1020 Leave Her to Heaven

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swo17
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1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#1 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:41 pm

Leave Her to Heaven

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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.

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
• PLUS: An essay by novelist Megan Abbott

Glowingwabbit
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#2 Post by Glowingwabbit » Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:43 pm

Hell Yes!!! Having missed out on the TT edition I don't even care that it only has one special feature.

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mfunk9786
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#3 Post by mfunk9786 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 5:59 pm

I told LQ we should've sold the Twilight Time one earlier this year, but I had no idea this was coming...

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FrauBlucher
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1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#4 Post by FrauBlucher » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:03 pm

I’m sure there is some TT fanboy will still want it to buy it.

Not much in way of extras

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Saturnome
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#5 Post by Saturnome » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:10 pm

YES !!! I was recently complaining that I had missed the Twilight Time release, glad to know they are reading my posts here and made this release for little me thank you very much. I forgot to mention I would have liked some extras though, apparently
Last edited by Saturnome on Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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swo17
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#6 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:17 pm

Guess this movie must be only one-twelfth as important as Prince of Tides

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#7 Post by therewillbeblus » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:26 pm

Great film, great news. I just hope that interview is two hours of deep comprehensive analysis. This film doesn’t deserve any less, and it appears to be tailor made for academic supplements even if one just sticks to its very surface level color noir aesthetic and postwar female psychology. Seems like a really puzzling missed opportunity.

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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#8 Post by DeprongMori » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:36 pm

I love the film and am glad to see it here, but if Criterion is going to give it such a bare-bones release, why are they bothering? Any label can do that. Hoping that “more to be announced” was inadvertently left out. The film deserves better.

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Fred Holywell
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#9 Post by Fred Holywell » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:38 pm

What, not even a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast?

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domino harvey
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#10 Post by domino harvey » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:53 pm

You don’t need the commentary that was on the Fox/TT release, Criterion knew what they were doing here


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swo17
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#12 Post by swo17 » Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:09 pm

More = trailer

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whaleallright
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#13 Post by whaleallright » Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:49 pm

I know others disagree, but the Twilight Time transfer looked extremely waxy to me, like grain had been digitally wiped away. I saw a 35mm print taken from the same restoration not long before picking up the previous Blu-Ray and was shocked by the difference (I know, I know, there is always going to be a difference b/t a 35mm print and a HD transfer; but this was more than that). Especially since there are no major extras to speak of, I hope this is an improved transfer. If I'm being nitpicky it's because this is genuinely one of the most ravishing films I have ever seen; the intensity and variety of earth tones in the setting, costuming, and lighting is literally jaw-dropping. (A bonus feature of an expert discussing the cinematography would be most welcome.)
Last edited by whaleallright on Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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zedz
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#14 Post by zedz » Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:17 pm

swo17 wrote:
Mon Dec 16, 2019 7:09 pm
More = trailer
- Kogonoda essay explaining that in this film water is a metaphor for drowning (37 minutes)

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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#15 Post by Rupert Pupkin » Tue Dec 17, 2019 12:47 am

this is my favorite movie with Gene Tierney. Obviously I bought the T.T release day one.
regarding the movie and the restoration, unless a better encoding/bitrate, do you think that Criterion could "remaster" the color "fluctuation" (does "new X2 restoration" means a different restoration/upgraded restoration vs the Twilight Time release). I don't think that like - let's say "Heaven Can Wait" - that was a real problem (color "fluctuation") on the Blu-Ray Twilight Time release.
Too bad that there are not enough bonus. I remember Scorsese called it a color "noir movie".

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domino harvey
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#16 Post by domino harvey » Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:17 pm

Let me reassure anyone who has not listened to the commentary with Schickel intercut with the adult child actor that they are not missing anything (both commentators think precious little of Gene Tierney yet were commissioned to talk about the only film that netted her an Oscar nom-- the grown-up twerp even brings up his later actor studio training as his bonafides, vom) and any sucker who thinks they need to pick up the TT for the "missing extras" is well worth milking on the resale market

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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#17 Post by cdnchris » Tue Dec 17, 2019 2:37 pm

Agreed with domino: the track is not good and "the kid" comes off like an insufferable ass. It feels to be thrown on there just so they could list a commentary as a feature.

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DeprongMori
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#18 Post by DeprongMori » Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:06 pm

FWIW, the Twilight Time supplements are similar to those on the Fox DVD, with the TT replacing the stills gallery with a trailer, and replacing the restoration comparison with an isolated score, while retaining the commentary and the Fox Movietone News. Anyone who really wants the commentary can get it cheap on the DVD.

Fox DVD:
• Commentary by Darryl Hickman and Richard Schickel
• Restoration Comparison
• Still Gallery
• Fox Movietone News

TT Blu:
• Commentary by Darryl Hickman and Richard Schickel
• Isolated Score
• Theatrical trailer (2:12)
• Fox Movietone News (2:20)

Still hoping that Criterion develops some additional supplements for this one.

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Feego
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#19 Post by Feego » Tue Dec 17, 2019 3:16 pm

I think I only listened to part of the commentary once, but I watched an interview with Hickman and other former child stars of the studio era on TCM, and he seems pretty bitter about his whole experience as a child actor. In the commentary, I think he positions Tierney (and maybe Stahl as well?) as an embodiment of everything he hated about the studio era. He might have his reasons, but they don't make for a pleasant listen. For the record, the other stars sharing the TCM interview were Dickie Moore, Margaret O'Brien, and Jane Withers. Moore expressed a similar bitterness, while the ladies had much fonder remembrances.

