Leave Her to Heaven poster & wallpaper

Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain

Leave Her to Heaven is one of the most unblinkingly perverse movies ever offered up as a prestige picture by a major studio in the golden age of Hollywood. Gene Tierney, whose lambent eyes, por...( read more  read more... )celain features, and sweep of healthy-American-girl hair customarily made her a 20th Century Fox icon of purity, scored an Oscar nomination playing a demonically obsessive daughter of privilege with her own monstrous notion of love. By the time she crosses eyebeams with popular novelist Cornel Wilde on a New Mexico-bound train, her jealous manipulations have driven her parents apart and her father to his grave. Well, no, not grave: Wilde soon gets to watch her gallop a glorious palomino across a red-rock horizon as she metronomically sows Dad's ashes to the winds. Mere screen moments later, she's jettisoned rising-politico fiancé Vincent Price and accepted a marriage proposal the besotted/bewildered Wilde hasn't quite made. Can the wrecking of his and several other lives be far behind? Not to mention a murder or two.

Fox gave Ben Ames Williams's bestselling novel (probably just the sort of book Wilde's character writes) the Class-A treatment. Alfred Newman's tympani-heavy music score signals both grandeur and pervasive psychosis, while spectacular, dust-jacket-worthy locations and Oscar-destined Technicolor cinematography by Leon Shamroy ensure our fixed gaze. Impeccably directed by the veteran John M. Stahl (who'd made the original Back Street, Imitation of Life, and Magnificent Obsession a decade earlier), the result is at once cuckoo and hieratic, and weirdly mesmerizing. Bet Luis Buñuel loved it. --Richard T. Jameson

Flixster Users

82% liked it

2,359 ratings

Critics

100% liked it

16 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 50 min.

Directed by: John M. Stahl

Release Date: December 20, 1945

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: February 22, 2005

Stats: 163 reviews

Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites
report incorrect info

Photos

Leave Her To Heaven Leave Her to Heaven Leave Her to Heaven Leave Her to Heaven
Upload a Photo |

View All Leave Her to Heaven Photos (4)

Your Rating


clear rating
Share on: Facebook Twitter

Flixster Reviews (163)

  • flixsterman
    February 3, 2009
    flixsterman
    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.

    *NOTE: That scene in the rowboat gives...( read more) me chills every time I see it.
  • wellmeetagain
    January 16, 2009
    wellmeetagain
    A very unusual movie with a very unusual character at its core.
  • organgrinder136
    October 9, 2008
    organgrinder136
    gene tierney plays a complete nutjob spectacularly. never realised they made films as fucked up as fight club in the 1940's!
  • groaningbitch
    January 10, 2008
    groaningbitch
    "leave her to heaven" could be considered iconclastic to gene tierney's divine woman image she has flashed in "laura" that also fathoms the depth of her acting scale. and tierney's irresistibly sugary charm is the best asset to blaze the shivering black humor of "leave her to hea...( read more)ven".

    tierney plays a woman who falls head over heels in love with a writer who resembles her dead father. she obtains his love with her passionate but tactful courtship, then he marries her. afterwards all she schemes is to acquire the absolute intimacy exclusive of others, so she paranoidly resorts to murder and intented miscarriage to gain her little privacy with her hobby, and eventually she could go so far as to her own demise.

    the first half of the flick is delusive with stale backset of a perfect household cozy atmosphere, tweedy wilderness, shimmering moonlight, and also a fair womanly creature awaits the prince charming she yearns for over the cliff. the deceased rot is only foreshadowed with the suggestive paternal fixation of tierney's bereft affections on her passed father. she behaves submissively pleasant with all her flirtatious hints to her beloved man. everything seems like a lyrical dream of ideal romance for anyman made of flesh and blood.

    under the microscope, tierney's true self zooms in, a pathological manipulator whose love is as lethal as arsenic, but horridly coated with honey. she's literarily the pretty poison which lures you to swallow downward your throat insidiously, just like a serpent which crawls nearby then grasp you with her fatal bite clandestinely. her love is devoted but monstrously possessive that leads her to eliminate every possible candidate to distract her husband's focus upon her.

