Super Great for young people who have never seen a good 40’s Murder Movie

If there were ever a contradictory but appreciative film category the term ˋtrash masterpiece ´ would certainly apply to this utterly absurd, on the one hand & a memorably involving experience on the other. Pauline Kael, I believe, came up with a term regarding enjoyably trashy movies & here is one of the greatest examples. Gene Tierney, mainly thanks to LAURA, was a huge star by this time & gives a no holds barred performance, that never ceases to fascinate. Sitting on a boat in the middle of a lake in ominous dark glasses & impassively watching her husband‘s crippled younger brother drown is one of the creepiest scenes of sheer depraved yet understated selfish jealousy that I have ever seen. It, momentarily, puts the whole film on another level. Tierney had another go at a selfish character the next year with THE RAZOR‘ EDGE but seldom returned to roles of such selfish depravity. Great roles seldom came her way thereafter which is unfortunate but one more remained for certain - THE GHOST & MRS. MUIR in 1947. She remains one of my favorite actresses during these years & really deserved better roles as time went on. Another great moment in LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN has Tierney‘s character riding with her horse over the New Mexico landscape tossing her father‘s ashes to the winds. Some of the melodramatics were, for me, a bit much especially with Vincent Price‘s scenery chewing. However that’s appropriate for the situation, I guess. Cornel Wilde & his performance do not exactly light up the screen & he fares better as an actor in some film noirs down the road. A special mention of praise for Leon Shamroy‘s color photography which deservedly won him an Oscar. A real & rare treat if one is in the mood & I often need a fix of this crazy & wonderful film of which. I fortunately own a DVD.

I found the lead actor a little unappealing so couldn't get what the obsession was from Ellen - she had some great clothes. The title is rather silly and doesn't add to the theme of the movie at all unless its a old Hollywood tip of the hat to religion which otherwise is missing from the whole story. Its visually interesting to watch the sets, the fussy Bar Harbour set which looks like a stage set and the fake outdoors in some parts, but worth a look to see how gorgeous the lead lady was and also Jeanne Craig... my sympathies are drawn to Ellen's mother whose marriage was ruined by the daughter and who obviously liked her adopted daughter much more.

A really strange technicolor noir/melodrama. As silly as a lot of the movie is, there is something strangely beguiling about it. I think the key ingredient is Tierney who gives a performance that sidesteps a lot of the era's conventional femme fatale traits (more subtle and unnerving than outwardly evil) even after she's exposed to the other characters. Also, everyone involved plays this thing straight without much overacting which invites the audience to take all of this seriously.

One of my favorite classic Hollywood films ever made, Leave Her to Heaven proves that good writing and acting are the two most essential factors in creating a timeless masterpiece. The film's plot is fascinating, and thanks to the solid performances of the entire cast, it's told aptly in a beautifully shot motion picture.

Gene Tierney at her most beautiful.

It's OK, but somewhat melodramatic for my taste. Vincent Price is humorous at the end as the District Attorney that can do anything he wants in court and isn't challenged. Talk about harassing the witness!

1945! Psychological thriller. Very interesting. GREAT CAST!: CORNELL WILDE!, beautiful GENE TIERNEY!, & Jeanne CRAIN! & a younger CHILL WILLS. Great natural scenery. Very high reviews. Never heard of until saw it on the tv setJuly 6, 2022 & saw much of it again, a few weeks later. It becomes a histrionic courtroom drama, with prosecutor VINCENT PRICE badgering the witnesses on the stand in amanner that would be objection sustained. The most memorable scene was the intentional standing by and letting the young son die while swimming in a bucolic lake after eating a meal and getting the gramps. She crazy, you know.

Interesting character study/colorful film noir.

A really strange technicolor noir/melodrama. As silly as a lot of the movie is, there is something strangely beguiling about it. I think the key ingredient is Tierney who gives a performance that sidesteps a lot of the era's conventional femme fatale traits (more subtle and unnerving than outwardly evil) even after she's exposed to the other characters. Also, everyone involved plays this thing straight without much overacting which invites the audience to take all of this seriously.

I love a good old skool melodrama full of hammy acting but a decent plot. The story whizzes by and has that ridiculous soppy ending. Just another old film but quite enjoyable nonetheless.

Not sure if I would call this a film noir because it was shot in color but still a thrilling movie nonetheless. Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews were always great to watch on screen together.

