Technicolor Noir: “Leave Her to Heaven” starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) is a Technicolor film noir directed by John Stahl, produced by William A. Bacher and Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain. It is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams published in 1944. Jo Swerling adapted the screenplay.

Cornel Wilde and Gene Tierney

Tierney plays Ellen Berent, a rich socialite who meets novelist Richard Harland (Wilde) on the train to New Mexico. She thinks Richard resembles her dead father and that mesmerizes Ellen. Ellen’s relationship with her father seems to have been a strange and obsessive one. Ellen lives with her mother (Mary Phillips) and adopted sister Ruth (Crain). Ruth is really Ellen’s cousin and someone that Ellen sees as a rival rather than a beloved family member.

Ellen’s infatuation with Richard quickly turns into marriage. Richard introduces Ellen to his brother Danny who is crippled due to the effects of polio. In short order, they all move to Richard’s lodge in northern Maine called Back of the Moon. At first, all seems idyllic, but then Ellen begins to resent anyone occupying Richard’s time including Danny and her own family. Things go downhill when Ellen accuses Richard of enjoying Ruth’s company more than her own.

Will Ellen get control of her jealousy or will it destroy her and all the lives she’s touched?

John M. Stahl (1886 – 1950) was an American film director and producer who began his career in silent movies in 1913. In 1919 he signed with the film company Louis B. Mayer Pictures, which would eventually become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Stahl transitioned to sound and directed Imitation of Life (1934) starring Claudette Colbert which was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. In 1935, he directed Magnificent Obsession starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor. Other films of note include Back Street (1932) starring Dunne and John Boles, and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) starring Gregory Peck. Many believe that director Douglas Sirk was influenced by Stahl’s melodramatic style. Sirk remade Magnificent Obsession (1954) and Imitation of Life (1959).

Darryl F. Zanuck (1902 – 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive. Zanuck began his career as a writer for silent films. Zanuck worked successfully at Warner Bros. but left the studio to become a partner in 20th Century Pictures. Zanuck and his business partner bought out Fox Studios in 1935 to form Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. He won three Academy Awards as a producer for How Green Was My Valley (1940), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), and All About Eve (1950).

Jo Swerling (1897 – 1964) was an American screenwriter who collaborated with Frank Capra on such films as Ladies of Leisure (1930) and Platinum Blonde (1931). Other screenplays by Swerling include Double Wedding (1937), The Westerner (1940), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Pride of the Yankees (1942) for which he was Oscar-nominated. Swerling was one of the dozens of writers who worked on the script (not credited) for Gone with the Wind (1939).

Leon Shamroy (1901 – 1974) was an American cinematographer under contract to 20th Century-Fox studio. He was famous for his Technicolor work, which is exemplified in Leave Her to Heaven (1945) for which he won the Academy Award. He won four Academy Awards during his long career and shares the record for most Oscar nominations with Charles Lang (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir). Other films Shamroy shot include The Robe (1953), Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), and The Planet of the Apes (1968).

Gene Tierney (1920 – 1991) was an American actress. Tierney got her start on the stage where she played the ingenue lead in The Male Animal. Tierney made her movie debut in 1940 in The Return of Frank James starring Henry Fonda. She worked steadily in the early 1940s but established herself as a top box office star with Laura (1944). She starred in Leave Her to Heaven the next year which was the biggest hit of the year and Fox’s biggest moneymaking success until The Robe (1953). Other successes for Tierney include Dragonwyck (1946), The Razor’s Edge (1946), and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947).

Cornel Wilde (1912 – 1989) was a Hungarian-born American actor and film director. Wilde had small roles in films like High Sierra (1941) until he was signed by 20th Century Fox. He was loaned out to Columbia to play the role of Frederic Chopin in A Song to Remember (1945) for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. At Fox, he was a popular leading man. For that studio, he starred in Centennial Summer (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and Road House (1948). With the decline of his acting career, Wilde produced and directed several independent productions including Beach Red (1967) and No Blade of Grass (1970).

