Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945), directed by John M. Stahl.
The setup is like a "women's romance drama" kicked up to 11: Gene Tierney's exotic, almost unearthly beauty (those cheekbones, that overbite!), Cornel Wilde with so much makeup he looks like he's made of plastic. The luxurious, finely decorated vacation homes and "cabins", with everyone dressed so formally. The lush Technicolor and exquisite lighting and set decoration.
Were they intentionally pushing this too far for a fantasy effect, or is it just what audiences expected from a Technicolor drama at the time?
But wait: immediately, the plot goes off-kilter. Tierney's thousand-yard stare is just too unsettling. Her obvious Daddy issues, and the way her family is so cautious around her, the things they won't say to outsiders. We find her jealous and possessive to a psychotic degree -- murder comes easily. She resents even her unborn child and stages a miscarriage (bold plotting for that era). In the final act we move into a quick murder mystery and courtroom drama.
Another strange dimension: the emotions are so understated, the characters all so reserved. Douglas Sirk, who remade a couple of Stahl's "weepies" in the 1950s, would have pushed it harder, but this is in some ways more weird.
Notes:
The drowning scene, where Tierney coolly watches the boy struggle and die. I remember that from when I was boy myself, and it really torqued my mind: my first exposure to the psychotic femme fatale character.
Is "polio" ever mentioned? The kid brother is at Warm Springs, GA: audiences would have recognized that as the clinic where FDR went for treatments.
In the review of Repulsion (1965) I commented on "passion sounds" in the movies. We have a bit of prehistory here: the newlywed couple's bedroom is sandwiched between the kid brother and the handyman with thin walls: zero privacy, provoking the bride to exteme deeds.
The expression on Chill Wills's face as he listens to the bride's prescient psycho-dream of watching a man drown: priceless.
Look at Mom's face after the drowning: she doesn't say anything, but she knows.
Vincent Price prosecutes the murderer of his former fiancée: improbable, you think?
Look at that modern, minimalist courtroom! Very unusual for Hollywood, which always used a standard, heavy wood-paneled setup back then.
Darryl Hickman (the kid brother) praises all the cast and crew except for the director, who was hostile and of no help, and Tierney, who was cold and self-absorbed, not interacting with anyone.
He said Chill Wills was the same person off-screen as the characters he played.
Hickman had to do his own swimming because the water was too cold for his stunt double. That scene took three weeks. He really did get a cramp during a shoot and no one would believe he was in trouble.
Alfred Newman score.
The title is from Hamlet: the ghost warning Hamlet not to take revenge on his mother.
Twilight Time limited edition Blu-ray. Richard Schickel and Darryl Hickman provide a light, interleaved commentary track. Isolated score.
