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Leave Her to Heaven

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Movie: ***** DVD Transfer: ***** Extras: *****

20th Century-Fox's highest-grossing film of the 1940's showcases exquisite leading lady Gene Tierney in a mesmerizing, Oscar-nominated performance as a femme fatale whose placid beauty masks a murderously possessive heart. Based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams, the astonishingly perverse screenplay by Jo Swerling touches on such then-taboo (and still-shocking) subjects as incestuous obsession, the victimization of the disabled, self-induced abortion, and suicide disguised as homicide! Pretty potent stuff for its time, and it's all presented in lush candy-box Technicolor by Oscar-winner Leon Shamroy, whose masterful cinematography skillfully emphasizes a central theme of the film: that a beautiful surface can sometimes hide a thoroughly rotten core.

By design and through her acting skills, Miss Tierney's tour de force performance dominates the film; she especially shines in two challenging sequences, one involving a rowboat and another which takes place on a staircase. Among the supporting cast, solid work is turned in by Cornel Wilde as the object of Tierney's intensity; Jeanne Crain as her sweet-natured cousin and adopted sister; and Mary Philips as her alienated mother; but it is Vincent Price who stands out in a bravura performance as Tierney's former suitor. Price's character takes center stage throughout the final twenty minutes of the movie, and he plays some very long and difficult scenes with aplomb.

Fox Home Video's DVD presentation of this classic drama is truly impeccable, featuring a gorgeous, digitally restored print and remastered soundtrack. I've seen this movie dozens times over the past thirty years - in theatres, on video, and on cable - and it's never looked or sounded so magnificent. The bonus features include the film's 1952 Theatrical Re-release Trailer; Fox Movietone News segments featuring footage of the film's Los Angeles premiere and the 1945 Academy Awards; a fascinating stills gallery featuring photos taken during the film's location shooting at Bass Lake; and a restoration comparison demonstrating how the film was remastered for DVD. The disc also features an audio commentary by film critic Richard Schickel, who clearly was unprepared for the job: he refers to Price's character by the wrong name; mistakenly identifies two child players as boys (one, played by Betty Hannon, is obviously a girl); and vacillates back and forth in his opinions regarding the film's qualities. Additional commentary is also offered by actor Darryl Hickman, who played Cornel Wilde's brother in the film. Hickman clearly loathed making the movie, and snipes ungraciously about Tierney as an actress and as a human being, ignoring the fact that she was struggling with the devastating prospect of institutionalizing her mentally enfeebled 18-month-old daughter during the course of the film's production. Hickman also takes potshots at Jeanne Crain (appearing in her fifth film role of any size), director John M. Stahl, and the personality of cameraman Leon Shamroy (although he is clearly an admirer of the latter's work). The sour and ineffective commentary aside, the DVD presentation of "Leave Her to Heaven" is a superb example of 1940's Hollywood moviemaking and the DVD format at their very best, and is most highly recommended for your viewing pleasure.

Gene Tierney, with her beautiful cheekbones, creamy skin, icy blue eyes, delicious overbite, and chestnut hair, was a vision of loveliness-one of the great beauties of the screen. She was also an underrated actress, who played "good" girls in films such as "Heaven Can Wait", "Laura", "The Ghost and Mrs Muir", and "Dragonwyck",and bitches in films such as "The Razor's Edge", "The Egyptian", and, of course, "Leave Her to Heaven" a technicolor "film noir". In this, her Oscar-nominated role, she plays Ellen Berent, a woman whose insane jealousy and possessiveness causes misery and death to those around her. She sets her eyes on writer Richard Harland, (Cornel Wilde) who reminds her of her late father. Ellen had an unusual, almost incestuous relationship with her father-one even suspects that she drove him to his death. Having jilted her district attorney fiancee Russell Quentin, played by Vincent Price, she sets out to hook Harland. It seems that Ellen doesn't want to share her husband's affections with anyone, including his crippled kid brother, whom she lets drown when he attempts to swim across a lake, and her unborn child, when she deliberately throws herself down a flight of stairs to induce a miscarriage. When Ellen's jealousy of her sister's relationship and budding affection for her husband, along with his discovery of the truth of his brother's and unborn child's deaths force him to leave her in disgust, she plots the ultimate act of vindictiveness-she fatally poisons herself, and sends a letter implicating her sister and husband to her ex-fiancee Quentin. This doll didn't play! Miss Tierney, who had suffered a nervous breakdown in the 1950s after a series of unfortunate incidents in her personal life, wrote in her book "Self Portrait", that the character she played in this film was insane-and that she tried very hard,and convincingly, to make others think that she was not. Miss Tierney's performance is very believable, restrained, and positively chilling. The Technicolor photography, while beautiful, has a certain "chilliness" which actually heightens the film's drama-a rather unusual twist, as this type of fare was usually filmed in black and white. Add to this a powerful, chilling score by Alfred Newman, good performances by Wilde, Price, the lovely Jeanne Crain, and Darryl Hickman, and you have an entertaining, slickly produced melodrama. Yes, jealousy is one of the seven deadly sins-and in this film, it is "deadlier than the male"!

