Leave her to heaven has many points of interest in its favor, but one thing that always seems to come up is that its routinely described as a film noir, despite the apparently automatic disqualification of being shot in welllit technicolor. As most classic movie fans know, film noir was a genre that thrived in the shadows. Not rated 1h 50min drama, filmnoir, romance january 1946 usa. At the time these movies were actually being made in hollywood they were simply known as. A writer falls in love with a young socialite and theyre soon married. Leave her to heaven1945 twentieth century fox110 min. Leave her to heaven is a 1945 american film noir about a writer who falls in love with a young socialite and theyre soon married. Ive compared it with the earlier, out of print twilight time disc from 20. So this just shot straight through the upper echelons of film noirs for me. Leave her to heaven is a 1945 american technicolor film noir starring gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, with. This is important, as leave her to heaven is an important film, that should be available. A writer falls in love with a young socialite and they are married soon after, but her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of both. Leave her to heaven is a 1945 american technicolor film noir starring gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, with vincent price, darryl hickman, ray collins, and. With gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, vincent price.
Cozying up to film noir across the spectrum the lady from shanghai and leave her to heaven are ideal isolation viewing. The costars almost faded in the background at times in comparison to tierneys performance. Stahls leave her to heaven ranks as one of the great outliers of classic film noir, at least formally. It premiered at the longacre theatre on broadway on 27 february 1940. Leave her to heaven 1945, an unsettling psychological noir thriller and lush technicolored melodrama from director john m. Leave her to heaven novel by ben ames williams director. Leave her to heaven criterion collection, dvd, full frame, restored, special edition, subtitled, drama, mystery suspense, 715515242912. Leave her to heaven exists at the fascinating intersection between film noir and several other genres. Set in england, it was based on a reallife story about a woman who took her older husbands chauffer as a lover, only for the younger. The criterion collections bluray of leave her to heaven is listed as a new 2k digital restoration by twentieth century fox, the academy film archive, and the film foundation.
I know im not alone in the opinion that foxs top grossing film of the 40s, john stahls leave her to heaven is one of the all time great technicolor movies. Its claim to fame is an audacious storyline that would only be allowed by the production code in the wake of double indemnity, the film that finally broke the dam visavis. As part of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences gold standard series, the academy foundation will present the premiere of the newly restored film noir leave her to heaven on friday, april 20, at 8 p. Twilight time does it again with the release of the 1945 melodrama film noir leave her to heaven ive had this on my tcm top 12 since april, and im glad i waited for the bluray release which lovingly preserves and enhances the threestrip technicolor process. Leave her to heaven 1945 not rated drama, film noir, romance, thriller. A technicolor film noir may seem to be a contradiction in terms, but its that sort of disinterest in convention that helps ensure leave her to heaven is as memorable as it is. In 1945, at the end of wwii, a cycle of films known as film noir dealt with the issues of obsession, addiction, and jealousy, including the lost weekend, mildred pierce, spellbound, the picture of dorian gray, the woman in the window, and leave her to heaven. Recently on twitter, i was asked if classic film noir can be in color. Leave her to heaven letterboxd social film discovery. If laura represents noir in the vein of the perfect, albeit disturbing, male fantasy, leave her to heaven uses the genre to construct the ultimate male nightmare. Cornel wilde was a good foil for her as her unsuspecting husband, richard hartman. On femininity as a prison in laura and leave her to. Gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, vincent price, darryl hickman release.
In this technicolor film noir masterpiece, gene tierney stars as one of cinemas most dangerous and sympathetic femmes fatales, a woman who finds it impossible to conform to postwar gender roles. Stahl, was based on the recentlywritten novel by bestselling author ben ames williams. Leave her to heaven is a 1940 play by the british writer john van druten. Leave her to heaven 1945 720p gene tierney, cornel wilde. This may explain why it has become a cult movie, frequently shown in retrospectives film forum showed a new restored print a year ago and festivals. Leave her to heaven was at the vanguard of film noir and the result of the lost generation of writers coming out of ww1 and being the core of serious movie scripts in hollywood.
