John M. Stahl

Leave Her to Heaven

Leave Her to Heaven

Novelist Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) seems to have found the perfect woman in Ellen (Gene Tierney), a beautiful socialite who initiates a whirlwind romance and steers him into marriage before he can think twice. Yet the glassy surface of Ellen’s devotion soon reveals monstrous depths, as Richard comes to realize that his wife is shockingly possessive and may be capable of destroying anyone who comes between them. A singular Hollywood masterpiece that draws freely from the women’s picture and film noir alike, Leave Her to Heaven boasts elegant direction by melodrama specialist John M. Stahl, blazing Technicolor cinematography by Leon Shamroy, and a chilling performance by Tierney, whose Ellen is a femme fatale unlike any other—a woman whose love is as pure as it is poisonous.


Leave Her to Heaven was restored by Twentieth Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive, with support from The Film Foundation.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1945
  • 110 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.37:1
  • English
  • Spine #1020

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration by Twentieth Century Fox, the Academy Film Archive, and The Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by novelist Megan Abbott

New cover illustration by Flore Maquin

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New 2K digital restoration by Twentieth Century Fox, the Academy Film Archive, and The Film Foundation, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • New interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by novelist Megan Abbott

New cover illustration by Flore Maquin

Leave Her to Heaven
Cast
Gene Tierney
Ellen Berent Harland
Cornel Wilde
Richard Harland
Jeanne Crain
Ruth Berent
Vincent Price
Russell Quinton
Mary Philips
Mrs. Berent
Ray Collins
Glen Robie
Gene Lockhart
Dr. Saunders
Reed Hadley
Dr. Mason
Darryl Hickman
Danny Harland
Chill Wills
Leick Thorne
Credits
Director
John M. Stahl
Producer
William A. Bacher
Screenplay
Jo Swerling
Based on the novel by
Ben Ames Williams
Director of photography
Leon Shamroy
Technicolor director
Natalie Kalmus
Art direction
Maurice Ransford
Art direction
Lyle Wheeler
Set decorations
Thomas Little
Editor
James B. Clark
Music
Alfred Newman
Orchestral arrangements
Edward B. Powell

Current

Leave Her to Heaven: The Eyes of Ellen Berent
Leave Her to Heaven: The Eyes of Ellen Berent

In this Technicolor film noir masterpiece, Gene Tierney stars as one of cinema’s most dangerous and sympathetic femmes fatales, a woman who finds it impossible to conform to postwar gender roles.

By Megan Abbott

10 Things I Learned: Leave Her to Heaven
10 Things I Learned: Leave Her to Heaven

Criterion producer Jason Altman shares how John M. Stahl’s masterpiece broke new ground upon its release in 1945, becoming what many consider the first Technicolor film noir as well as Twentieth Century-Fox’s biggest hit of the decade.

By Jason Altman

A Romance with the Screen: Theater Legend Adrienne Kennedy Looks Back
A Romance with the Screen: Theater Legend Adrienne Kennedy Looks Back

One of the American theater’s most visionary figures opens up about her lifelong love affair with the movies and the influence cinema has had on her art.

By Thomas Beard