The real star of this fascinating little movie is the breath-taking Technicolor photography of Maine and New Mexico; even the architecture is great to look at (as is the gorgeous Gene Tierney!). Tierney's role of Ellen Berent has received almost cult status over the years since her character is that of an obsessive and cruel, selfish and evil woman; her relationship with Cornel Wilde indeed makes for an unusual and strange love story! Ben Ames William's novel of the same name was released in 1944 and was read by over a million people; the public was obviously captivated by this lurid little tale of a psychopathic wife. While being more than a little melodramatic, the story's believability is quite implausible at times, however the film lingers in the psyche nevertheless (the scene where Ellen lets Wilde's crippled little brother Hickman drown out of sheer jealousy is genuinely disturbing). Classic line: Ellen's mother: "There's nothing wrong with Ellen. She just loves too much!" Rarely has such a wicked woman looked as beautiful as Tierney does in this unusual story of obsessive "love".

An example of 1940s romantic melodrama at its best, "Leave Her To Heaven" may seem like an outlandish story but it is a memorable one and certainly one of the most gorgeously photographed Technicolor films ever made (the visual style of the film is similar to Douglas Sirk's 1950s melodramas). The photography by Leon Shamroy (who won a well deserved Oscar for this) features beautiful location settings in New Mexico, Arizona and Bass Lake, California. Gene Tierney, fresh from her most famous role in "Laura" is outrageously gorgeous as the cold and insanely jealous heroine. Jeanne Crain, in one of her first roles, is a tad plastic as the sympathetic half sister and Cornel Wilde is fine as the hapless fly drawn into Tierney's web.

DVD extras include a photo gallery, two Movietone features (one on the Academy Awards and the other on the premiere) and an audio commentary by TIME critic Richard Schickel and actor Darryl Hickman, who played Danny in the film. Schnickel's comments are not particularly interesting but Hickman's recollections of being a child actor and working on the set of "LHTH" are often fascinating. Hickman recalls friendships with fellow child stars Shirley Temple and Roddy McDowell and talks about what difficult lives child actors endured. His comments about the actors he worked with are particularly interesting - Gene Tierney was remote and unkind to both him and co-star Cornel Wilde and director John Stahl doesn't recieve kind remarks either. On the other hand, Hickman remembers Cornel Wilde and Jeanne Crain as kind and easy to work with. Hickman has since become an acting teacher and coach and his comments are often concerned with acting techniques (he is especially unimpressed with Tierney's acting abilities).

"Leave Her to Heaven " is often considered to be the only color film noir of the classic era. Its bright, oversaturated Technicolor does belie the film's themes, but "Leave Her to Heaven" is more dark melodrama than film noir. The story is grounded in emotions, not ambition; love, not sex; culpability, not cynicism. The film is based on the novel by Ben Ames Williams and directed by John M. Stahl. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy won an Oscar in 1946 for his wonderful work. In fact, "Leave Her to Heaven"'s most striking aspect may be its predominant oranges and blues and intricate shadow play. This early Technicolor film stock produced downright garish colors and little texture, but the production design and cinematography are so masterful as to outshine the film stock's limitations.