Jeanne Crain (1925 – 2003) was an American actress who began her movie career with a bit part in The Gang’s All Here (1943). Now under contract to Fox, Crain was featured in Home in Indiana (1944)  filmed in Technicolor and was a big hit. Crain was given top billing in her next feature In the Meantime Darling (1944). She made another film that same year, Winged Victory. In 1945 she co-starred with Dana Andrews in State Fair. She was now one of Fox’s top female stars. Margie (1946) was another popular success. She had another critical and box office success with Apartment for Peggy (1948). Her peak came in 1949 with A Letter to Three Wives and Pinky for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Jeanne Crain and Gene Tierney

Other actors in the cast are Vincent Price as Russell Quinton, Ray Collins as Glen Robie, Gene Lockhart as Dr. Saunders, Chill Wills as Leick Thorne, and Darry Hickman as Danny Harland, Richard’s younger brother.

Below is the link to the movie on YouTube. Please use this link because several versions on the channel are inferior to this one. I recommend you watch this on your TV. The Technicolor is amazing and you will appreciate it more on a larger screen.

Click HERE to watch the film on YouTube.

Click HERE to join the discussion on September 30, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join us on Zoom.

Discussion Questions:
1. This is considered the first film noir shot in color. Do you think this film would have been as effective if shot in black and white?
2. What do you think motivated Ellen’s jealousy? Do you really think she loved Richard or anyone?
3. Do you think there was any sympathy for Ellen’s character in 1945? Do you have any sympathy for her today?
4. What did you think of the contrast between Ellen and Ruth?
5. This is one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films from Hollywood’s Golden Age. He thinks Gene Tierney was one of the most underrated actresses from the 1940s. Would you agree with Scorsese on his assessment of Tierney?

Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney lead the cast in "Laura"

Laura (1944) is set among New York City’s upper crust, with Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigating the murder of beautiful advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). The suspects are some of her closest friends and associates including fiancé (Vincent Price), aunt (Judith Anderson), and mentor (Clifton Webb).

When production on Laura  started, no one believed that the end product would be worth seeing. From the beginning the project was problematic. Arguments between studio boss Darryl Zanuck and the original director, Rouben Mamoulian ended in Mamoulian being fired. Zanuck then assigned Otto Preminger, already the film’s producer, to be its director too. The only problem: Preminger had limited experience as a movie director. 

Under Preminger’s supervision, what began as a fairly ordinary murder mystery, turned out to be a critical and box office success. Tierney in the title role became a superstar and was forever identified with the beautiful, enigmatic Laura Hunt. Andrews, as Detective Mark McPherson, established himself as a major star and popular leading man. Webb, who hadn’t made a movie since the early days of talking pictures, earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Waldo Lydecker. Thomas M. Pryor, in his October 12, 1944 New York Times review called Laura “a top-drawer mystery.”

With some of the sharpest and wittiest dialogue ever recorded on film, Laura set the standard for 1940s film noir. Andrews’s portrayal of McPherson became a prototype for what would become known as the hard-boiled detective, influencing a generation of movie actors. Pryor from the Times put it this way: “Mr. Andrews is fast proving himself to be a solidly persuasive performer, a sort of younger-edition Spencer Tracy.”

The musical score by David Raksin is one of the most hauntingly beautiful movie themes ever recorded and will forever be associated with the enigmatic Tierney.

Laura trivia

• Vincent Price thought this was the best movie he ever made.
• David Raskin's famous film score wasn't nominated for an Academy Award.
• Jennifer Jones and Hedy Lamarr were both offered the role of Laura but turned it down.
• Gene Tierney, knowing that she wasn't the first choice was reluctant to take the part.
• Dorothy Adams, memorable as Laura's maid Bessie didn't receive screen credit.
• Joseph LaShelle won an Academy Award for his black and white cinematography.

