Incest through a third party.
Author: dbdumonteil
14 August 2003
The melodrama of which Stahl was one of the masters throughout the thirties had muted,probably because the importance of the film noir in the following decade."Leave her to heaven' is as much a film noir as a melodrama.What's particularly puzzling is the color. Like some Lang ,HItchcock or Tourneur works ("secret beyond the door" "spellbound" or "cat people",for instance) ,this is par excellence a Freudian movie.The heroine has never solved her Oedipus complex :she has always been in love with her father -dig the scene when Gene Tierney rides her horse as she throws her father's ashes away.
The love she could not make with her father ,she will make it through a third party: a husband who resembles her dad. This could be fine.She loves her husband to the exclusion of all others .But there are others ,and they are all living threats.So these intruders will be enemies.The scene when Tierney sees her family coming through binoculars can be compared to an attack of Indians or bandits when the hero is alone in a remote fort in an adventure film ,as Bertrand Tavernier pointed out in "50 ans de cinéma américain".
Had the heroine preserved her intimacy -and how stupid her husband was not to have understood that!-,maybe nothing would have happened.THe color,which might seem irrelevant in a film noir ,is actually necessary because "back of the moon" ,the island in the middle of the lake is a paradise ,soon to become a lost paradise,then a living hell. A probably never better Gene Tierney outshines every other member of the cast ,which is first-rate though.Little by little,we see her become a monster ,and the actress's performance is so convincing (along with a superb script from which a lot of today's writers could draw inspiration) that it gives her horrible crimes an implacable logic.Like in a Greek tragedy. "Leave her to heaven " is by no means "romantic trash" .It's the crowning of Stahl 's career in which he transcends both melodrama and film noir.
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Gene Tierney delivers memorable performance in this technicolor film noir...
Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.
14 April 2001
While most film noirs conjure up images of terror in black-and-white settings, 'Leave Her To Heaven' manages to fall into the noir category despite its lush technicolor scenery and handsome interiors. It's a visually stunning example of "women's noir" performed to the hilt by a talented cast. Only Cornel Wilde fails to deliver. He seems too weak as the author who impulsively marries a beautiful woman, only to find that beneath the lovely exterior is a warped mind consumed by jealousy.
He never quite measures up to Tierney's performance--seemingly sweet and kind but actually cold and cunning. Tierney has never been more beautifully photographed and looks stunning throughout. Jeanne Crain does well enough as the demure half-sister, rising to the occasion when the script demands a spunkier side to her personality. While the plot gets a little "heavy" at times, it's a supremely satisfying melodrama played against some of the most beautiful settings imaginable.
Alfred Newman's music suggests the slowly developing tension. All in all, a fascinating example of film noir that succeeds despite technicolor. Another fine example of color noir might be 'Chinatown'. Well worth seeing to watch a fascinating femme fatale at work. Gene Tierney deserved her Oscar nomination--but lost to Joan Crawford of 'Mildred Pierce'.
