Leave Her to Heaven by Bosley Crowther
25 décembre 1945. Le passant cinéphile ne s’est toujours pas remis de l’envahissement familial au sein de son foyer. Une seconde séance est nécessaire. Direction le Roxy pour y découvrir Leave Her to Heaven avec Gene Tierney et se changer les idées.
Critique d’époque :
« Christmas Day was an inauspicious moment to bring in a moody, morbid film which is all about a selfish, jealous and deceitful dame. Somehow, this hardly seems the season for indulging in that sort of thing. Yet such is the unpleasant topic which is pursued to exhausting length in the Twentieth Century-Fox’s Leave Her to Heaven, which came to the Roxy yesterday. 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.
Assuming that there are such women as the one Gene Tierney plays in this film – a thoroughly ornery creature who is so jealous of her author-husband’s love that she permits his adored younger brother to drown, kills her own unborn child and finally destroys herself by trickery when she finds that her husband and her sister are in love – the description of such in this picture is far from skillful or acute. The reason for the lady’s disposition is never convincingly revealed, and the whole plot – especially a court-room climax – is arbitrary, artificial and mane.
Miss Tierney’s petulant performance of this vixenish character is about as analytical as a piece of pin-up poster art. It is strictly one-dimensional, in the manner of a dot on an I. And Cornel Wilde is equally restricted as her curiously over-powered spouse. Jeanne Crain is colorless and wooden as the sister with whom he eventually finds bliss, and Vincent Price, Mary Philips and Darryl Hickman mechanically play other roles. Only the sets are intriguing, being elaborate and gadgety ». Par Bosley Crowther pour le New York Times.
Une seule chose à sauver dans Leave Her to Heaven pour Bosley Crowther. Les décors. Parce que pour ce qui est du reste…
14 réflexions sur « Leave Her to Heaven by Bosley Crowther »
Comment peut-on être si injuste avec Gêne Tierney. Décidément Bosley n’a pas le Noël très joyeux.
Pourtant, la veille il semblait être revenu à de meilleurs sentiments. Chassez le naturel…
Kirk Shaudys from the group The World of Noir : « Seems like he was more upset about the timing of the film’s release than anything else and let that affect his review ».
Thomas Keith from the group Classic Film Noir (1940-1958) : « Fortunately, Mr. Crowther was visited by the ghosts of Noir Past, Noir Present, and Noir Yet to Come, and mended his ways ».
Paul Baca from the group Classic Film Noir (1940-1958) : « crowther is a footnote…even in the new york times ».
Gord McCaw from the group All Films Noir : « Bosley Crowther hated just about everything… »
Bobo Belvedere from the group Classic Film Noir Theater : « Down with Bosley Crowther. Critics think they know it all ».
Frank P Tomasulo from the group Noir Films Pre-Noir to Classic : « I paid little to no attention to Bosley Crowther’s reviews, even on the rare occasions when his opinion made sense. (Of course, I was not alive or sentient during much of the classic film noir period but his poor judgment lasted at least until he panned BONNIE AND CLYDE and everyone suddenly realized that his taste was all wet.) »
Gordon Cummings from the group The World of Noir : « I’m kind of with Crowther on this one. I mean, she kills herself in such a way as to frame her sister for her murder. How psycho is that? »
Jim Patterson from the group All Films Noir : « I never thought that i would take up for Bosley Crowther but I will. I don’t think that you people panning him understand his manner of writing. He is from a different era of theater criticism. If he says it is « passable » he liked it. There was a reason he held that job for over thirty years »
Norrie Ross from the group Film Noir Addicts Anonymous : « This is a great movie and I’m amazed at how bad the reviewers were back in the day, even so called legends like Crowther. Their reviews are filled with moralising nonsense, as if their opinions came from the pulpit, and they seemed to think movies should somehow improve the audience. Many classic Noirs were poorly reviewed at the time because the reviewers couldn’t see past their own stunted personalities or simply equated crime dramas with real crime. Thank goodness the French, who don’t share the hypocritical moralising of Americans, saw the art in these films ».
Sarah Paveglio from The World of Noir : « I always enjoyed this film. Thought Tierney did an incredible job »
Jon Bloch from Classic Film Noir (1940-1958): « I forget the exact quote, but Pauline Kael said something about how Crowther was invaluable because what he wrote was the opposite of what was true about a movie, or words to that effect ».
Richard Blute from Classic Film Noir (1940-1958) : « I think it was Kansas City Confidential where Crowther got indignant that a movie would suggest that cops could be corrupt or they might rough up a suspect during interrogation ».