Click HERE to watch the film on Internet Archive. You can play the film on your laptop or phone. If you have an HDMI cable, you can hook it up to your TV.

Click HERE to join the discussion on August 19, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion questions

1. Laura is considered one of the top films noir of all time. Do you think it deserves that reputation?
2. Some critics upon the film's release thought that Gene Tierney was miscast. Do you agree with that assessment?
3. Did David Raskin's score help the movie narrative?
4. The film is filled with great performances; did one performance stand out to you?
5. Where you surprised by the plot twists?
6. Do you think Waldo Lydecker was in love with Laura?

What is the secret of the “Moss Rose?”

Moss Rose (1947) is an American period mystery drama directed by Gregory Ratoff and starring Peggy Cummins, Victor Mature, and Ethel Barrymore. The supporting cast includes Vincent Price, Rhys Williams, and Patricia Medina. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Marjorie Bowen, based on a true-crime Victorian murder case.

The story is set in Victorian London and centers around chorus girl, Belle Adair (Cummins), whose real name is Rose Lynton. She sees gentleman Michael Drego (Mature) leave her friend Daisy Arrow’s (Margo Woode) apartment moments before she discovers that Daisy has been murdered.

Daisy decides to blackmail Michael thinking he is the murderer and is willing to do almost anything to keep himself from hanging and his family from scandal. Rose’s blackmail plans are quite unusual but Drego agrees to them. Rose begins to have second thoughts when a second murder is committed that is similar to the first.

Peggy Cummins, Ethel Barrymore, Patricia Medina, and Victor Mature

Gregory Ratoff (1893 – 1960) was a Russian-born American film director, actor, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his acting role as Max Fabian in All About Eve (1950). Some of the films Ratoff directed include Intermezzo (1939) starring Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman in her American film debut, Rose of Washington Square (1939) starring Alice Faye, Don Ameche, and Henry Fonda, Adam Had Four Sons (1941) starring Ingrid Bergman and  Warner Baxter, Oscar Wilde (1960).

Peggy Cummings (1925 – 2017) was an Irish actress who had a brief but memorable career in Hollywood. She is best remembered for her starring role in Gun Crazy (1950) playing a murderous femme fatale, who robs banks along with her husband. Cummings was originally cast as Amber St. Clair in Forever Amber (1947) but was replaced by Linda Darnell when Darryl Zanuck, after looking at the rushes, thought she was too young. After Gun Crazy, Cummings never made another film in Hollywood.

Victor Mature (1913 – 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor who became a major movie star during the 1940s under contract to 20th Century-Fox. Before his film career took off, Mature starred in Lady in the Dark (1941) on Broadway opposite Gertrude Lawrence. Some of Mature’s notable films include I Wake Up Screaming (1941) with Betty Grable, and The Shanghai Gesture (1941) with Gene Tierney. In 1942, he starred opposite Rita Hayworth in the musical My Gal Sal. Other notable films include Samson and Delilah (1949), and The Robe (1952), the first film released in the Cinemascope widescreen process. Mature was self-deprecating when it came to his acting. He said, “I’m no actor, and I’ve got 64 pictures to prove it.”

Ethel Barrymore (1879 - 1959) was an American stage and film actress and part of the famous Barrymore family of actors. Her equally famous brothers were Lionel and John Barrymore. Barrymore got her start on the stage and she was among its brightest stars for many years. Barrymore also had a successful career on the other side of the Atlantic in London where she starred in Peter the Great. She achieved one of her biggest Broadway successes in W. Somerset Maugham’s comedy, The Constant Wife (1926). Barrymore was a popular character actress in film during the 1940s. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in None but the Lonely Heart (1944) opposite Cary Grant who played her son. Other film roles include The Spiral Staircase (1946), The Paradine Case (1947), and Pinky (1949).