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Fred Holywell
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#20 Post by Fred Holywell » Sun Mar 08, 2020 7:27 pm


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Saturnome
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#21 Post by Saturnome » Sun Mar 08, 2020 10:34 pm

Looks like they did their best with it, on the technical level. I prefer the skin color here, and there's a tiny bit of grain it seems.

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domino harvey
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#22 Post by domino harvey » Sun May 10, 2020 12:05 am

I watched Stahl's 1941 screwball comedy Our Wife tonight and was tickled to learn it inexplicably shares a significant plot point with this later film! Who knew
SpoilerShow
a duplicitous woman trying to keep her man by orchestrating a phony tumble down the stairs

is the kind of thing it was even possible to come up twice in anyone's filmography?

Also, while Our Wife isn't very funny on the whole, it turns out one of my favorite Woody Allen lines was cribbed from it. A night of disillusionment!

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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#23 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun May 10, 2020 12:49 am

Since I don't really want to see the Stahl to find out, what's the Woody Allen line?

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jazzo
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Re: 1020 Leave Her to Heaven

#24 Post by jazzo » Tue May 12, 2020 10:55 am

SPOILERS THROUGHOUT, SO AVOID READING IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE FILM.

I don’t know that I have much more to contribute to what has already been said about this wonderful picture, not the least of which, by Meg Abbott in her terrific booklet essay for the Criterion disc, but I will absolutely agree with the universal praise of the film’s look. This was, indeed, one of the most exquisitely shot films I have ever seen. There are so many hues and textures to absorb in every scene, by the film’s end I couldn’t help but be beguiled by its beauty in the same way I am by David Lean or Archers pictures.

But as others far more eloquent than I have already observed, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (LHTH) is, in stark contrast to its gorgeous aesthetic, one of the darkest pictures that I can recall coming out of that period. And I don’t just mean film noir-dark in that existentially-doomed way, because nothing in this film feels as if the hand of fate is playing a role. LHTH is populated by damaged adults making their own decisions and paying the consequences for them. This film explores greed, jealousy and possession in the same complex and nuanced ways that I normally associate with established American masters like Hitchcock, Welles, Wilder, Mann and Ray, and I was absolutely taken with it.

There was a cool, clinical aspect to each of one of Ellen’s crimes * that feels very modern, almost bordering on Haneke disconnect, and it’s chilling to watch, especially when one considers that these actions stem from her inability to properly control her very emotional desire to be sole-possessor of the things she “loves”. And yet, it’s not that black and white, either.

In her essay, Meg Abbott beautifully illustrates how much of the blame for what unfolds can be shared with the great and beautiful Richard, who often seems be in an eternal state of arrested adolescence, especially where his brother is concerned, and who has some emotional hole to fill by enveloping himself with as many immediate and surrogate family members as possible, consequently suffocating Ellen and triggering her own murderous pathway. I’m in no way saying that this justifies her actions, only that, if Richard wasn’t quite so needy – if, perhaps, their personalities were more in sync with each other – maybe nothing would have happened at all. If Ellen and Richard both had the desire to be a slightly more insular couple, removed from all the privilege and societal/cultural expectations of their lives, and strictly limited their connections to family (or the rest of the world), then maybe they would have lived perfectly happy (and somewhat cosmopolitan) modern lives, without the pressures of familial commitments.

But that, of course, is impossible, because they were mismatched.

Which brings me to the first of my two observations. In addition to the film suggesting that the American dream of acquiring wealth and power is corrupt and ultimately hollow because wealth and power can’t insulate you from family dysfunction and emotional distress and/or chemical imbalance, LHTH also seems to be especially critical of the concept of a traditional family unit, which was a very linear pathway/goal for post-war families of every class. Its biggest warning sign and most modern thought, to me, seems to be, simply and succinctly, don’t rush into relationships. Take the time to get to know the person before entering into a long-term monogamous partnership with them; see if you’re personalities are compatible; your goals; your foibles. See if this really is the person you can push through the rest of your life with, and not something born only of passion, which may not be sustainable.

My second observation is really just conjecture, but I know Scorsese is a huge fan of LHTH. While watching it, I was particularly struck by the scene where Ellen interrogates her step-sister/cousin Ruth about her day of shopping with Richard. The blocking of the actors and the characters’ actions in the scene are arrestingly similar to the scene in RAGING BULL where Jake interrogates Vickie about her afternoon at the movies with her sister, just before he completely loses control and physically assaults her and his brother. We, of course, have a gender-reversal, but in both cases, the interrogee nervously tries to maintain a sense of normalcy by folding clothes while answering their interrogator's leading and absurdly irrational questions in a matter-of-fact tone, because they are acutely aware of just how unhinged that loved one is, and just how much potential violence is simmering underneath them. Both scenes are also the precipice before these secondary characters make the decision to leave their abusers.

And finally, I discovered a fun thing to do with LHTH. Try saying the film’s title in your best On The Buses accent.

Leave ‘er t’ehvehn.

* If, technically, they can be called that, since one was a crime of inaction (if you remove the premeditation of it all, so probably manslaughter), one was a self-administered abortion, and the final was self-harm. In fact, Ellen’s biggest technical crime seems to be that of post-mortem perjury in order to frame her cousin for murder and destroy her future ex-husband’s life.

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