This film is insufferable bad, a strained melodrama that borders on farce. I won't waste time trying to detail all of its egregious faults, but instead can just summarize by saying the entire production is incredibly stilted, phony, crudely dramatized, and emotionally flat. The story line might seem promising on paper, but the script is filled with preposterous dialogue and situations, and the performances by most of the principle actors so awkward, unnatural and cliched that the whole thing collapses into cringe-worthy hokum. I know this has to be graded on a curve because it was made in the 1940s, but there are much better films from that period than this badly dated, forced and fraudulent drama. The opening scenes are downright weird, as Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde stare at each other like they're in a trance and engage in this strangely affected and disjointed dialogue. The two actors seem to think a long, stiff serious look is pregnant with emotional complexity when it's just a vacant expression here. Their interaction throughout the film never comes close to being authentic or natural, much less yielding true chemistry. The cliched situations and the strained conversation between various characters get more contrived, implausible and annoying from there, until the point in the film when obsessive, self-absorbed Ellen (Gene Tierney) becomes truly psycho. This depiction of a femme fatal is psychologically simple-minded and unintentionally comical. Cornel Wilde's performance as writer Richard Horland is equally strange and inauthentic, at times devoid of emotion or convincing motivation. When Ellen admits to letting his beloved, disabled younger brother drown so she can have Richard entirely to herself, Richard takes on this mock serious look for a minute or two, then simply announces "I'm leaving you" and walks away, with no further condemnation of the heartless wife or mention of the fact that what she's done amounts to depraved indifference homicide. This is just one of many bizarre scenes that shred credibility. Virtually every scene features men and women in casual settings but wearing their finest dress attire as if prepped for a fancy cocktail party or evening at the most upscale restaurant. I was curious to see a film starring Gene Tierney, but I was totally underwhelmed with her look and her acting. She has a beautiful face—though probably not without the heavy makeup and two-hour coiffing into lustrous curls. Even by the standards of that day, her lower body is heavy, so it appears the camera work is designed to hide it, even when she dons a swimsuit. Like everything about the film, it is about style and superficial appearance, not substance. The closest thing we get to authentic feeling and dialogue is when adopted sister Laura upbraids selfish Ellen for a lifetime of hurting others. If the film contained more of such real feeling, it might be worthy of the Academy Award it won without deserving the honor. The film was shot in Technicolor but looks more like it was shot in black and white then colorized to unreal saturation later. This visual enhancement adds another layer of repellent phoniness to the whole affair. The film has been variously described as a psychological thriller, film noir, melodrama and other genre terms that don't fit well on something so artificial and strained. Call it blah noir. What is does have is some unintentional laughs thanks to the pretentious language of its male lead (Cornel Wilde) and the ponderous pseudo-mystery of its deranged femme fatale, a woman with too many contradictory emotions, none of which ever ring true. The decorous and silly soap opera drowns by the weight of pretentious dialogue, implausible situations, and ponderous acting by its unconvincing leads.

The fantastic performances make this a must see.

Great thriller with many twists and turns. Gene Tiernny is an absolute knockout. Cornell Wilde's character Richard joins Ashley Wilkes of Gone With the Wind as poster boy of the hapless, clueless, helpless husband.

It's ironic that possibly the best film noir was shot in blazing Technicolor. Playing one of the most complex and malevolent femme fatales in cinematic history, Gene Tierney's sub-zero performance belongs in the same class as prime Bacall or Bergman. A stone cold killer with a thought-provoking storyline and Oscar-winning cinematography worthy of five stars.

Gene Tierney is one of Hollywood's most beautiful actresses and the camera work and direction here makes her even more radiant. She is absolutely startlingly and stunningly beautiful and it is worth watching this film to see how exquisitely she is made up and lit. I was in love with her in "Laura" and totally besotted here. And yet, the mediocrity of the plot and the wooden script had me stopping the film every ten minutes just to take a break. Time Magazine's review when this film was first released said, "The unhappy story moves through breathtakingly stylish country interiors which make no particular point except to show that the characters have plenty of chintz-upholstered leisure for getting into mischief." Give yourself up to the sheer visual splendor of this movie and forgive Tierney and Cornel Wilde for their over-the-top performances in what is a contrived and absurd story. And enjoy Vincent Price who has little to work with and yet holds his own.

Probably good in it's day, but just too dated at this point, and wasn't impressed with the acting. It SEEMED like acting ... stilted ... not good,

A strange little film with unreasonably high T-metering that moves slowly to a near-the-end courtroom scene with the most annoying Vincent Price as prosecutor performance (& jilted old love) imaginable - & where the defense attorney did nothing to quiet him. Women like this exist, for sure - & stalker men - but not quite this cracked. Leave her to the devil. Really, the results of the old 3-strip Technicolor process was more interesting to look at than the film, never a good sign. And a quirky role for Gene Tierney. + Trivia: Amazing that Jeanne Crain went on to have 7 children!

One of the most beautiful , glamorous and monstrous heroines ever in the history of cinema! One scene in particular will make your blood run cold it is so chilling. This is a 4-star movie until the hurried and unconvincing ending. Pity, because it has wonderful production values and glorious outdoor scenes in colour. Title comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet in which his father's ghost commands Hamlet in avenging his murder not to hurt his mother for her part in it but "leave her to heaven".