 

Victor Mature and Peggy Cummins

Click HERE to join the online discussion on Monday, January 8, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation with a link to join the discussion on Zoom.

Click HERE to watch the movie on YouTube.

Discussion questions

1. What genre would you classify this film?
2. Peggy Cummins was given the lead in this film after being fired from Forever Amber. What did you think of her performance?
3. The film had great production values, a good cast, and a tight script. However, the film was a box office failure. Why do you think this was the case?
4. Filmed entirely on the backlot at 20^th Century-Fox, did the recreation of Victorian London look realistic to you?
5. Did it remind you of any other film you’ve seen?
6. Was there a favorite character actor or performance that you especially liked?
7. Where you surprised when the true murderer was revealed?  Did you suspect someone else or where you on the right track all along?

Gene Tierney unravels the mystery surrounding “Dragonwyck”

Dragonwyck (1946) is an American historical drama directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, Vincent Price, and Glenn Langan. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Anya Seton. The film score was by Alfred Newman and the cinematography was by Arthur C.  Miller (How Green Was My Valley).

Miranda Wells (Tierney) is a Connecticut farm girl who lives with her parents, Ephraim (Huston), Abigail (Anne Revere), and her brothers and sister. Miranda dreams of a more romantic life away from the farm and is delighted when she is given the opportunity to be a companion for her distant cousin Nicholas Van Ryn’s (Price) eight-year-old daughter Katrine (Connie Marshall). 

Van Ryn is the master of Dragonwyck Manor, a huge mansion sitting along the Hudson River in New York. Miranda is overwhelmed by the enormity of Dragonwyck and the new luxuries she now enjoys. At first, Miranda is charmed by her cousin and young charge, but slowly, things begin to change.

She discovers that Katrine is alienated from both of her parents and doesn’t believe that they love her. Miranda also realizes that the marriage between Nicholas and his wife Johanna (Vivienne Osborne) is far from perfect.

When Nicholas’s affections turn from Johanna to Miranda, life becomes a complicated nightmare for the young farm girl from Connecticut.

Gene Tierney, Walter Huston, and Anne Revere

Gene Tierney (1920 – 1991) was an American actress. Tierney got her start on the stage where she played the ingenue lead in The Male Animal. She was spotted by 20th Century-Fox Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck and he offered her a movie contract. Zanuck said that Tierney was the most beautiful woman in the movies. Tierney proved that she could carry a film not completely based on her beauty in films like Laura (1944) and Leave Her To Heaven (1945) for which she was nominated for her first and only Best Actress Academy Award. Other important films include The Razor’s Edge (1946), Dragonwyck (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), The Iron Curtain (1948), Whirlpool (1949), and The Mating Season (1951). In the late 1940s, she struggled with mental illness which negatively affected her career. After 1955’s The Left Hand of God, Tierney was off the screen until Advice & Consent (1962). She appeared in two films after that, but her career in film effectively ended in 1964 after a guest appearance in The Pleasure Seekers.

Walter Huston (1883 - 1950) was a Canadian singer, stage, and film actor. He is also the patriarch of the Huston clan that includes his writer-director son John, and his granddaughter, actress Anjelica. Huston worked in the theater, with roles on Broadway where he made his debut in 1924. Once talking pictures began in Hollywood, Huston worked as both a leading man and also a character actor. Some of Huston’s films include The Virginian (1929), Rain (1932), Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941), and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, directed by his son John. Huston’s last film was The Furies (1950) co-starring Barbara Stanwyck and Wendell Corey.

Vincent Price (1911 - 1993) was an American actor who worked on the stage, in film, radio, and television. He was also an art collector and author. Price established himself as a character actor in the 1940s with roles in films like The Song of  Bernadette (1943), Laura (1944), The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), and Leave Her to Heaven (1945). In the 1950s, he established himself as a star of horror films including House of Wax (1953), The Fly (1958), and House on Haunted Hill (1959). Toward the end of his career, Price had important roles in The Whales of August (1987) and Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands (1990).