    the electra complex is the main drive in tierney's character, as a daughter, she wants to devour her father's love all by herself, then as a mature woman, she obsessively seeks substitute from another man with similiar appearance. just like a girl who refuses to fledge into genuine mental ripeness but persistents on sheltering in the castle of the perennial paternal tenderness, the ultimate daddy's girl.

    as one proverb in india's buddha textbook, a woman with honey in her mouth usually scatters poison in her heart. "leave her to heaven" shall be the best example. after viewing this flick, abrasive vixen like joan crawford (or bette davis or barbara stanwyck) would seem leastly perilous since danger is written soundly on her face. as a matter of fact, people should respect women with such candid expressiveness. don't you agree??
  • brooklynspo
    December 15, 2007
    brooklynspo
    Loved it!
  • addienairzan
    October 19, 2009
    addienairzan
    Pure evil inside of Pure beauty inside a very beautiful landscape. I love the pool-lake setting with the natural rocks sticking out..An enjoyable film overall with one message: if you wanna be a true evil, do not confess your crime, even to yourself.
  • svmainus
    October 7, 2009
    svmainus
    This classic film is wonderfully acted, scored and cinematically beautiful. The story is excellent and the acting talents of Cornell Wilde and Gene Tierney here are just top drawer. Highly recommended to classic film fans.
    One woman who loves to much and for all the wrong reas...( read more)ons leaves a broken heart and a few dead bodies in her path. Great old movie
  • ristrawn
    September 4, 2009
    ristrawn
    good & real about jealousy & obsession... looks can really be deceiving...
  • BurtHarbinson
    August 9, 2009
    BurtHarbinson
    Lipstick thick as red vinyl. That thousand yard Quaalude stare. Deception at first sight. The femme fatale trail continues......

    I like that 100% of Rotten Tomatoes liked this film. Those assholes are never accurate! Haha....

    So it's obvious why most people are in concurrement...( read more) on this film; and that is the amazing performance of Gene Tierney. An infamous role, of a cold blooded femme fatale chalk full of daddy and abandonment issues. We have a beautifully laid out story of utter obsession and fatal attraction, all shot on brilliant California landscape. Pure win.

    The most attractive thing about Gene Tierney's role as Ellen, is.... well, everything. Ha! Seriously, you cannot ask for a better package. She's not afraid to propose marriage to a man, nor go for the Kroger abortion. Kroger abortion.... think about it, watch the film, it will make sense.

    .....noirony........
  • littlecharmer1959
    August 8, 2009
    littlecharmer1959
    A glorious technicolored film noir yet with some of the darkest subject matter of the genre. Gene Teirney is just amazing as the cold, possesive villian. The stand out moment in the film is about half way through, involving Teirney's character and her crippled brother-in-law. I w...( read more)on't say too much about it incase to spoil it, but the combination of the tranquil, luscious exterior setting and Teirney's expressionless face makes for one of the most sinister scenes in film.

View All Leave Her to Heaven Reviews

Critic Reviews

March 2, 2009
Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

As for the brother's death, with Ellen looking on coolly in white robe and shades, it remains one of the most perturbing in the history of Hollywood. full review

View more Leave Her to Heaven reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments

This board looks lonely. Be the first to talk about "Leave Her to Heaven" !

Post A Comment | View All Comments

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

All Rotten Tomatoes content is used under license from Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh, and the Tomatometer are the trademarks of Incfusion Corporation, d/b/a Rotten Tomatoes, a subsidiary of IGN Entertainment, Inc.

Cast

More Like This

Click a thumb to vote on that suggestion, or add your own suggestions.

  • Whirlpool
    Whirlpool (0%)

More Movies like Leave Her to Heaven

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Leave Her to Heav... : Watch Free on TV

Leave Her to Heaven Trivia

  • In which movie does Gene Tierney get rid of her baby by deliberately throwing herself down the stairs?  Answer »
  • In which film did Gene Tierney kill her unborn child by throwing herself down the stairs?  Answer »
  • Where did Dick love to be in Leave Her To Heaven ?  Answer »
  • Where had Richard been in the beginning of Leave Her To Heaven ?  Answer »
More Leave Her to Heaven Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Leave Her to Heaven. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Leave Her to Heaven to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?