The tale is told in flashback by Glen Robie (Ray Collins), an attorney whose friend and client Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) has just regained his freedom after spending 2 years in prison. Robie relates the story of Harland's troubles, which started when Harland, a novelist by profession, met his wife: On a train en route to New Mexico, Harland meets a beautiful young woman of privilege named Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney). Immediately taken with Ellen, Harland is elated to find that they will be staying at the same ranch, along with Ellen's family. Ellen is engaged to be married to an ambitious hometown politician, but she favors Richard, so breaks her engagement. They are married after a whirlwind romance and move to Harland's lakeside lodge in Maine, along with Richard's crippled young brother Danny (Darryl Hickman). But Ellen has an all-consuming need to be with her husband and is insanely jealous of any attention he gives anyone or anything else -a need that threatens to consume everyone she touches.

Gene Tierney's character is a femme fatale, but not the sort normally associated with film noir. She's sinister and scheming, but driven by impulse and intense emotions, not by ambition. Ellen is the housewife from hell. As her mother says, somewhat optimistically, "There's nothing wrong with Ellen. She just loves too much." Ellen is a strong character in spite of the oppressive domestic love that consumes her, smothers every man she attaches herself to, and torments everyone around her. For all of this, Ellen hates children and is rather athletic, so she isn't simply an over-the-top cliché. She's unbalanced, but she's single-minded to a fault. I don't know if this film will appeal to fans of film noir, because it is simply about the destruction wreaked by one emotionally ill woman. But "Leave Her to Heaven" is quite a good film in its own right thanks to a strong script, Gene Tierney's star power, brilliant cinematography, and notable supporting performances by Mary Phillips as Ellen's mother and Vincent Price as her ex-fiancé.

The DVD (20th Century Fox 2005 release): Bonus features include a "Still Gallery" of on-set photos, 2 "Hollywood Spotlight" featurettes of old new reels, a restoration comparison, a theatrical trailer, and an audio commentary. "Galaxy of Stars Attend World Movie Premiere" (1 minute) is newsreel footage of the red carpet at the film's 1945 premiere. "Motion Picture Awards 'Oscar' for Film Achievements" (1 minute) is footage of Leon Shamroy receiving his Oscar for cinematography at the 1946 Academy Awards. There are newsreels or trailers for 4 other films. "Restoration Comparison" (2 minutes) shows side-by-side comparisons of the 1994 film transfer, the 2003 film restoration, and the 2003 DVD for several scenes. The audio commentary is by film critic Richard Schickel and Darryl Hickman, who played Danny in the film when he was 13 years old. These 2 commentaries were recorded separately and put on the same track, which is a little awkward in this case. Schickel talks about actors, story, characters, and a little bit about style. Hickman, who now teaches acting, talks about his career as a child actor, his experiences shooting the film, and the interrelationships between people on the set. He gets gossipy at times, but his commentary includes some interesting observations. Subtitles are available for the film in English and Spanish. Dubbing is available in Spanish.

Called trashy melodrama by some critics, "Leave Her to Heaven," the story of a demented woman and the husband who becomes trapped in her web of possession, insanity, and murder, is trash at its zenith, a prime example of 1940s studio opulence. This film noir, told in extended flashback as the husband returns home from an unjust prison term, is unusual in that it is in vibrant Technicolor rather than the genre's usual black-and-white. But the contrast between visual brilliance and psychosis enhances the horror. In her autobiography, Gene Tierney wrote that she had wanted to play Ellen Berent ever since she read Ben Ames Williams's novel. She worked well with John Stahl, and "blossomed under his direction." Besides the sets at Twentieth Century-Fox, filming was done on location in Arizona, northern California, and Georgia. The real star of the film may be Leon Shamroy's Technicolor cinematography, which earned the picture its only Academy Award and is still beautiful more than sixty years later.