Glenn Langan (1917 - 1991) was an American character actor on film and stage. He appeared on Broadway in Glamour Preferred and Johnny Belinda. As a contract player at 20th Century-Fox, Langan had roles in Margie (1946), Dragonwyck (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and The Snake Pit (1948). Langan also starred on the radio in Murder is My Hobby and Mystery Is My Hobby.

Dragonwyck features a strong supporting cast that includes Anne Revere, Spring Byington, Connie Marshall, Jessica Tandy, Harry (Henry) Morgan, and Vivienne Osborne.

Connie Marshall and Gene Tierney

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

Dragonwyck trivia:

• Ernst Lubitsch was the original producer/director but had to drop out due to illness.
• The the first film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
• Gregory Peck was originally cast as Nicholas Van Ryn, but had to drop out when Lubitsch became sick and filming was delayed.
• Vincent Price lost 30 pounds for the role.
• Gene Tierney was the top dramatic actress at 20th Century-Fox and at the height of her popularity when this film was released. 

Why watch this film?

• It is the first directorial effort for Joseph L. Mankiewicz who also wrote the screenplay.
• Vincent Price has one of the best roles of his career in Dragonwyck.
• The film is an example of the studio system at its height; the production values for this film are excellent.
• This was the last film credit for Vivienne Osborne whose career goes back to the silent film era.

To join the discussion on July 26, 2021, at 6:30 p.m. Central Time, click here. Once you RSVP, you will receive an invitation and link to the discussion on Zoom.

Discussion Questions:

1. What genre would you categorize this film?
2. Was Vincent Price convincing as Nicholas Van Ryn?
3. Did Gene Tierney make a convincing Miranda Wells?
4. What did you think of the supporting cast? Did you have a favorite?
5. Did anything surprise you?
6. What are some of the contrasts between Nicholas and Miranda?

“Leave Her to Heaven”: a film noir in glorious Technicolor

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) is a Technicolor film noir directed by John Stahl, produced by William A. Bacher and Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain. It is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams published in 1944. Jo Swerling adapted the screenplay.

Cornel Wilde and Gene Tierney

Tierney plays Ellen Berent, a rich socialite who meets novelist Richard Harland (Wilde) on the train to New Mexico. She thinks Richard resembles her dead father and that mesmerizes Ellen. Ellen’s relationship with her father seems to have been a strange and obsessive one. Ellen lives with her mother (Mary Phillips) and adopted sister Ruth (Crain). Ruth is really Ellen’s cousin and someone that Ellen sees as a rival rather than a beloved family member.

Ellen’s infatuation with Richard quickly turns into marriage. Richard introduces Ellen to his brother Danny who is crippled due to the effects of polio. In short order, they all move to Richard’s lodge in northern Maine called Back of the Moon. At first, all seems idyllic, but then Ellen begins to resent anyone occupying Richard’s time including Danny and her own family. Things begin to really take a downward turn when Ellen accuses Richard of enjoying Ruth’s company more than her own, implying there is something improper going on.

Will Ellen get control of her jealousy or will it destroy her and all the lives she’s touched?

John M. Stahl (1886 – 1950) was an American film director and producer who began his career in silent movies in 1913. In 1919 he signed with the film company Louis B. Mayer Pictures, which would eventually become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Stahl made the transition to sound and directed Imitation of Life (1934) starring Claudette Colbert which was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. In 1935, he directed Magnificent Obsession starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor. Other films of note include Back Street (1932) starring Dunne and John Boles, and The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) starring Gregory Peck. Many believe that director Douglas Sirk was influenced by Stahl’s melodramatic style. Sirk remade both Magificent Obsession (1954) and Imitation of Life (1959).

