could draw inspiration) that it gives her horrible crimes an implacable logic.Like in a Greek tragedy. "Leave her to heaven " is by no means "romantic trash" .It's the crowning of Stahl 's career in which he transcends both melodrama and film noir.

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39 out of 55 people found the following comment useful :-
Gene Tierney delivers memorable performance in this technicolor film noir..., 14 April 2001
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

While most film noirs conjure up images of terror in black-and-white settings, 'Leave Her To Heaven' manages to fall into the noir category despite its lush technicolor scenery and handsome interiors. It's a visually stunning example of "women's noir" performed to the hilt by a talented cast. Only Cornel Wilde fails to deliver. He seems too weak as the author who impulsively marries a beautiful woman, only to find that beneath the lovely exterior is a warped mind consumed by jealousy. He never quite measures up to Tierney's performance--seemingly sweet and kind but actually cold and cunning. Tierney has never been more beautifully photographed and looks stunning throughout. Jeanne Crain does well enough as the demure half-sister, rising to the occasion when the script demands a spunkier side to her personality. While the plot gets a little "heavy" at times, it's a supremely satisfying melodrama played against some of the most beautiful settings imaginable. Alfred Newman's music suggests the slowly developing tension. All in all, a fascinating example of film noir that succeeds despite technicolor. Another fine example of color noir might be 'Chinatown'. Well worth seeing to watch a fascinating femme fatale at work. Gene Tierney deserved her Oscar nomination--but lost to Joan Crawford of 'Mildred Pierce'.

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19 out of 24 people found the following comment useful :-
What Shall Be Done With This Jealous Woman? Let Heaven Deal With Her!!, 22 October 2005

Author: Roseofsharon969 (Roseofsharon979@live.com) from Canada

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Lushly photographed in Oscar-winning Techincolor, this film version of Ben Ames William's novel is an engrossingly watchable portrait of a possessive, jealous woman, a role that earned Gene Tierney an Oscar nomination.

There is an obvious tension between Ellen Berent (Tierney) and her mother (Mary Phillips), especially when it is hinted that Ellen and her late father had a special, close relationship. When the exotically beautiful socialite Ellen meets the handsome, gentle, and rather naive novelist Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde), she is taken with him because of his resemblance to her deceased dad. They gather with Ellen's family at the ranch of a mutual friend, and Ellen has Richard under her spell, discarding her fiancée Russell Quinton (Vincent Price)like last week's garbage. She proposes to Richard, and states breathlessly, "I'll never let you go,", and the poor guy (and the audience) has no idea what he is in for. It also seems that everyone but Richard (and the viewer) is aware of Ellen's demands of attention and possessiveness, as the narrator and family friend Glen Robie states early in the film, "Ellen always wins", and "Nothing ever happens to Ellen".

As soon as they are married, they travel to Georgia to meet Richard's handicapped brother, Danny (Darryl Hickman), and although Ellen helps look after him (and even teaches him to walk with crutches) she is incensed by the intrusion of him into their lives, their home, and basically, of any other person coming between her and her husband. When her mother and sister Ruth (Jeanne Crain) come for a visit, she is all but enraged and her icy reception sucks all the fun out of that party!!! After her family departs, Ellen secretly takes Danny out in the lake for swimming, and deliberately lets the poor boy drown so she can have Richard all to herself. The crestfallen novelist and his manipulative bride then go to stay with Ellen's family, and on the advice of Ruth, she decides to give Richard a baby. However, Ellen is soon disillusioned with the idea, bemoans the fact that she will soon lose her figure (and her husband's attention), she coldly puts on a beautiful blue evening gown, applies red lipstick and deliberately throws herself down a flight of stairs, and succeeds in miscarrying the son that Richard so wanted. She then focuses her obsession on to her gentle sister, seeing the friendship Ruth shares with Richard, and in a self-righteous tirade, berates her long-suffering sibling (actually cousin adopted by the family), unwittingly revealing her dastardly deeds for Richard to overhear. He leaves her, preparing to file for divorce, so Ellen hatches her most evil scheme of all - she writes a letter to Quinton saying that Ruth is planning to kill her, and then poisons herself at a family picnic in order to frame her sister. The truth, however comes out at trial and Harland is forced to serve a prison sentence of two years due to his knowledge of Ellen's crimes, but once he has served his time, he and Ruth, whom had declared her love for him at the trial, unite against a epic sunset . . . . . . . .

