Review of Leave Her to Heaven (1945) by Ben H — 14 Jan 2012

Judging against the overwhelming positive response to this movie, I am surprised and confused. Gene Tierny plays a woman who falls in love with an author. As they get married we see a little bit of manipulative behavior turn into outright selfishness and later to psycopathic craziness. Gene is mostly one note throughout this performace. Her manic behavior no more driven than her more pleasant scenes. As the male lead, Cornel Wilde is aloof and clumsy. Vincent Price puts in a quick and good performance, even if his courtroom scene is written overdramatically and less than believable.

At 111 minutes, the film is about 30 minutes too long. So many scenes are drawn out with inexplicable non-action like setting the table and walking slowly from one place to the other. The saving grace for this movie is reflected in it's Oscar win, Cinematography. The on location shoots in Technicolor are pretty awesome. Also impressive and fun to watch from a historical perspective is the wardrobe. A great representation of the times.

I'm sure the movie is getting some of its praise from the awful acts of the lead. They are great ideas for drumming up controversy. But I do not see the value in the way these ideas were written or performed.