Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

A writer falls in love with a young socialite and they're soon married. But her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both, and everyone else around them.

Director:

John M. Stahl

Writers:

Jo Swerling (screenplay), Ben Ames Williams (novel)

Stars:

Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Gene Tierney	...	Ellen Berent Harland
Cornel Wilde	...	Richard Harland
Jeanne Crain	...	Ruth Berent
Vincent Price	...	Russell Quinton
Mary Philips	...	Mrs. Berent
Ray Collins	...	Glen Robie
Gene Lockhart	...	Dr. Saunders
Reed Hadley	...	Dr. Mason
Darryl Hickman	...	Danny Harland
Chill Wills	...	Leick Thome

Storyline

Novelist Richard Harland and socialite Ellen Berent meet on a train and are attracted to each other. They fall in love and decide to get married. However, the love each one feels for the other is different from the other. Ellen's love for Richard is obsessive, possessive. Ellen wants Richard all to herself. Richard learns to what extent Ellen will go to get what she wants,

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Plot Keywords:

ex convict | female sexual predator | possessive female | possessive wife | female jealousy | 

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Taglines:

Hers was the deadliest of the seven sins.

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 1946 (USA)

Also Known As:

Que el cielo la juzgue

Filming Locations:

Bass Lake, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While shooting the drowning scene, John M. Stahl was particularly tough on Darryl Hickman. He never even referred to him by name, calling him "boy" or "son" the entire time. Then word came back from Hollywood that Darryl F. Zanuck thought the rushes were some of the best he had ever seen. Suddenly Hickman was one of Stahl's favourite actors, but he took to picking on Wilde and calling him "son" and "boy."

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Goofs

The car that picks up Harland, the Berents, and Glen Robie at the railroad station in New Mexico also appears in the driveway at the hospital at Warm Springs parked right in front of Harland and Ellen.

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Quotes

Ellen Berent Harland: The walls are as thin as paper and the acoustics disgustingly perfect.

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Connections

Featured in M*A*S*H: House Arrest (1975)

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Soundtracks

Nocturne, Op. 27, No. 2
(uncredited)
Music by Frédéric Chopin
Played on the piano by Ruth

User Reviews

B Movie Acting and Story Draped in A Movie Cinematography, Sets, Costumes

This movie is like the Dickens line about, Best of, Worst of. There are elements that are the peak of 1945 film-making skill: cinematography, set decoration, costumes, use of technicolor, music scoring. And elements that are pure B movie-making: a shallow psycho-drama with mostly wooden glib performances. On the one hand, I imagined really talented, nuanced actors as I watched Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde - on the calibre of Barbara Stanwyck and Kirk Douglas, who appeared that same year in a Warner Brothers noir film, Loves of Martha Ivers, and imagined it would have deepened the film. But it didn't help that film, and may not have helped a similarly melodramatic, histrionic film. At the same time, the uber- glamor movie-star quality of Tierney and Wilde added a Douglas Sirkian over-the-top quality to the film's gloss which somehow defines 40s glamor, like Lana Turner and John Garfield. I'm not sure it's a guilty pleasure for me, because I am drawn to Tierney's beauty but find her remote, and never quite suspend disbelief when I watch her act.