Leave Her to Heaven (1945): Gene Tierney

     Based on the best selling novel of the same name by Ben Ames Williams, Leave Her to Heaven (1945) is often cited as the high point of Gene Tierney's career. She looks absolutely stunning, her classically beautiful visage perfectly captured in brilliant technicolor. Dramatically, Leave Her to Heaven has her most versatile performance displayed, for which she was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award. The film is a sort of Film Noir, with Gene Tierney's character being as chilling a Femme Fatale as one could never hope to meet. She was especially proud of her work on the film, saying in her autobiography A Portrait, it was "the finest work I have done."

     The story centers on Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde)- a novelist, who, leaving his invalid teenage brother to recuperate at a hospital, boards a train to New Mexico on a much needed vacation. On board, he meets young Ellen Berent (Gene Tierney), who's unrivaled beauty leaves Harland to think about little else... 

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

     Turns out they are both headed to the same NM ranch and, despite Ellen already being engaged to another man (Vincent Price), they wed two weeks later...

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

      They are in love... 

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

     But Harland soon learns that the enormity of Ellen's beauty is only equaled by her psychotically possessive personality. She can go from pleasant... 

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

     to sadistic very quickly when she doesn't get her way. She has a terrible jealous streak... 

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

     Quite simply- she wants Harland for herself and ONLY herself, and will do whatever necessary to get rid of any other person who makes the tiniest bid for some of his attention. This includes his young invalid brother. She allows a tragic accident on the lake to occur... 

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

     and that's just the beginning... 

Leave Her to Heaven. 1945: Gene Tierney

Laura (1944): Gene Tierney

     Laura (1944) is a great Film Noir style piece that showcases Gene Tierney's acting skills and breathtaking beauty at the peak of her career (long before the nut house and the shock treatments), and it is, perhaps, her best film. With a good story of infatuation, admiration and jealousy, the film holds back a few surprises along the way.

     Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney), a beautiful advertising exec and socialite, has been murdered: her lovely face rendered unrecognizable by the tearing of a direct shotgun blast... 

Laura. 1944: Gene Tierney

     A homicide detective (Dana Andrews) takes on the case with gusto, interviewing the two main suspects: Laura's admirer and benefactor: Waldo, and her Fiance: Shelby (Vincent Price). Along the way, a strange thing happens, as the detective begins to fall in love with Laura himself, via a portrait hanging on the wall, hearing descriptions of her ravishing allure and reading her diary... 

Laura. 1944: Gene Tierney

     The investigation is thrown into turmoil when Laura returns from a long weekend, very much alive... 

Laura. 1944: Gene Tierney

     Now the detective must find out who the woman was that was murdered in Laura's apartment, and the identity of the killer... 

Laura. 1944: Gene Tierney

     Everyone is a suspect, even Laura herself...

Laura. 1944: Gene Tierney

Laura. 1944: Gene Tierney

The Return of Frank James (1940): The Lovely Debut of Gene Tierney

     Flagrant Historical inaccuracies aside, The Return of Frank James (1940) is a fine Western film if taken at face value. When Fritz Lang left Germany in 1935, he came to Hollywood and found work with 20th Century-Fox. He took on several films which seemed uncharacteristic for his style, but which he made his own nevertheless. The Return of Frank James was two "firsts" for Lang. It was his first Western film, a decidedly American genre, and it was his first color movie. The film also marked the debut of Gene Tierney, a lovely young talent, whom many now consider to be the most beautiful of all Old Hollywood actresses.

     When Bob Ford (John Carradine) and his brother murder Jesse James for reward money and fame, Jesse's brother, Frank James (Henry Fonda), vows to avenge his death and kill the rotten Fords. Frank leaves his quiet farm life, where he lives under an assumed name, and goes off in pursuit... 

The Return of Frank James. 1940

     Along the way, Frank robs the payroll of the Railroad, the entity which supplied the reward money for killing Jesse. He meets Eleanor Stone (Gene Tierney), a newspaper reporter for the Denver Star... 

The Return of Frank James. 1940: Gene Tierney

     Miss Stone, not knowing who Frank is, unwittingly takes down a false story told by Frank's young companion (Jackie Cooper) detailing Frank's death in Mexico. Franks hopes that if people think he is dead, suspicions will let up... 

The Return of Frank James. 1940: Gene Tierney

     Miss Stone learns Frank's true identity along the way, and having gotten to know him, in now beginning to fall in love with him... 

The Return of Frank James. 1940: Gene Tierney

     Frank James now has more things to reconcile than just killing the Ford Brothers...

Gene Tierney