Tierney and Crain look fabulous, and could easily pass for sisters. Ellen's "nightmare" is an effective foreshadowing of Danny's death, and her jealousy over Enid Southern, a girl from Harland's past, adds more richness to the movie. Chill Wills is great as handyman Thorne, and Vincent Price is a perfect unwitting accomplice in Ellen's last scheme. There are biblical references that resound in the film, for example, Ellen is portrayed as a serpent emerging from dark waters in one scene, while Ruth is presented as an angelic, nurturing, gardening, animal-loving cherub. Another interesting analogy is that on the way to the ranch, Ellen is anticipating hunting and eating wild turkey, while Ruth can't wait to see the new colts. The theme music is dramatic and adds fuel to the already burning fire of the drama.

It is classified as film noir, and even with the color photography, it makes sense. An interesting presentation of a truly malicious character.

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13 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Color Time Travel - A film that must be experienced on the Big Screen, 26 April 2008

Author: ted-129 from San Francisco

No one can watch this without remembering Gene Tierney's searing blue eyes, Jeanne Crain's face of innocence, or Cornel Wilde (lightyears from The Naked Prey) here looking like a photo of Pierre & Gilles come to life. It's 110 minutes of color-time-travel basking in the surreally saturated Technicolor palette of the mid 40's.

For those who have been denied the experience of watching the recently restored version with a rapt audience on a big screen as happened April 26, 2008 at San Francisco's Castro Theatre, I can only hope you'll contact a film preservation-minded theater in your area.

Though I've watched this film on DVD, nothing prepared me for the impact of the big screen. The closeups alone will take your breath away.

Is it melodrama or is it noir?--leave that to Heaven!

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20 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
One of her best roles, 3 January 2005

Author: Alicia Daugherty (alicia.daugherty@verizon.net) from Mill Creek, Washington

This was ONE of Gene Tierney's best roles, outside of Laura. She plays a woman lost in jealousy and unjustified vengeance. You understand her love for her husband and are not horrified by her murderous acts because she is so lovely and really not a bad person. You also sympathize with her, because you sense her loneliness. She has to be lonely because she's so caught up this web of jealousy. Who can she confide in with it? No one. Cornel Wilde is sort of a dolt to not see how "mad" is wife is. There are questions you can see he wants to ask of his mother-in-law, but doesn't to his detriment. I love, love this movie. Buy it - you'll watch it over and over again.

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11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A Stunning Film, 10 August 2008

Author: drednm

Based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams, LEAVER HER TO HEAVEN is a stunning 40s film, filled with spectacular set decorations and Oscar-winning color cinematography.

The story is a solid melodrama about beautiful Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney in her Oscar-nominated performance) who marries a naive novelist (Cornel Wilde). He is drawn into her family on the eve of the ceremonial scattering of her father's ashes in New Mexico. From the getgo the family seems full of angst as everyone stays out of Ellen's way. On a whim, she breaks her engagement to a lawyer (Vincent Price) and marries Wilde.

Everything seems OK until they visit his crippled brother (Darryl Hickman) in Georgia. She seems jealous of Wilde's attention to the kid. Somehow, plans are made for the three of them to go to Wilde's "lodge" in Maine, where a faithful servant )Chill Wills) also lives. Tierney seems more and more edgy and starts to openly resent Hickman and Wills. And then her mother a step sister (Mary Philips, Jeanne Crain) arrive from Bar Harbor.

Everything starts to unravel at this point as Tierney becomes convinced that Wilde and falling for Crain. A series of mysterious accidents happen and there is a big (overblown) court case tried by the man (Price) she dumped to marry Wilde and a stunning turn of events.

The movie is gloriously filmed in rich Technicolor that accentuates deep reds, warm golds, and luscious shades of turquoise. The Maine and New Mexico interiors are just great and look like they came out of a contemporary magazine, including the simple little lodge by the lake. Also of note is the driving dramatic score by Alfred E. Newman.

Tierney is superb as the troubled Ellen and has never looked more beautiful. Wilde is suitable perplexed as the the novelist. Crain is solid as the stalwart sister. Price overacts outrageously (but it's fun). Philips, Wills, and Hickman are good. Others in the cast include Ray Collins, Olive Blakeney, Gene Lockhart, Mae Marsh, Grant Mitchell, and Reed Hadley.

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN ranks among the best melodramas of the 1940s.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
What a Movie!, 14 February 2007
Author: Jalea from USA

This is one of my favorite movies! The mystery was the lead character, Ellen; the cool, lovely and smoldering and so much more. Ellen Berent Hartman is the adult version of Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed (1956). Totally ruthless, unfeeling and riveting. Gene Tierney (Ellen) gave the performance of her career! Cornel Wilde was a good foil for her as her unsuspecting husband, Richard Hartman. This movie is about the rare breed of human who has feelings for no one, consumed by their own selfish desires. The costars almost faded in the background at times in comparison to Tierney's performance. Yet, every character had their moment to shine. Vincent Price does a great job portraying the jilted fiancé whose fierce determination to see justice done is just an expression of loss and unrequited love. Jean Crain was appropriately forlorn and Chil Wills' expression of horrid realization was chilling (no pun intended). With all of the cards seemingly laid on the table for the audience, there is still room for suspense. If you like a suspenseful drama, don't miss this movie. I watch it every chance I get.

