Leave Her to Heaven

Leave Her to Heaven is a remarkable and engaging film.

Richard is on a train to New Mexico where he meets Ellen, who is sitting opposite him. They chat for a while, and it's quite obvious that they take a liking to one another. At one point in the conversation, Ellen says that Richard looks like her father (when he was younger), and through a series of events, he ends up staying with her and her family.

This gives Ellen the perfect opportunity to "love bomb" Richard, and the two fall madly in love. In fact, Ellen is so in love with Richard that she doesn't want anyone at all to stand between them, or even be in the same house as them, or even in the same room, for that matter. She wants Richard all to herself. Ellens' growing obsession with Richard snowballs into a gripping and tense story that is truly fascinating to watch.

Leave Her to Heaven is a 1945 film, and is based on the novel of the same name, written by Ben Ames Williams in 1944, and was adapted for the screen by Jo Swerling. The rights were purchased by 20th Century Fox before the book had even been published. The book was published in June of 1944, and the film was released in December 1945. The runtime is about 110 minutes (or about 1hr 50 minutes).

It won four Oscars and earned over $8 million (over $140 million today, when adjusted for inflation), making it the highest grossing film of the decade for 20th Century Fox.

It stars Gene Tierney as Ellen, Cornel Wilde as Richard, Jeanne Crain as Ellens' cousin Ruth, and Vincent Price as Ellens' ex fiancé and lawyer, Russell.

The entire cast is outstanding.

Gene Tierney is perfect as Ellen, and gives a truly outstanding performance. She was quite rightly nominated for an Academy Award for best actress, but lost to Joan Crawford for her performance in Mildred Pierce.

Tierney has an amazing screen presence and is quite attractive, which is necessary for the role of Ellen, because the audience needs to believe that the character of Richard is able to be swept away, just as much by her looks as her personality.

And speaking of Richard, Cornel Wilde is great as the mild mannered everyman. Richard is an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary situation.

I think most male audience members would more or less be able to relate to Richard, as he’s not just the audience substitute (we do experience the film from his perspective), but he’s a good natured guy who simply wants to live the best life he can, and can't believe his luck when he meets an attractive young woman who is completely devoted to him, and would literally do anything for him.

As I discussed earlier, Tierney as Ellen has so much charm that it’s difficult for Richard to think about Ellen in anything but a positive light (even though the red flags start waving within the first five minutes of the film, and only ever grow more numerous, and wave more aggressively as the film goes on) - and her cousin is quite charming too!

Jeanne Craine is great as Ellens’ cousin, Ruth. While not quite as attractive as Gene Tierney (the character of Ruth does come across as a kind of "discount" Ellen, but that does play into the story), Craine imbues the character of Ruth with a down-to-earth, and more “normal” personality. This plays in ever increasing contrast to Ellens’ behaviour as the film progresses. Ruth is more or less what Ellen would be if she weren’t so damaged. Ellen keeps trying to keep Richard all to herself, with predictable results, and well, Ruth is right there.

Watching a character as attractive and personable as Ellen circle the drain and self-immolate is, on the one hand quite sad to watch, but it’s done in such riveting style, that just like a proverbial train wreck, it’s difficult to look away.

Last on this list, but by no means least, is the legendary Vincent Price as Ellens' ex fiancé and lawyer, Russell. While Price doesn't have much more than a cameo near the start of the film, he has much more screen time towards the end, and just like the rest of the cast, he gives an outstanding performance, and really dominates every scene he's in.

Leave Her to Heaven is quite a mixture of genres. It could be simultaneously classified as a drama, it does tip into melodrama at times (in a good way), film noire, and a psychological thriller. The character of Ellen may have several allusions to Greek Mythology, such as Electra, Hippolyta, and Medea, but the most common characterisation would be that of the Femme Fatale (although as I previously stated, these days most people would simply classify her as damaged goods. Some may even try to seek help for her, and then, if they were smart, run for the hills).

At the 18th Academy Awards, the film also won for Best Production Design, Best Cinematography and Best Sound (It's amazing to think that the Oscars hadn't even been around for twenty years at that point).

One of the first things that stood out were the sets. They were beautifully crafted, with wide open spaces and the interiors were built in such a way that there was always something interesting to see. There was quite a lot of width and depth to everything, with multiple layers. It was a very visually compelling film.

The Library of Congress added Leave Her to Heaven to the United States Film Registry in 2018, as it was considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". I would argue all three.

In March 2020, The Criterion Collection issued the film on DVD and Blu-Ray. It's difficult to find it on streaming (which is how I found it), and If you're a physical media collector, it would definitely be worth finding a copy.

Leave Her to Heaven is a wonderful film, with superbe acting, visually stunning sets and a riveting plot.

I highly recommend it.