Leave Her to Heaven
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Leave Her to Heaven is a 1945 20th Century Fox color film noir motion picture starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, with Vincent Price, Darryl Hickman, and Chill Wills.ยต
It was adapted for the screen by Jo Swerling, based on the novel by Ben Ames Williams, and was directed by John M. Stahl. Tierney received her sole Oscar nomination as Best Actress in a Leading Role for this film. The film grossed over $5,000,000 and was Fox's highest-grossing picture of the 1940s.
Plot
This Technicolor film noir drama tells the story of a young novelist, Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde), who meets beautiful Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney) on a train.
They fall in love and are married. Harland soon finds his life blighted when tragedies take first his handicapped young brother, then his unborn son from him. Gradually, he realizes that his wife's insane jealousy, which turns her own family away from her, may be the cause of the tragedies in his life.
Yet another shock awaits them all, as Ellen's emotions become uncontrollable.
Title
The title is a quote from William Shakespeare's Hamlet. In Act I, Scene V, the Ghost urges Hamlet not to seek vengeance against Queen Gertrude, but rather to "leave her to heaven, and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her."
Cast
- Gene Tierney as Ellen Berent Harland
- Cornel Wilde as Richard Harland
- Jeanne Crain as Ruth Berent
- Vincent Price as Russell Quinton
- Mary Philips as Mrs. Berent
- Ray Collins as Glen Robie
- Gene Lockhart as Dr. Saunders
- Reed Hadley as Dr. Mason
- Darryl Hickman as Danny Harland
- Chill Wills as Leick Thome