Darryl F. Zanuck (1902 – 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive. Zanuck began his career as a writer for silent films. Zanuck worked successfully at Warner Bros. but left the studio to become a partner in 20th Century Pictures. Zanuck and his business partner bought out Fox Studios in 1935 to form Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation. He won three Academy Awards as a producer for How Green Was My Valley (1940), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), and All About Eve (1950).

Jo Swerling (1897 – 1964) was an American screenwriter who collaborated with Frank Capra on such films as Ladies of Leisure (1930) and Platinum Blonde (1931). Other screenplays by Swerling include Double Wedding (1937), The Westerner (1940), Blood and Sand (1941), and The Pride of the Yankees (1942) for which he was-Oscar nominated. Swerling was one of the dozens of writers who worked on the script (not credited) for Gone with the Wind (1939).

Leon Shamroy (1901 – 1974) was an American cinematographer under contract to 20th Century-Fox studio. He was famous for his Technicolor work, which is exemplified in Leave Her to Heaven (1945) for which he won the Academy Award. He won four Academy Awards during his long career and shares the record for most Oscar nominations with Charles Lang (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir). Other films Shamroy shot include The Robe (1953), Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), The King and I (1956), South Pacific (1958), and The Planet of the Apes (1968).

Gene Tierney (1920 – 1991) was an American actress. Tierney got her start on the stage where she played the ingenue lead in The Male Animal. Tierney made her movie debut in 1940 in The Return of Frank James starring Henry Fonda. She worked steadily in the early 1940s but established herself as a top box office star with Laura (1944). She starred in Leave Her to Heaven the next year which was the biggest hit of the year and Fox’s biggest moneymaking success until The Robe (1953). Other successes for Tierney include Dragonwyck (1946), The Razor’s Edge (1946), and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947).

Cornel Wilde (1912 – 1989) was a Hungarian-born American actor and film director. Wilde had small roles in films like High Sierra (1941) until he was signed by 20th Century Fox. He was loaned out to Columbia to play the role of Frederic Chopin in A Song to Remember (1945) for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Actor. At Fox, he was a popular leading man. For that studio, he starred in Centennial Summer (1946), Forever Amber (1947), and Road House (1948). With the decline of his acting career, Wilde produced and directed several independent productions including Beach Red (1967) and No Blade of Grass (1970).

Jeanne Crain (1925 – 2003) was an American actress who began her movie career with a bit part in the film The Gang’s All Here (1943). Now under contract to Fox, Crain was featured in Home in Indiana (1944) which was filmed in Technicolor and was a big hit. Crain was given top-billing in her next feature In the Meantime Darling (1944). She made another film that same year, Winged Victory. In 1945 she co-starred with Dana Andrews in State Fair. She was now one of Fox’s top female stars. Margie (1946) was another popular success. She had another critical and box office success with Apartment for Peggy (1948). Her peak came in 1949 with A Letter to Three Wives and Pinky for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Jeanne Crain and Gene Tierney

Other actors in the cast you will recognize are Vincent Price as Russell Quinton, Ray Collins as Glen Robie, Gene Lockhart as Dr. Saunders, Chill Wills as Leick Thorne, and Darry Hickman as Danny Harland, Richard’s younger brother.

Below is the link to the movie on YouTube. Please be sure to use this link because there are several versions on the channel that are inferior to this one. If you can, I recommend you watch this on your TV. The Technicolor is pretty amazing and you will appreciate it more on a larger screen.



On Tuesday, June 16, 2020 at 6:30 p.m. Central Time join us on Zoom to discuss this film. Below are the links to the Zoom meeting.

Stephen Reginald is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Discussion of "Leave Her to Heaven"
Time: Jun 16, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/71924242712?pwd=Z0JIbVA4Nml1RmtzcGd0OUozR2kvQT09

Meeting ID: 719 2424 2712
Password: 9ZaE99

Discussion Questions:
1. This is considered the first film noir shot in color. Do you think this film would have been as effective if shot in black and white?
2. What do you think motivated Ellen’s jealousy? Do you really think she loved Richard or anyone?
3. Do you think there was any sympathy for Ellen’s character in 1945? Do you have any sympathy for her today?
4. What did you think of the contrast between Ellen and Ruth?
5. This is one of Martin Scorsese’s favorite films from Hollywood’s Golden Age. He thinks that Gene Tierney was one of the most underrated actresses from the 1940s. Would you agree with Scorsese on his assessment of Tierney?