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12 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Striking melodrama, 13 March 2007

Author: arturus from New York, NY

This is the kind of film you have to watch understanding the time in which it was made. Talking pictures were only just under twenty years old and people did not realize that film required techniques different from the stage. Two of the leads (Tierney and Price) were both stage actors and were taught to play in the large style that was part of the time and was what audiences expected, as were the grand emotional gestures in the plot of this picture and others, and the ever-present music.

Stage productions at that time mostly all had incidental music, specially written for them (one example is Paul Bowles' score for the Broadway stage production of "The Glass Menagerie"), performed live, in the theater.

This film has a particularly effective score by Alfred Newman, though loud and melodramatic by today's standards, using an ostinato timpani figure, a kind of throbbing heartbeat, and the musical intervallic motive of the descending augmented fourth, the "tritone", which in the middle ages was called the "Devil in Music", to express the darker side of the lead character's motives and persona.

So we should be careful in watching films like this, to understand the context and try to put ourselves in the place of the audiences of that time. If one does, this is a grand experience, with top-notch performances, cinematography, writing and music. Stretch your mind and heart to fit the big emotions and seemingly impossible plot turns, imagine yourself watching this in a huge theater, with hundreds if not thousands of others, on a huge screen, with a very powerful sound system, and suddenly it works.

Of course, this is a vehicle for a "star" actress, and Tierney rises to the occasion admirably, holding your attention in every scene she's in, by her beauty and her sheer magnetism on the screen. On the DVD commentary for it, the actor who appeared opposite Tierney as the young boy Danny belittles her "technical" acting approach (that is, working from the outside in, rather than using the inner-directed "Method" developed around that time in America by Lee Strasberg, taking and often misunderstanding and misinterpreting techniques developed in Russia by Constantin Stanislavsky) and he says that, in scenes, she gave nothing to the actor (himself) playing opposite her.

Well, first, that's the character she's playing, icy cold, with a "flat affect", as written. As a relatively inexperienced film actress, she was possibly one of those actors who cannot get out of character between shots or while resting on a shoot. In retrospect we know of her serious mental problems which manifested later, and perhaps this role was just too close for comfort!

Considering that, watching her playing from this distance, I think she does very well, always present in the scene and listening, with only a very few moments of self-conscious posing. I think Mr Hickman has an ax to grind here; in fact, he does, and he goes as far as to advertise his own teaching practice and book about acting!

Let's face it, when we think of this picture and others like it, after all, we remember Tierney, her beauty, her strong screen presence and her vulnerability as the character, not his performance, good as it is.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Color, Contrasts & Deadly Drama, 8 December 2008

Author: seymourblack-1 from United Kingdom

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

It would be impossible to watch "Leave Her To Heaven" without being struck by some of the stark contrasts which it contains. Its very dark story is depicted in glorious Technicolor, its main character appears to be beautiful and sophisticated but is actually evil hearted and capable of great cruelty. One of the many stunningly beautiful exterior locations is used as the setting for a crime which is both shocking and heinous and similarly an act of extreme wickedness is perpetrated in one of the movie's wonderfully opulent interior scenes.

"Leave Her To Heaven" is a veritable feast of colour, costumes and drama and makes a great visual impact right from the start. Bearing this in mind, it's easy to see why this movie won the 1946 Oscar for "Best Cinematography - Color" and was also Oscar nominated for the "Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration" award.

The story which is recounted in flashback, describes the circumstances which led to successful author Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) being sentenced to a term in prison. Shortly after meeting Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) on a train journey, Richard becomes captivated by her and they gradually become closer until one day she stops wearing her engagement ring. Shortly after this, her ex-fiancé Russell Quinton (Vincent Price) calls to offer his congratulations on her forthcoming marriage. Ellen introduces him to Richard who was unaware of any marriage plans but just passively plays along with what's happening. Later, Ellen proposes to Richard and he accepts.