On femininity as a prison in laura and leave her to heaven, a great noir double feature the images from 1940s film noir that stick with us so often exist in darkness. The hays office was created as a reaction to the dark, mature wave of film making and then ww2 delayed realistic moving making for a short time. Foster hirsch, the dean of film noir leave her to heaven monday, march 23 at 7. Leave her to heaven is far from perfect but its sudsy romance turned sour and discerning film noir elements build up a strong. Of course, there were mixedup families all along and melodrama was nothing new joan crawford won the best actress oscar for. Ive seen the film a number of times before, but never on the big screen, so this was a. As it was raining very hard last night and there was really nothing to do but go to a movie, i decided to go to the classic movie theater and watch the film leave her to heaven, starring gene tierney, one of the most spectacularly beautiful actresses ever onscreen who does not get the credit she deserves. Stunning 1940s pinup gene tierney stars as ellen, a scheming psychopath who has a problem with jealously. Leave her to heaven shows a glossy new strand of film noir. As film noirs go, leave her to heaven is perhaps one of the most disturbing. Stahl and starring gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, and. This movie is about the rare breed of human who has feelings for no one, consumed by their own selfish desires. It follows a socialite who marries a prominent novelist, which spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her.
Leave her to heaven dvd, 2005 for sale online ebay. In the less witty leave her to heaven, tierney herself plays the. Leave her to heaven is a 1945 american psychological thriller film noir directed by john m. In leave her to heaven, gene tierney, who had the title role in otto preminger s classic 1944 blackandwhite film noir laura, stars as ellen, a beautiful woman who falls madly and i mean madly in love with a novelist wilde. Stahls leave her to heaven is a technicolor marvel, with gene tierney. Actress ruth chatterton made her first appearance on broadway in fifteen years. Leave her to heaven 1945 pj on september 6, 20 at 2. This is a chilling work that lies beneath a facade of sirkian splendor.
Stahl, blazing technicolor cinematography by leon shamroy, and a chilling performance by tierney, whose ellen is a femme fatale unlike any other. The term film noir was coined back in 1946 by a french movie critic, but it didnt come into common usage in america until the 1970s. Written by jo swerling, based on the 1944 novel by ben ames williams. Stahls leave her to heaven is a technicolor marvel, with gene tierney delivering her finest performance ever in all its bipolar glory. The archetypal possessive femme fatale of film noir, ellen leaves a trail of death in her wake. The story was adapted for the screen by jo swerling, having been based on the best selling novel of the same name authored by ben ames williams. The new criterion bluray package includes a halfhour long interview with critic imogen sara smith about stahl, the directors previous womens pictures, his visual signatures, how film noir connects to melodrama, and an analysis of tierneys performance in leave her to heaven, as well as the cinematography and production design.
Is the film, leave her to heaven 1945 a film noir or a. Leave her to heavens cast is comprised of superb players from fox inhouse roster, especially vincent price, who tended to excel at cold, arrogant shits, or in this case, a scorned exfiance who uses his position as a district attorney to personally prosecute the man who stole his wife, and blemished his social standing at the time. But her obsessive love for him threatens to be the undoing of them both, and everyone else around them. A singular hollywood masterpiece that draws freely from the womens picture and film noir alike, leave her to heaven boasts elegant direction by melodrama specialist john m. Stahl, blazing technicolor cinematography by leon shamroy, and a chilling performance by tierney, whose ellen is a femme fatale unlike any othera woman whose love is. Gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, with vincent price, darryl hickman, and chill wills. Stahl and starring gene tierney, cornel wilde, jeanne crain, and vincent price. A singular hollywood masterpiece that draws freely from the womens picture and film noir alike, leave her to heaven boasts elegant direction by melodrama. These themes collide in leave her to heaven, the oddly sunny dramaturned film noir directed by. According to variety, leave her to heaven was the second highestgrossing film of the year, a blockbuster by todays standards. The new criterion bluray solves a single problem, which is availability of the twilight time original. Leave her to heaven criterion collection full frame. At the 45th annual new york film festival, director martin scorsese observed that leave her to heaven was like a. After an intense bidding war, studio head darryl f.
That noted, there seems to be some misinformation regarding the transfer. This article is part of the the film noir blogathon hosted by the midnite drivein. One of the most intensely cruel and lurid film noir ever made, john stahls excessive melodrama features gene tierney in an oscar nominated performances as a coldblooded murderess. Though rooted in some of the conventions of the noir and psychological melodrama genres, leave her to heaven is a one of a kind work. Directed with confidence and a rare precision, leave her to heaven at no point feels like a movie ive watched time and again, continuing to remain uniquely compelling. Naturally, the supremely filmic, highly saturated technicolor was avoided for the majority of golden age noir.
389 914 296 1199 186 1274 1172 960 34 908 299 1052 713 112 527 26 619 64 510 42 241 1389 1019 1303 1197 32 605 924 1250 1183 1209 471 245 1490 267 961 118 780 1251 765 1136 1273 533 761 550 621