Editing Leave Her to Heaven

{{Short description|1945 film by John M. Stahl}}
{{For|the Van Druten play|Leave Her to Heaven (play)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Leave Her to Heaven
| image          = Leave Her to Heaven (1945 poster).jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[John M. Stahl]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* William A. Bacher
* [[Darryl F. Zanuck]]
}}
| screenplay     = [[Jo Swerling]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''Leave Her to Heaven''<br>1944 novel|[[Ben Ames Williams]]}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Gene Tierney]]
* [[Cornel Wilde]]
* [[Jeanne Crain]]
* [[Vincent Price]]
}}
| music          = [[Alfred Newman (composer)|Alfred Newman]]
| cinematography = [[Leon Shamroy]]
| editing        = [[James B. Clark (director)|James B. Clark]]
| color_process  = [[Technicolor]]
| studio         = 20th Century Fox
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{Film date|1945|12|20|Carthay Circle Theater, Los Angeles|1945|12|25|New York City}}
| runtime        = 110 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         =
| gross          = $8.2 million (worldwide rentals){{sfn|Solomon|2002|p=65}}
}}

'''''Leave Her to Heaven''''' is a 1945 American film directed by [[John M. Stahl]], starring [[Gene Tierney]], [[Cornel Wilde]], [[Jeanne Crain]], and [[Vincent Price]]. Adapted by screenwriter [[Jo Swerling]] from the 1944 novel of the same name by [[Ben Ames Williams]], the film concerns a [[socialite]] whose marriage to a prominent novelist spurs a violent, obsessive, and dangerous jealousy in her. 

Shot in [[Technicolor]], filming took place in several locations in California, as well as [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]]{{Citation needed|reason=Claim of filming in New Mexico is not backed up by citations|date=January 2023}} in the summer of 1945. ''Leave Her to Heaven'' was released in the United States theatrically on December 20, 1945. The film was a box-office hit, grossing over $8 million, and was [[20th Century Fox|Twentieth Century-Fox]]'s highest-grossing film of the entire decade.

In the decades following its release, ''Leave Her to Heaven'' garnered a [[cult following]] and has been the subject of [[film criticism|critical analysis]] for its unique blurring of genres including the [[psychological thriller]], [[melodrama (film genre)|melodrama]] and [[film noir]]. It has also been noted for its numerous visual and narrative references to figures in [[Greek mythology]]. The film's title is drawn from [[William Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Hamlet]]'', in which [[Ghost (Hamlet)|the Ghost]] urges [[Prince Hamlet|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."

In 2018, the film 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">{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-18-144/library-of-congress-national-film-registry-turns-30/2018-12-12/|title=National Film Registry Turns 30|publisher=[[Library of Congress]]|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-11-23|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>

==Plot==
 <!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summary should be between 400 to 700 words. -->
While traveling by train in [[New Mexico]], novelist Richard Harland meets Ellen Berent, a beautiful [[socialite]] from [[Boston]]. She is particularly drawn to him, as he reminds her of her deceased father, to whom she had an obsessive attachment. Ellen is visiting New Mexico to spread her father's [[cremation|ashes]], accompanied by her aloof mother and her cousin Ruth, who was adopted by Mrs. Berent (Richard is surprised when Ruth tells him this, and wonders why she did not say "Mr. and Mrs. Berent" adopted her).

Richard and Ellen discover they are staying with the same friends, and begin a whirlwind romance. He is fascinated by Ellen's exotic beauty and intense personality. The couple's affair is interrupted when Ellen's estranged fiancé, attorney Russell Quinton, arrives unexpectedly. Ellen then announces that she intends to marry Richard immediately, to Richard's surprise.

Ellen and Richard marry in [[Warm Springs, Georgia]] before staying at his lodge on a lake in northern [[Maine]]. Their domestic life is copacetic at first, but it becomes gradually apparent that she is pathologically jealous of anyone and anything he cares about, including his family and career.

