Rating: 
Summary: REEL LOVE
Review:
Based on one of Ben Ames Williams popular novels in set in Main, John Stahl's noirish LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (Fox) is more about the art of filmmaking than that of acting, according to Darryl Hickman's commentary (the film won a 1945 Oscar© for Leon Shamroy's breathtaking Technicolor cinematography).
Hickman, now a respected acting teacher, plays the handicapped younger brother of Cornel Wilde in this cult film about a successful, handsome writer who impulsively marries a beautiful woman (Gene Tierney) only to become the victim of obsessive love that leads to a series of shocking deaths. (This film was Wilde's first starring role. He was an Olympic fencer who got into the movies coaching actors in sword fighting.) The luminous Jeanne Crain plays Tierney's kindly sister and a slim, young Vincent Price is a Tierney's dumped fiance, a sententious, vindictive prosecuting attorney.
Exploring some of the same emotional terrain as Douglas Sirk's films ("All That Heaven Allows," "Written on the Wind"), this quintessential romance does not presume to present real life in a gritty way. Rather, it's an example of what Hollywood once did best when the studios were run by filmmakers and not executives.
Hickman says director Stahl was borderline sadistic, forcing him to repeat take after take of a grueling waterscene in freezing Bass Lake until he was cramped and exhausted. Stahl never called Hickman by name until producer Darryl F. Zanuck sent a note praising Hickman's acting. Hickman says Stahl was rude to Wilde. And that the much more experienced Tierney was unhelpful and cold to newcomer Wilde and everyone else in the cast.
The terrific commentary is filled with Hickman's numerous, unabashed observations about this film, the movie business, and acting techniques and styles. It raises this already outstanding, glorious-looking film to another level of enjoyment.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Classic color film noir arrives on DVD looking great
Review: A fascinating film noir suspense thriller that's part of Fox's Academy Awards series of DVD releases (the film won for its beautiful color cinematography by Leon Shamroy), "Leave Her to Heaven" was one of the earliest (and rare) film noirs in color. Writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) meets Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) on a train (shades of "Strangers on a Train"!) to Maine. He falls in love with her and marries her. Shortly after their marriage a number of tragedies happen to Harland including the death of his brother and the loss of his son. Soon Harland begins to suspect that his wife may be mentally unbalanced and is behind these deaths.
Featuring a wonderful restoration by Fox, "Leave Her to Heaven" looks positively yummy with the deep, rich Technicolor hues so common to films of the period. A comparison between an earlier film transfer demonstrates the amount of work that went into cleaning up the print, enhancing the fading color from the negative and improving the clarity and sharpness of the images. The soundtrack has also been restored with a nice stereo mix of the original sound elements (you can hear the original mono mix by for comparison sake on a second audio track).
We get two brief Movietone newsreels concerning the premiere of the movie with lots of shots of stars from the era and a staged sequence where the Academy Awards are presented to winners for their Fox films by Bob Hope. There's also the original theatrical trailer and a restoration comparison giving the viewer an ideas as to how much work went into color correcting and improving the image.
We get an audio commentary by child actor Darryl Hickman who appeared in the film and Film Critic Richard Schnickel from Time Magazine. It's clear that the two were recorded separately as there isn't any interaction which is too bad as I think Hickman's rambling (but interesting) commentary would have benefited from Schnickel's knowledgeable questions about the era and the film. Hickman comments on everything from growing up as a child actor in Hollywood (including telling us about his friendship with the late Roddy MacDowall, Elizabeth Taylor and Shirley Temple), working on the movie, his first date (arranged by his best friend MacDowall because Hickman was too shy to ask Elizabeth Taylor himself) and working with the various producers/directors throughout his career. Schnickel's comments range from a discussion of the actors in the film and their careers (his observations about Cornel Wilde are particularly interesting. His comments about Wilde's "innocence" as an actor and how that also benefited the unusual movies he directed later including "The Naked Prey" are also quite interesting) and the trials that Academy Award winning actress Gene Tierney (best known for the film "Laura") faced when she suffered from depression and sought shock treatment in the 50's are also quite insightful.
A terrific vintage film noir with beautiful cinematography, strong performances and a great commentary track, "Leave Her to Heaven" continues to work as a thriller because of the great screenplay by Jo Swerling ("Guys & Dolls", "Lifeboat") and the sharp direction of John M. Stahl ("Imitation of Life", "Magnificent Obession", "The Keys of the Kingdom"). The strong performances by Tierney and the supporting cast make this vivid film noir successful.
Rating:
Summary: Never Let You Go
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: "Sometimes the truth is wicked."