After their marriage, Ellen gets to know Richard's younger brother Danny (Darryl Hickman) who's recovering from polio. She's very attentive and helps him to start walking again with the use of crutches. This achievement clears the way for Danny to be released from residential care and to go to stay with Ellen and Richard at Richard's lodge called "Back Of The Moon". At the lodge, Ellen starts to become resentful of the time that Richard spends writing and irritated by the constant presence of Danny and Thorne (Chill Wills) who is a woodsman and old family friend. Her discontent worsens when her mother and adopted sister Ruth (Jeanne Crain) arrive for a surprise visit. Ellen's mother and Ruth cut their visit short as it becomes clear to them that Ellen does not welcome their presence. Richard becomes unhappy about how Ellen has treated her family and in a heated conversation she accuses him of being in love with Ruth.

During a later incident at the lake near to the lodge, Danny is drowned and following this, the couple move to Ellen's mother's home and Richard becomes very depressed and abandons his writing. He returns to a more positive frame of mind when Ellen becomes pregnant but another incident leads to her losing the baby.

Some time later, when Richard's new book is published, Ellen is furious when she sees that it has been dedicated to Ruth. Richard and Ellen have an argument during which she admits the roles she played in the deaths of Danny and their unborn baby. Richard then leaves her but is called back to the house when she is suddenly taken ill. Ellen dies and a dramatic court case follows during which Ruth is charged with poisoning Ellen and the prosecutor is Russell Quinton. Ruth is found "not guilty" but Richard is sentenced to imprisonment for withholding knowledge of Ellen's crimes and in so doing, being an accessory.

Ellen's initial attraction to Richard was based on his resemblance to her late father and her subsequent need to constantly have his exclusive attention became a powerfully destructive force.

"Leave Her To Heaven" is a memorable melodrama in which Gene Tierney gives an exceptional (Oscar nominated) performance as a woman whose extreme jealousy and possessiveness propel her into a series of insane acts which ultimately damage the lives of everyone around her. The precise nature of her psychosis gradually becomes clear as the action progresses and the performance of Jeanne Crain is also very praiseworthy.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
"I'll never let you go. Never, never, never", 27 September 2008

Author: ackstasis from Australia

I don't think I agree with those who have designated 'Leave Her to Heaven (1945)' a film noir. This Technicolor picture – and it's surprising how much the presence of colour can distort the tone of a film – feels much closer to the claustrophobic domestic melodramas of the same period, such as Hitchcock's 'Rebecca (1940)' and 'Suspicion (1941),' and Cukor's 'Gaslight (1944).' But there's one important difference. By reversing the gender roles, and placing the power in the hands of the wife, director John M. Stahl here creates a formidable femme fatale, personified by the lovely and luminous Gene Tierney. The vibrant Technicolor photography is certainly pleasing to the eye, and the saturated colours add a perhaps-unintended touch of the surreal, but the dazzling colour palette distracts from and obstructs the film's darker themes. As much as I wouldn't like to deprive myself of Tierney's sparkling green eyes, I think that, in terms of atmosphere, 'Leave Her to Heaven' would have worked better in black-and-white.

The film starts off in the classic noir style: told in flashback, the story opens with popular author Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde), who meets an alluring woman, Ellen Berent (Tierney), on a train. Ellen quickly charms Richard with her dazzling looks and strong personality; soon, despite her own engagement to a prominent lawyer (Vincent Price), she has proposed their marriage, an offer he finds impossible to refuse. Here, 'Leave Her to Heaven' takes a distinct turn in storytelling approach, abruptly shifting its attention to Ellen's perspective, at which point we begin to recognise that perhaps she isn't as lovely as her new husband has been led to believe. The new couple move to Richard's secluded lakeside lodge, where they must also care for his crippled younger brother, Danny (Darryl Hickman, giving one of those "excited boy scout" child performances that were popular in the 1940s). As the weeks go by, Ellen's near-obsessive love for Richard begins to brood anger, hatred and jealousy, culminating in the cruelest of acts.

Tierney's character initially elicits an amount of sympathy, especially given Richard's apparent inability to recognise his wife's desperate need for privacy and intimacy in their relationship. However, it doesn't take long before her behaviour, fuelled by suspicion and paranoia, becomes entirely contemptible, and there's no longer any trace of the charming enchantress we saw in 'Laura (1944).' Ellen's psychosis is an intriguing one: she was obviously obsessed with love for her own father – what Freud called "feminine Oedipus attitude," or Electra complex – and, following his death, subsequently fell in love with Richard, who bears a remarkable resemblance to him. Such is her passion for her father, through Richard, that she cannot bear to share him with anybody; thus, her mania stems from the simple notion that "she loves too much." Ellen's murders are shocking in their own low-key simplicity, and Tierney, who received her only Oscar nomination for the role, carries out her evils with an icily-impassive face. But, geez, even this chilling portrayal can't make me stop loving her.

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