Noirvember starts with “Laura” at the Daystar Center, November 5

The Noirvember film series begins Saturday night with Laura (1944) at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State Street. The movie begins at 6:45 p.m.

Set among Park Avenue society, Laura concerns the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), a beautiful young woman who captivated every man she met. Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigates the murder  by questioning the men in Laura’s life: literary critic Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) and playboy fiancé Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). Did they have motives to kill Laura? Hypnotized by Laura’s portrait, as he continues the investigation, McPherson finds himself falling in love. When the case takes a strange turn, the suspense really begins. Filled with witty dialogue and one of the most famous film scores of all time, Laura is considered one of the best films noir ever produced.

The complete schedule for the Noirvember series is listed below. All films begin at 6:45 p.m.

Murder, My Sweet (1945) November 12
Gilda (1946) November 19
Road House (1948) November 26

Tierney is Tops!

A radiant Tierney in "The Return of Frank James"

Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of Twentieth Century Fox, thought Gene Tierney was the most beautiful woman in movie history. During the 1940s, Tierney’s face was on the covers of countless magazines; women copied her look and wore clothes and accessories inspired by her movie roles.

From the moment she first appeared on the big screen, Tierney was a star. The critics weren’t always taken with her performances, but audiences loved her mix of exotic and girl-next-door beauty. She had a slight overbite, which Tierney refused to correct, when she came to Hollywood. In fact, she had it written into her contract that she had “control” of her teeth and hair. A clause like that may seem odd to us today, but during the reign of the major Hollywood studios it was unusual for an actor or actress to have those kinds of exceptions written into their contracts.

Tierney was far from a diva or prima donna when it came to performing on the set. Known for her professionalism and kindness with both cast and crew, her first husband, Oleg Cassini said Tierney wanted everyone around her to “be happy.”

Tierney helped sell a lot of hats in the 1940s.

Gene Eliza Tierney was born in Brooklyn, NY, on November 19, 1920. Tierney’s father, Howard Sherwood was a successful insurance broker. Her mother, Belle Lavina Taylor was a former physical education instructor. Gene had an older brother, Howard Sherwood Jr. and a younger sister, Patricia.

The Tierney family eventually settled in Connecticut where all seemed ideal. Gene attended the best private schools in the state. At the age of 15, she spent two years attending the Brillantmont school in Lausanne, Switzerland. At Brillantmont, she learned to speak fluent French, a skill she would display in several future film roles.

Tierney’s film career might have started earlier had it not been for her father. In 1938, Gene and her family took a trip to Hollywood. On a tour of the Warner Brothers studio, she was “discovered” by Anatole Litvak. The studio wanted to give the seventeen-year-old a contract, but her father didn’t think the salary was very good and that ended that, or so it seemed.

Tierney is a Technicolor dream in "Heaven Can Wait."

Instead of going to Hollywood, Tierney struck a deal with her father. She would pursue an acting career on the legitimate stage. It was Howard Tierney’s belief (and hope) that his daughter would soon tire of a career, marry well and settle down. But that was not to be.

On the cover of "Life" in 1941

Tierney’s stage debut was inauspicious at best: she carried a pail of water across the stage in What a Life! (1938). Larger roles soon followed and influential critics like Brooks Atkinson from The New York Times took notice. Her real break came when she played Patricia Stanley in the Male Animal (1940). Her reviews were terrific and all of Broadway was at her feet.

One evening, Darryl F. Zanuck, head of Twentieth Century Fox studios, attended a performance of The Male Animal. He thought Tierney had movie star potential and soon she was on her way to Hollywood.