Review: In the film "Leave Her to Heaven", writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) travels to New Mexico for a holiday. On the train, he meets a woman, Ellen (Gene Tierney) who happens to be reading his book. They strike up a conversation, and once in New Mexico, Richard finds himself in a relationship with Ellen. A whirlwind romance leads to marriage, and soon the newlyweds are heading back to Harland's home on the East Coast. It doesn't take long before Harland realizes that there's something not quite right with his beautiful bride. She's insanely jealous, but she's also hideously rude to lifelong friends. Ellen, however, is quite practiced at hiding her ugly side. At first, she welcomes Richard's crippled brother, Danny, but within a few weeks, she's eager to rid of him--she tries to get rid of Danny gracefully at first, and when that doesn't work, she takes matters into her own evil hands.... Gene Tierney was very well cast in this role. She has a sort of restless grace that convincingly conveys the sense of a mind that is not quite in control. Tierney's performance as the seriously disturbed beauty is flawless. She shifts from false sweetness to absolute psychotic evil with the blink of her eyelashes. Even the other characters in the scene seem amazed by her performance. Jeanne Crain is cast as Ellen's adopted sister, and the two actresses look incredibly alike. Vincent Price has a relatively small (and tame) role as Ellen's ex-fiance-the man has no idea what a narrow escape he had. This film is classed as film noir, but it has the feel of a soap opera at heart--an excellent one, I'll admit. The video is good quality and contains scenes from the film's premiere in Hollywood--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: "Sometimes the truth is wicked."
Review: In the film "Leave Her to Heaven", writer Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) travels to New Mexico for a holiday. On the train, he meets a woman, Ellen (Gene Tierney) who happens to be reading his book. They strike up a conversation, and once in New Mexico, Richard finds himself in a relationship with Ellen. A whirlwind romance leads to marriage, and soon the newlyweds are heading back to Harland's home on the East Coast. It doesn't take long before Harland realizes that there's something not quite right with his beautiful bride. She's insanely jealous, but she's also hideously rude to lifelong friends. Ellen, however, is quite practiced at hiding her ugly side. At first, she welcomes Richard's crippled brother, Danny, but within a few weeks, she's eager to rid of him--she tries to get rid of Danny gracefully at first, and when that doesn't work, she takes matters into her own evil hands.... Gene Tierney was very well cast in this role. She has a sort of restless grace that convincingly conveys the sense of a mind that is not quite in control. Tierney's performance as the seriously disturbed beauty is flawless. She shifts from false sweetness to absolute psychotic evil with the blink of her eyelashes. Even the other characters in the scene seem amazed by her performance. Jeanne Crain is cast as Ellen's adopted sister, and the two actresses look incredibly alike. Vincent Price has a relatively small (and tame) role as Ellen's ex-fiance-the man has no idea what a narrow escape he had. This film is classed as film noir, but it has the feel of a soap opera at heart--an excellent one, I'll admit. The video is good quality and contains scenes from the film's premiere in Hollywood--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: A classic Technicolor melodrama
Review: Technicolor was never put to better use than in this Forties melodrama with Gene Tierney as the obsesssively possessive Ellen, and she herself (probably the single most beautiful actress from Hollywood's Golden Age) was never more gorgeously photographed. The film has been regarded as something of a camp classic even from its original release--as James Agee noted, you just can't help but feel sympathetic with the murderous Ellen, who is expected to share her husband (Cornel Wilde) with his clingy relatives even on their honeymoon, and she is actually faulted for being resentful when they arrive at their honeymoon lodge expecting to sing campfire songs. And though there are some hilarious over-the-top sequences (most particularly, the shot of her tragically spreading her father's ashes on horseback over the New Mexico desert), no one who has seen it has ever forgotten the great chilling sequence in the rowboat, where she quietly watches her handicapped stepbrother drown.
Rating:
Summary: GLORIOUS TECHNICOLOR SCENERY PLUS GORGEOUS GENE TIERNEY
Review: 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".
Rating:
Summary: The most gorgeous motion picture ever photographed
Review: This 1945 Technicolor "film noir" happens is the most visually beautiful picture that has ever been photographed. Lovely Gene Tierney is extremely gorgeous in this classic tale of obsession, jealousy and murder...all in a lush, Technicolor paradise. The scene where Tierney is rowing the boat and letting the little boy drown with the green pines in back of the blue, blue lake will knock your eyes out --- it is so beautiful. I can't think of any movie made today that has color like this. Fox, we want this masterpiece on DVD NOW, we don't want anymore Simpsons crap!
Rating:
Summary: Me too!
Review: This is an interesting fil, because it's always moving. it's very dramatic, and entertaining and it's a mystery and you get to guess what will happen next. Gene Tiereney is wonderful as a controlling woman who want al of her husband attention and affection at all times, and never out of her site. Jean Craine, makes a great supporting cart. Cornel Wilde is great in it has her husband.
Rating: 
Summary: Less Is More
Review: Tierney and Crain are great beauties who differ from the mean in opposite directions. Putting them together makes Tierney appear squat and neckless and Crain weak-chinned, pointy-nosed and gawky.
The gorgeous color kept me from experiencing pity and fear.
Speaking of Crain, where's "Margie"?
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