During an unexpected visit from Ellen's family, her mother attempts to warn Richard that Ellen is prone to obsessiveness and a compulsion to "love too much". Ellen's resentment only grows when Richard's beloved teenage brother, Danny, [[cripple]]d by  [[polio]], comes to live with them. One afternoon, Ellen follows him on the lake in a rowboat as he attempts to swim from one side to the other. She knowingly encourages him to press on, even as Danny begins to struggle to stay afloat. Ellen watches from the boat as he sinks below the surface and drowns.

[[File:Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain in Leave Her to Heaven.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1|Gene Tierney and Jeanne Crain in ''Leave Her to Heaven'']]
Danny's death is presumed an accident, and Ellen feigns sympathy. After settling at their home in [[Bar Harbor, Maine|Bar Harbor]], Richard is despondent. At Ruth's suggestion, Ellen becomes pregnant in an attempt to please Richard, but later confesses to Ruth that she does not want the child, likening it to a "little beast".

One afternoon, Ellen throws herself down a staircase to induce a [[miscarriage]]. She succeeds, and after recovering in the hospital, accuses Ruth of being in love with Richard, citing a dedication in his new novel that alludes to her. Ruth rebukes Ellen by accusing her of causing the misery that has befallen the family. Richard overhears the argument, and confronts Ellen for the deaths of Danny and of their unborn child. Ellen admits without remorse to having let Danny drown, and cruelly tells Richard she would do it again if given the chance. Angered, Richard leaves Ellen, but does not pursue criminal action as he does not believe there is sufficient evidence.

An enraged Ellen sends a letter to Russell, who is now the county [[district attorney]], in which she accuses Ruth of plotting to murder her. While on a picnic with Ruth and her mother several days later, Ellen secretly poisons herself with sugar laced with [[arsenic]], which sends her into [[Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome|multiple organ failure]] over several days. When Richard visits Ellen on her deathbed, she requests in his confidence that she be cremated, and that he scatter her ashes where she spread her father's in New Mexico, which he agrees to do.

After Ellen dies, Ruth has her remains cremated at Richard's instruction. She is subsequently charged with Ellen's murder, the case prosecuted by Russell. During the trial, Russell proposes that Ruth plotted to kill Ellen so she and Richard could be together, and frames Ruth's cremation of Ellen as a calculated decision to prevent an [[autopsy]].

A recalcitrant Richard testifies regarding Ellen's psychopathic jealousy, insisting that she made her own [[suicide]] appear as a murder to punish him and Ruth. Ruth is ultimately acquitted, but he is sentenced to two years imprisonment as an [[Accessory (legal term)|accessory]] in Danny's death, as he withheld his knowledge of Ellen's actions. After completing his sentence, Richard returns to his lodge, where he is welcomed lovingly by Ruth.

==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 (actor)|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
* [[Olive Blakeney]] as Mrs. Louise Robie (uncredited)
* [[James Farley (actor)|Jim Farley]] as Train Conductor (uncredited)
* [[Grant Mitchell (actor)|Grant Mitchell]] as Carlson (uncredited)
* [[Earl Schenck]] as Norton (uncredited)
* [[Addison Richards]] as Bedford (uncredited)

==Analysis==
===Mythical allusions===
The film features a number of [[allusion]]s to classical [[Greek mythology]], largely the protagonist, Ellen Berent's exhibition of an [[Electra complex]], displaying an obsession with her deceased father.<ref name=filmsite>{{cite web|work=[[Filmsite.org]]|publisher=[[AMC Networks]]|url=https://www.filmsite.org/leaveher.html|title=Leave Her to Heaven|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502063342/https://www.filmsite.org/leaveher.html|archive-date=May 2, 2020|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref> The sequence in which Ellen is shown carrying her father's ashes in an urn, held at her waist while she rides on a horse, is a visual reference to the Greek goddess [[Hippolyta]] and the magical girdle bestowed upon her by her father [[Ares]], the god of war.<ref name=filmsite/>

Scholar [[S. T. Joshi]] likens the character of Ellen to a [[Siren (mythology)|Siren]], a mythical water creature who lured sailors to their deaths.{{sfn|Joshi|2007|p=526}} This allusion is supported by film noir scholar Imogen Sara Smith, who notes that Ellen is frequently associated with water and shown swimming, "like a [[mermaid]], cold-blooded and alien, preying on a hapless human male."{{sfn|Smith|2014|p=79}}