Tierney’s first movie was The Return of Frank James starring Henry Fonda and directed by Fritz Lang. The movie was a hit, but Tierney’s performance was panned. The Harvard Lampoon went so far as to call  her “The Worst Female Discovery” of 1940. Tierney took that slight in stride, but she didn’t like the way her voice sounded. She said she sounded like an “angry Minnie Mouse.” Someone suggested she take up smoking cigarettes to lower the register of her voice. Smoking did lower her voice, but it would also contribute to health problems later in life.

Tierney in "Tobacco Road"

Tierney may not have impressed the critics with her acting ability, but the public was enthralled with her beauty. As the new Hollywood “it girl,” Tierney made five movies in 1941, including Tobacco Road directed by John Ford, Sundown directed by Henry Hathaway, and The Shanghai Gesture directed by Joseph von Sternberg. Nineteen forty-one was also the year Tierney defied her family and studio by marrying a young fashion designer named Oleg Cassini. She and Cassini eloped against the advice of her parents and the brass at Fox.

The next year, Tierney starred in four movies, including Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake opposite Tyrone Power, Fox’s top male box office draw.

In 1943, Tierney starred in Heaven Can Wait with Don Ameche, directed by the legendary Ernst Lubitsch. The classic comedy filmed in Technicolor showcased Tierney’s radiant beauty. In the movie, her character aged from a young teenage girl to a middle-aged woman and mother. It was her performance as Martha Strabel Van Cleve that convinced Otto Preminger that Tierney had the right qualities to play the title character in the new movie he was producing.

A studio portrait

During the filming of Heaven Can Wait, Tierney discovered she was pregnant. On October 15, 1943, Tierney gave birth to a baby girl, Antoinette Daria Cassini. Born premature, Daria had several handicaps: she was deaf, partially blind, and severely retarded. This devastated Tierney and may have been the beginning of her struggles with mental illness.

After the birth of her daughter, it wasn’t a surprise that Tierney was reluctant to get back to the studio for the next assignment they had lined up for her. The role of Laura Hunt did not appeal to Tierney. Originally conceived as a vehicle for Jennifer Jones, producer Otto Preminger wanted Tierney and lobbied Zanuck hard for her services.

Hired as the producer, Preminger constantly clashed with Rouben Mamoulian, (The Mark of Zoro ,1940) the studio-assigned director. After viewing early footage that Mamoulian directed, Zanuck fired him and hired Preminger to both produce and direct. Preminger had directed several films before, but none had brought him any great success or acclaim. Laura was based on a novel by Vera Caspary, a popular novelist and screenwriter ( A Letter to Three Wives,1949).

Tierney, as Laura Hunt, surrounded by Dana Andrews, Vincent Price, and Clifton Webb

Set among New York’s Park Ave. set, the movie is populated with society’s “upper crust,” if you will, a group that fascinated Preminger. Casting Tierney as the mysterious Laura was a risk. The audience had to believe that she was able to captivate all three of the male protagonists. The director was sure he had made the right choice and felt the same about casting Dana Andrews as detective Mark McPherson. At this point in his career, Andrews was still playing second leads. Zanuck’s first choice for the role was John Hodiak. Laura gave Andrews his first big role and it made him a star.

When the film was released in late 1944, it was an instant hit. Tierney was more famous than ever. And she would be forever identified with the film and its haunting musical score penned by David Raksin.

Laura was nominated for five Academy Awards, including one for Best Director (Preminger) and Best Supporting Actor (Clifton Webb). Preminger and Webb lost that year, but cinematographer Joseph LaShelle won for his masterful black and white photography.

Tierney’s performance, as well as Andrews’s, was neglected at Oscar time. Today Tierney’s performance is appreciated as one of the best of the actress’s career. The American Film Institute named Laura the fourth best film in the mystery genre in 2008.