The recent Fox Studio Classics DVD release of "Leave Her to Heaven" contains an excellent transfer of the restored film, relevant contemporary newsreels, a restoration comparison, and commentary by supporting actor Darryl Hickman and critic Richard Schickel. Both Hickman and Schickel offer interesting insights, but each is sometimes condescending toward the acting talents of Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and particularly Jeanne Crain. Inexplicably and inexcusably, Schickel repeatedly pronounces director Stahl's name "Sphal."

"Leave Her To Heaven" is in many ways quite a disturbing and unsettling film while never failing to intrigue me with its story based on a well known book by Ben Ames Williams of a beautiful but quite disturbed young woman who must have everything she desires entirely to herself no matter what the cost. We have probably all experienced moments of possessiveness in our lives but in this story it is taken to the extreme with ultimately tragic results.

The stunning Gene Tierney, probably one of the most beautiful actresses ever to grace the screen was reaching her peak in early 1945 when this film went into production having already filmed the classic "Laura" two years earlier. With "Leave Her To Heaven" she got her one Academy Award nomination playing the disturbed and manipulative Ellen Berent a priveledged young lady who sets her sight on something and never lets up until she has obtained it. In this instance the object of her affection is Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde)a successful writer who she meets on a train and later marries. The film chronicles her slow descent into an obsessive need to keep Richard to herself at the expense of family, friends and even human life. Her psychopathic need to keep her husband to herself finds her jilting her current fiance (Vincent Price) without so much as an explanation, alienating Richard's friend Leick (Chill Wills), deliberatly loosing her unborn baby, and in the most disturbing and indeed most famous scene in the film, allowing Richard's younger brother to drown in a lake. This last scene never fails to upset me when viewed and Gene Tierney is chillingly scary in the scene hidden as she is behind dark glasses while the boy is drowning in front of her.

"Leave Her To Heaven" benefits from some of the most lush cinematography of the mid 1940's and the beautiful colour used here adds greatly to the overrall look and feel of the production. Tierney is just right for the villianess role she plays here and her icy beauty, which is emphasised with the colour photography, along with her cold demeanour are just right for the role.

In major supporting roles the earlier mentioned Vincent Price who was in "laura" with Tierney scores as the disgruntled ex-fiance and Jeanne Crain as Ellen's sister, and the object of her intense jealousy over her good relationship with Richard is also right on track. Mary Philips as Ellen's mother is also effective and gets to say probably the most famous line in the film when she states that "There's nothing wrong with Ellen, she just happens to love too much". Indeed loving too much is the basis for this whole story and is what brings the story to its tragic conclusion which finds Ellen killing herself when she realises that she has lost Richard for ever because of her actions.

"Leave Her To Heaven" is an absorbing melodrama of the first order and captures Gene Tierney at her most stunning and in this role at her most sinister. If you enjoy stories about people who are less than perfect "Leave Her To Heaven" will be a film that you will enjoy. Disturbing it certainly is but done with alot of professionalism and fine performances to make it very absorbing viewing.

Gene Tierney stars as Ellen, a woman incapable of anything except obsessive love. She goes to extreme lengths to keep her new husband (Cornel Wilde) all to herself. And I do mean extreme! She leaves her family in ruins. I'm not sure why Leave Her To Heaven works so well. The acting is either dull (Wilde, Jeanne Crain) or over the top (Vincent Price). The script is full of bad lines and unbelievable situations. But somehow it works! Give credit to Gene Tierney, who manages to make one of the most unbelievable and unlikeable characters in movie history so watchable by more than just her incredible beauty. Also give credit to the amazing technicolor photography that really must be seen. The musical score is very dramatic and over the top, which makes it a perfect fit for this movie. You may be shaking your head throughout most of the film, but I guarantee you'll watch it to the end to see what happens.