Ellen's scheming alludes to [[Medea]], an intelligent and cunning figure in Greek mythology who murders her own children.<ref name=filmsite/>

===Genre and the ''femme fatale''===
''Leave Her to Heaven'' is often described as the first [[film noir]] to be shot in color,<ref name=filmsite/> although film scholars and critics have characterized the film as a [[psychological thriller film|thriller]], a [[Melodrama (film genre)|melodrama]] (Walker), a psychological melodrama (Turim), a women's film (Morris), or a romantic drama (Bourget). Scholar [[Emanuel Levy]] notes that the film embodies both "conventions of the noir and psychological melodrama," blurring the distinction and resulting in a unique, one-of-a-kind work.<ref name=levy/>

Joshi identifies Ellen Berent as one of the prime examples of the ''[[femme fatale]]'' in film history.{{sfn|Joshi|2007|p=526}} Film and [[feminism|feminist]] theorist and writer [[Mary Ann Doane]] notes that Ellen's "excessive desire" for Richard is signaled by her "intense and sustained stare" at him in the beginning of the film.{{sfn|Doane|2013|p=27}} Over the course of the film, Ellen reveals her possessiveness in increasingly violent and destructive ways, rendering her, in Doane's words, "the epitome of evil."{{sfn|Doane|2013|pages=27–28}} Smith notes that Ellen is an atypical example of the ''femme fatale'' as, unlike with many of her contemporaries, her impulses to kill and wreak destruction are driven purely by a pathological yearning for love, whereas the prototypical ''femme fatale'' is often motivated by financial or other social reasons.<ref name=smith>{{cite AV media|title=Imogen Sara Smith on John M. Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven|people=Smith, Imogen Sara|year=2020|publisher=[[The Criterion Collection]]|medium=Blu-ray documentary short}}</ref> Critics who argue that the film is not a film noir note that Ellen does not seduce Richard into acting against his interests or breaking the law (in short, that she is not a femme fatale) (Walker).

==Production==
===Development===
[[File:Strand Theatre ad - 31 December 1945, Seymour, CT.png|thumb|Theatrical advertisement from 1945]]
In May 1944, [[Twentieth Century Fox]] executive [[Darryl F. Zanuck]] purchased the rights to [[Ben Ames Williams]] then-unpublished novel, ''Leave Her to Heaven'', planning a screen adaptation.<ref name=afi/> The studio spent an exorbitant $100,000<ref name=filmsite/> to acquire the rights to Ames' novel, which was published the following month in June 1944.<ref name=filmsite/> The title of the film and its source novel is derived 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."<ref name=filmsite/>

In November 1944, the [[Production Code Administration]] (PCA) approved [[Jo Swerling]]'s screenplay adaptation of the novel, though they strongly encouraged the studio to minimize the depiction of Ellen inducing her own miscarriage.<ref name=afi/> In their response, the PCA noted: "It will be absolutely essential to remove any flavor...&nbsp;that Ellen plans to murder the unborn child merely because she is misshapen. It should be definitely established that her reason for murdering the child is that she thinks that the newborn will replace her in her husband's affections. This is important in order to avoid any of the flavor that is normally connected with what could be termed '[[abortion]]'."<ref name=afi/>

A subsequent draft submitted to the PCA in February 1945 was disapproved as it overtly implied that Richard and Ellen had engaged in an illicit sexual affair before their marriage.<ref name=afi/> After the affair was minimized in a subsequent draft, the screenplay was approved for shooting.<ref name=afi/>

===Casting===
Producer Zanuck offered the leading role of Ellen Berent to Gene Tierney, based on her performance in Twentieth Century Fox's film noir ''[[Laura (1944 film)|Laura]]'' (1944).{{sfn|Vogel|2010|p=97}}
[[Faye Marlowe]] was originally cast in the role of Ruth, but ultimately replaced by Jeanne Crain.<ref name=afi/> [[Thomas Mitchell (actor)|Thomas Mitchell]] was cast as Glen Robie, though he too was replaced, by Ray Collins.<ref name=afi/>

