While the idea of a Technicolor film noir sounds as ridiculous as a G-rated sex comedy, 1945’s Leave Her to Heaven makes the notion seem perfectly natural. Trading in the low-angle, high-contrast, black-and-white photography for the  soft-focus color saturation of Technicolor, Gene Tierney and Cornel Wilde star as femme fatale and the schmuck she marries and, wait for it, loves too much to share with anyone. The seemingly air-brushed color quality of the film, along with it’s high stakes title, provides a strong argument that film noir and melodrama are very close cousins. And in that vein, the story here fits right in: every possible person or thing that enters this seeming picturesque well-heeled world is thrust into a jealous love triangle, if only in the demented mind of Tierney’s Ellen. But that demented mind is hidden within an immaculate beauty, and the use of color could not have suited her or the role any better. From the picture-perfect sets to the dramatic courtroom scenes (in which ex-fiance Vincent Price leads the prosecution with the fire of a man scorned!), there isn’t an ounce of realism to be found in the entirety of Leave Her to Heaven. But that’s what a good noir cum melodrama is for: deliciously empty calories.
Leave Her to Heaven
May 11th, 2009 · No Comments
Tags: Capsule · Crime/Noir · Drama
Here are this morning’s Oscar-nominated films, alphabetically. The nominees for foreign language film and documentary feature are compiled at the end of the list. (Short format nominees are listed in a 
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