Gene Tierney portrays a beautiful but unstable woman who marries successful novelist Cornel Wilde. Tierney wants to spend all her time with her new husband, but finds it impossible to do so thanks to his work and the frequent visits of family and friends. When Wilde's crippled younger brother (Darryl Hickman) comes to the couple's summer house to stay, Ms. Tierney indirectly causes the boy to drown. Later, upon discovering that she's pregnant, Tierney deliberately falls down the stairs, choosing
to miscarry rather than share her husband's affections with an infant. When it becomes clear that family friend Jeanne Crain is attracted to her husband, Ms. Tierney commits suicide, making her death appear to be murder and framing Crain for the "crime." In court, Ms. Crain is mercilessly grilled by prosecuting attorney Vincent Price, who happens to be Tierney's ex-lover! Filmed in lush Technicolor, Leave Her to Heaven is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Stahl's use of space and the performances in Leave Her to Heaven...suggest he was at least the equal of the much-exalted Sirk as an artist of melodrama.
Has emotional power in the jealousy theme but it hasn't been as forcefully interpreted by the leads as it could have been in more histrionically capable hands.
One of the most intensely cruel and lurid film noir ever made, John Stahl's excessive melodrama features Gene Tierney in an Oscar nominated performances as a cold-blooded murderess.
Though the story is involving enough to make this film a classic, it is perhaps more rightly renowned for its Technicolor cinematography and original set and costume design.
Gene Tierney's character gets my vote as the most cold-hearted, sociopathic, beautifully packaged villain to ever grace the silver screen. On a scale of pure evil she's right up there with Hannibal Lector and the shark from Jaws.
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