===Filming===
[[Principal photography]] of ''Leave Her to Heaven'' took place between May and August 1945.<ref name=afi/> The production initially planned to shoot the lake and surrounding outdoor sequences in the [[Pacific Northwest]] states of [[Washington (state)|Washington]] and [[Oregon]], though the planned locations in the region were ultimately not utilized.<ref name=afi>{{cite web|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24478|work=[[AFI Catalog of Feature Films]]|location=Los Angeles, California|publisher=[[American Film Institute]]|title=Leave Her to Heaven|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200502043424/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/24478|archive-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref> Instead, these scenes were filmed in [[Northern California]] at [[Bass Lake, California|Bass Lake]] in the [[Sierra Nevada]].<ref name=afi/> Additional photography took place in [[Monterey, California|Monterey]].<ref name=afi/>

The desert sequences that take place in New Mexico were filmed in several locations in [[Arizona]], including [[Sedona, Arizona|Sedona]], [[Flagstaff, Arizona|Flagstaff]], and the [[Granite Dells]] north of [[Prescott, Arizona|Prescott]].<ref name=afi/> The sequences set in Warm Springs, Georgia were filmed at [[Busch Gardens]] in [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]], though long shots and process plates were shot on location at the actual Warm Springs Foundation.<ref name=afi/>

==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>

==Accolades==
{| class="wikitable unsortable plainrowheaders" style="width:60%;"
|-
! style="width:20%;"| Institution
! style="width:25%;"| Category
! style="width:20%;"| Recipient(s)
! style="width:12%;"| Result
! style="width:1%;" | {{Abbr|Ref.|Reference(s)}}
|-
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4"| [[18th Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
! scope="row"| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
|  [[Gene Tierney]]
| {{nom}}
| style="text-align:center;" rowspan="5"| <ref name="Oscars1946">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1946 |title=The 18th Academy Awards (1946) Nominees and Winners |website=[[Academy Awards|Oscars]].org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430015347/https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1946|archive-date=April 30, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
! scope="row"| [[Academy Award for Best Production Design|Best Art Direction (Color)]]
| Art Direction: [[Lyle R. Wheeler]] and [[Maurice Ransford]]; Interior Decoration: [[Thomas Little]]
| {{nom}}

|-
! scope="row"| [[Academy Award for Best Cinematography|Best Cinematography (Color)]]
| [[Leon Shamroy]]
| {{won}}

|-
! scope="row"| [[Academy Award for Best Sound|Best Sound Recording]]
| [[Thomas T. Moulton]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| style="text-align:center;"| [[Venice Film Festival]]
! scope="row"| Grand International Award
| [[John M. Stahl]]
| {{nom}}
|}

===Home media===
In 2013, the independent home media distributor [[Twilight Time (home video label)|Twilight Time]] released a limited edition Blu-ray release of the film.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Slant Magazine]]|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/leave-her-to-heaven-bd/|last=Henderson|first=Eric|date=May 28, 2013|title=Review: John M. Stahl's Leave Her to Heaven on Twilight Time Blu-ray|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502064837/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/leave-her-to-heaven-bd/|archive-date=May 2, 2020|url-status=live|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref> A new DVD and Blu-ray release was issued on March 24, 2020, by [[The Criterion Collection]].<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The Criterion Collection]]|title=Leave Her to Heaven|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/29602-leave-her-to-heaven|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200502065118/https://www.criterion.com/films/29602-leave-her-to-heaven|archive-date=May 2, 2020|access-date=May 2, 2020}}</ref>

==Adaptation==
* ''[[Too Good to Be True (film)|Too Good to Be True]]'' (1988 television version).
* The character Courtney Shayne in 1999 film ''[[Jawbreaker (film)|Jawbreaker]]'' is in part based on Ellen.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Anne|last=Cohen|url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/02/224450/jawbreaker-anniversary-courtney-alice-shayne-best-mean-girl|title = "Jawbreaker"'s Courtney Shayne is a Murderer & Sociopath — So, Why do We Still Love Her?|website=[[Refinery29]]|date=February 19, 2019}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Portions of the film are seen in the ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' season three episode "[[House Arrest (M*A*S*H)|House Arrest]]", particularly the scene in which Tierney and Wilde share a passionate kiss, which causes [[Hawkeye Pierce|Hawkeye]] to quip, "If he straightens out that overbite, I'll kill him." The episode originally aired February 4, 1975. Author [[Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni]] mentions this film in her novel ''[[Independence (novel)|Independence]]'' (2022).

