Editing Leave Her to Heaven (section)

==Release==
[[File:Leave Her to Heaven (1945) screenshot.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Wilde and Tierney in a scene from the film]]

===Box office===
''Leave Her to Heaven'' premiered in the United States on December 20, 1945{{sfn|Vogel|2010|p=100}} at the [[Carthay Circle Theater]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/50046837/austin-american-statesman/|work=[[Austin American-Statesman]]|title=Thousands Gather For 'Leave Her to Heaven'|date=December 20, 1945|page=10|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> It subsequently had its [[New York City]] premiere on [[Christmas Day]] 1945.<ref name=afi/> It was [[1945 in film|the second highest-grossing film of 1945]], second only to ''[[The Bells of St. Mary's]]'',<ref name=levy/> earning $5,505,000 in domestic rentals.<ref name=HollywoodBoxOfficeHitsBook>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodreporte0000sack|title=The Hollywood reporter book of box office hits|first=Susan|last=Sackett|year= 1996|location=New York|publisher= Billboard Books|isbn=978-0823083244|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Internationally, the film earned $2.7 million in rentals, making for a worldwide rental gross of $8.2 million.{{sfn|Solomon|2002|p=65}}

===Critical response===
The staff at ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' gave the film a positive review, writing "Sumptuous [[Technicolor]] mounting and a highly exploitable story lend considerable importance to ''Leave Her to Heaven'' that it might not have had otherwise...Tierney and Wilde use their personalities in interpreting their dramatic assignments. Crain's role of Tierney's foster-sister is more subdued but excellently done. Vincent Price, as the discarded lover, gives a theatrical reading to the courtroom scenes as the district attorney."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117792521.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=Leave Her to Heaven|date=December 19, 1945|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724034318/https://variety.com/review/VE1117792521.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0|archive-date=July 24, 2009|author=''Variety'' Staff}}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]''{{'}}s [[Bosley Crowther]] was less enthusiastic about the film, writing: "Christmas Day was an inauspicious moment to bring in a moody, morbid film which is all about a selfish, jealous and deceitful dame...&nbsp;The fact is, however, that this picture would be little more congenial at any time, for it is plainly a piece of cheap fiction done up in Technicolor and expensive sets."<ref>{{cite news|work=[[The New York Times]]|last=Crothwer|first=Bosley|author-link=Bosley Crowther|title=Six New Films Arrive on the Holiday in 'Midtown Houses – Gene Tierney Appears in 'Leave Her to Heaven' at Roxy 'Cornered,' With Dick Powell, at Palace – 'Seventh Veil,' a British Picture, Makes Its Debut at Winter Garden At the Winter Garden At the Palace At the Ambassador At Loew's Criterion At the World|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/12/26/archives/the-screen-in-review-six-new-films-arrive-on-the-holiday-in-midtown.html|date=December 26, 1945|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502051113/https://www.nytimes.com/1945/12/26/archives/the-screen-in-review-six-new-films-arrive-on-the-holiday-in-midtown.html|archive-date=May 2, 2020|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref> Writing in ''[[Time (magazine)| Time]]'' in 1946, critic [[James Agee]] stated, "The story's central idea might be plausible enough in a dramatically lighted black-and-white picture or in a radio show with plenty of organ background. But in the rich glare of Technicolor, all its rental-library characteristics are doubly glaring. ''Leave Her's'' heroine is jealous Ellen (Gene Tierney), whose somewhat too-intense love for her husband (Cornel Wilde) leads her to drown his brother, throw herself downstairs, and eventually poison her own coffee{{nbsp}}... It is a story of in-law trouble carried to awful extremes. But it is hard to work up any sustained sympathy for the upright characters. Audiences will probably side with the murderess{{nbsp}}... "<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol.1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust.</ref>

The film was cited by director [[Martin Scorsese]] as one of his favorite films and assessed "Gene Tierney  is one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Era."<ref>{{YouTube|ATfhKmkM-rE|Martin Scorsese discusses ''Leave Her to Heaven''}} at 45th [[New York Film Festival]]</ref>

[[Rotten Tomatoes]] reported that 85% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 65 reviews. The consensus summarizes: "''Leave Her to Heaven'' suffers from a surfeit of unlikable characters, but the solid cast – led by an outstanding Gene Tierney – makes it hard to turn away."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/leave_her_to_heaven/|title=''Leave Her to Heaven''|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|accessdate=January 11, 2022}}</ref>

In the decades after its release, the film garnered a [[cult following]].<ref name=levy>{{cite web|url=https://emanuellevy.com/review/cult-movies-leave-her-to-heaven/|work=Emanuel Levy: Cinema 24/7|author=Levy, Emanuel|author-link=Emanuel Levy|date=June 2, 2011|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502063845/https://emanuellevy.com/review/cult-movies-leave-her-to-heaven/|archive-date=May 2, 2020|title=Leave Her to Heaven: Cult Movie–Noir in Red Color|access-date=May 2, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Critic Emanuel Levy attributes its cult status to its blurring of genres, ultimately resulting in a "one of a kind work."<ref name=levy/> In 2018, it was selected for the United States [[National Film Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref name="National Film Registry Turns 30"/>

''Leave Her to Heaven'' was restored by the [[Academy Film Archive]], in conjunction with Twentieth Century Fox, in 2006.<ref>{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=https://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=leave+her+to+heaven&filmmaker=&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive}}</ref>