I have enjoyed this film for years and was very eager to have it come out on dvd. A smashing little thriller and a fine portrait of a woman who is a complete sociopath. Imagine my suprise that in all the world, Fox couldn't find two people who actually like the film to do the commentary track! Most of the track is taken up by the non-stop whinings of Darryl Hickman, the then teen aged actor who played Danny. He is currently a drama teacher who has discovered (I kid you not) "the definitive acting style for the new millenium", about which he is writing a book. And apparently everyone comes up short against his high standards. Gene Tierney was a lovely, troubled, cold stand-offish society woman of no discernible talent who telegraphs her technique. Both Cornel Wilde and Jeanne Crain were lovely people of limited abilities. Chill Wills was a personality and not an actor at all. The actress who plays Gene and Jeanne's mother was a stage actress and far too mannered and "internal" (?), not "in the moment". Only Vincent Price escapes his wrath, and even then he unfavorably compares his looks to Cornell Wilde's. The director treated him abominably, constantly referring to him as, gasp, "son". In fact, he doesn't think there should be child actors at all since it's so abusive. It seems this guy thinks every bit of film acting prior to "the method" was irredeemable garbage and the only admirable thing about the film is the cinematography. The film obviously interrupted his high times with Liz and Roddy and Shirley and other heavily dropped names of the period. Sad sad bitter man. You and Jay North need to form a club. I hope you are enjoying putting your impeccable technique to work in the many fine community theatre productions that you feel superior while doing.
Richard Schickel is better if repetitive with his discussion of Women's pictures other than the one he's reviewing. He too does not seem overly enamored of the actors or their performances. But, Oh, that cinematography!
They should've let Scorsese do the track! He would've had some superlatives.

By its very definition, "film noir" (meaning, dark film) does not encompass Technicolor productions. A shame, since Darryl F. Zanuck's "Leave Her To Heaven" (1945) is as thrilling, disturbing and evocative of the noir style as anything shot in black and white. At best then, let's just say that "Leave Her to Heaven" is a rich, finely wrought tapestry of sinaster thoughts and destructive ambition. The film, based on a novel by Ben Ames Williams, is concerned with the seemingly congenial romance that blossoms between famous writer, Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde, looking quite stylish and very handsome) and statuesque beauty, Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney, as smoldering, sultry and radiant as ever). Richard and Ellen meet as strangers on a train - a chance pairing that leads to an idyllic first summer retreat in the mountains with Ellen's family; mother, (Mary Philips), father (Ray Collins) and younger sister (fresh faced Jeanne Crain - clearly being groomed on this occasion as the odds on favorite for Richard's affections). A slight hickup in Ellen's plans happens when her former beaux, Russell Quinton (Vincent Price) deliberately turns out to pitch a little rice on the side of her pending nuptuals. Later, Quinton's own desires for Ellen will culminate in his prosecution of Richard for murder. But for now, Ellen isn't about to let anything or anyone come between her and the man of her passions.

By the time Tierney made "Leave Her To Heaven" she had developed a reputation as Fox's good girl. The culmination of this role and her formidable zest to make the transformation from congenial maiden to cold-hearted vixen believable, forever altered that perception of her in Hollywood.As her younger sister, Jeanne Crain is an excellent foil and runner up for Richard's affections. Even Vincent Price is exceptionally convincing as Ellen's former and very jealous lover. The one disappointment, in terms of acting, is Cornel Wilde. Undeniably eye candy, Wilde's performance comes off rather stiff and unconvincing once the character of Richard awakens from his love struck stupor and realizes what sort of monster he's actually married. Nevertheless, the material given to all is indestructible, and directed with slick and sinaster panache by the gifted John M. Stahl, "Leave Her To Heaven" emerges as sensational sure fire entertainment.

Fox Home Entertainment has done a simply outstanding job in remastering this film for DVD. From its opening title sequence, so clear and finely rendered that one can make out the texture of paper on which the actor's names have been printed, to the deep focus photography which is luminous, there is absolutely no finer example of a Technicolor film to video transfer of this vintage available on the home video market today. Colors are rich and fully saturated. Shadow and contrast levels are superbly rendered. Clarity and fine detail throughout is outstanding. Blacks are solid and deep. Whites are pristine. The exterior photography is absolutely eye-popping. The audio has been remixed to stereo. But there is very little to distinguish it from the original Mono mix that has also been included. Extras include a stills gallery, audio commentary track, restoration comparison and theatrical trailer. Highly recommended for anyone who loves classic films.