==See also==
* [[Mental illness in film]]

* [[List of films featuring psychopaths and sociopaths]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bourget |first1=Jean-Loup |date=January–February 1974 |title=Romantic Dramas of the Forties: An Analysis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43451255 |journal=Film Comment |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=46–51 |doi= |jstor=43451255 |access-date=}}
* {{cite book|last=Doane|first=Mary Ann|author-link=Mary Ann Doane|title=Femmes Fatales|year=2013|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-1-136-63897-8}}
* {{cite book|last=Joshi|first=S. T.|author-link=S. T. Joshi|year=2007|title=Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares|edition=2nd|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=978-0-313-33782-6}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Morris |first1=George |date=May–June 1977 |title=John M. Stahl: The Man Who Understood Women |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43451333 |journal=Film Comment |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=24–27 |doi= |jstor=43451333 |access-date=}}
* {{cite book|last=Smith|first=Imogen Sara|year=2014|title=In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-786-48908-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Solomon|first=Aubrey|year=2002|title=Twentieth Century-Fox: A Corporate and Financial History|location=Lanham, Maryland|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-810-84244-1}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Turim |first1=Maureen |date=1984 |title=Fictive Psyches: The Psychological Melodrama in 40s Films |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/302820 |journal=Boundary 2 |volume=12/13 |issue=3/1 |pages=321–331 |doi= 10.2307/302820|jstor=302820 |access-date=}}
* {{cite book|last=Vogel|first=Michelle|year=2010|title=Gene Tierney: A Biography|publisher=McFarland|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|isbn=978-0-786-45832-5}}
{{Refend}}
* {{cite book |last=Walker |first=Michael |editor-last1=Babbington |editor-first1=Bruce |editor-last2=Barr |editor-first2=Charles |title=The Call of the Heart: John M. Stahl and Hollywood Melodrama |publisher=Indiana University Press |date=2018 |pages=230–242 |chapter=Leave Her To Heaven |isbn=978-0861967360}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Leave Her to Heaven}}
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{TCMDb title}}
* {{AFI film}}
* {{YouTube|6mQaORJ_C98|''Leave Her to Heaven'' film trailer}}
* {{YouTube|ATfhKmkM-rE|Martin Scorsese discusses ''Leave Her to Heaven''}} at 45th [[New York Film Festival]]
* [https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6869-leave-her-to-heaven-the-eyes-of-ellen-berent ''Leave Her to Heaven: The Eyes of Ellen Berent''] an essay by [[Megan Abbott]] at the [[Criterion Collection]]
* [https://archive.org/download/Lux_Fills_and_Upgrades/Lux-470317-52m17s-564afrs-LeaveHertoHeaven-GTierneyCWilde.mp3 ''Leave Her to Heaven''] on [[Lux Radio Theater]]: March 17, 1947

{{John M. Stahl}}
{{Jo Swerling}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1945 films]]
[[Category:1945 drama films]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American drama films]]
[[Category:American psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Color film noir]]
[[Category:Films about people with paraplegia or tetraplegia]]
[[Category:Films about writers]]
[[Category:Films based on American novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by John M. Stahl]]
[[Category:Films scored by Alfred Newman]]
[[Category:Films set in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Films set in Maine]]
[[Category:Films set in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Films shot in Arizona]]
[[Category:Films shot in California]]
[[Category:Films shot in New Mexico]]
[[Category:Films set on lakes]]
[[Category:Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography Academy Award]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Jo Swerling]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]
[[Category:English-language thriller films]]
[[Category:Films about female psychopaths and sociopaths]]
[[Category:Films about psychopaths and sociopaths]]