Leave Her To Heaven (1945): A Critical Evaluation
Leave Her To Heaven, directed by John M. Staul in 1945. The story revolves around a female fatale who entraps a husband and commits several crimes motivated by her insane jealousy.
It was based on Ben Ames Williams’ novel, and adapted for the screen by Jo Swerling. The films begins with a romance, then turns into a savage melodrama.
I’m uncertain as to how I would respond if Gene Tierney (Ellen Berent Harland) was sat opposite me on a train. I imagine myself helping her to pick up a book she dropped. Her gaze isn’t the usual glare given when one falls instantly in love with someone. It resembles one the someone might give if the person across from them had a strange defect- two heads for example. This stare leads to Richard becoming unnerved and he grabbles his cigarette, and glances from left to right to keep away from eye contact. Her face, a mask of perfect composure which was hiding these profound, dark emotions.
Leave Her To Heaven, is a film that, for the mid 40s, is quite daring. The subject pierces issues that were repressed in the mid 40s. For example, Rich and Ellen don’t sleep in the same bed, but Ellen joins Rich in his bed in the morning to waken him with a kiss.
What’s fascinating about Leave Her to Heaven is the build up of Ellen’s character, at first we sympathise, but as it continues we also feel apprehensive about her. Some say that Gene Tierney’s performance in Leave Her to Heaven crowns her acting career. So much so, Gene was nominated for Best Actress Oscar for her role in this film. And then Richard, he’s the one that the audience identifies most with. The ordinary writer falling in love with the extraordinary
I for one, was entranced by the vivacity and bold photography. The look, achieved by the Technicolor System, a complex procedure in which three separate colour film strips were created. This process helps to create the film’s look, a wonderfully radiant setting of velvet skies, and rugged mountains. Shot by Leon Shamroy, in a super real way, the cinematography in the film isn’t easy to put into words. It is considered one of the most innovate uses of the process in its day and has been a heavy influence on the use of color in the films of Douglas Sirk, Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes.
It’s safe to say that the blues of the sky match Gene’s eyes, and her lipstick colour matches all the other reds. Take this not as an exaggeration. The picture won; Best Cinematography, Color in the Oscars 1946. As Martin Scorsese said;
‘It’s like a film noir, in colour …. It’s the technicolor, how it’s matched to the strange perfection in Tierney’s face, her presence. The drama of the obsession of the color, reinforce each other and create something very special”
The most wonderful thing about Leave Her To Heaven is how the storyline and each individual character is developed. The love that propagates between Richard and Ruth, Danny’s relationship with Ellen. And of course the character of Gene Tierney, a character that is both compassionate and incredibly close to emotional disproportion. She is in charge of the screen.
This film is from a period a while in the past, it doesn’t exist anymore. It take the audience on an emotional overloaded rollercoaster. This, a piece from Hollywood’s Golden Era, is a strange encouraging reminder of just how wonderfully eccentric Hollywood filmmaking can get.
