Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

 John M. Stahl's "Leave Her to Heaven"


One of the films from the 1940s that has developed a cult following among film historians is John M. Stahl's 1945 technicolor melodrama "Leave Her to Heaven." In a very "Gone Girl"-before-"Gone Girl" motif, the story centers on a woman so obsessed with her husband that she brings about violence and death in order to keep him. The film has received such a ravenous following due to its multi-blending of genre between noir, psychological thriller, and melodrama, along with its gorgeous technicolor cinematography. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy even ended up winning the Best Cinematography - Color category at the 1946 Academy Awards. Not only this, the film ended up being 20th Century Fox's highest grossing film of the 1940s.



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