Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

* * *

An intriguingly dark film with quite interesting characters, if not the best acting. It is shot beautifully and this is supported by the impressive setting. At points it becomes quite predictable and this is not aided as the narrative extends slightly too long which then makes the audience more impatient for its ending.

An incredibly interesting film as it is of the noir genre yet is in colour. Admittedly the decision to film it in colour was probably a mistake as imagining it in black and white seems to improve the film immensely. The creators attempt to use colour to highlight traits within the characters, however they are still naïve to colour filming. The most starkly apparent point where their poor understanding of colour is when they attempt to film night scenes during the day. Not even subtly suggesting it is night during the day but literally changing camera angle and in the split second the light changes from moonlight to sunlight.

The actresses are definitely stronger in performance than the actors and the film seems to know this as everything is geared around Gene Tierney, and her amazing eyes. Sadly, however, Cornel Wilde is the main character and he and his brother (Darryl Hickman) don’t really impress. Especially seeing as they have poignant scenes, this becomes a nuisance in the film.