Did anyone else notice the pristine condition of all the sets including the station information desk, the smart brown phone there, the plush train compartment, the home in New Mexico, the impeccable wardrobe. Everything was so spotless and new. Was this post war revitalism or what?
shareYes, they were gorgeous. I suppose they were trying to emphasize both the wealth of Ellen and Richard.
shareI believe the intent (some critics consider this Film Noir) was to show the dakness was within Ellen and that made for a greater contrast from how things look and how they really are the effect is jarring today let alone in 1945. Very effective.
sharere: I believe the intent (some critics consider this Film Noir) was to show the dakness was within Ellen and that made for a greater contrast from how things look and how they really are the effect is jarring today let alone in 1945. Very effective."
This is indeed Noir, and to paraphrase the great Eddie Mueller, "This movie may be the blackest Noir of them all."
I believe the intent (some critics consider this Film Noir) was to show the dakness was within Ellen and that made for a greater contrast from how things look and how they really are the effect is jarring today let alone in 1945. Very effective.
You are not making much sense here. Ellen's "darkness" is reflected only in her actions and her behaviour not in the decor. In fact Gene Tierney becomes more and more beautiful the "darker" she becomes. The scene after she kills her child and then the cut to her in the swimsuit emerging from the beach is one of the most erotic moments in film history.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
Did anyone else notice the pristine condition of all the sets including the station information desk, the smart brown phone there, the plush train compartment, the home in New Mexico, the impeccable wardrobe. Everything was so spotless and new. Was this post war revitalism or what?
Well that's because you are seeing incredibly sophisticated Technicolor cinematography which many DP's say despite it's reputation for vivid, bright, eye-popping colour(courtesy the MGM Musicals) was actually because of the sets, the costumes and other props not really the Technicolor stock which was capable for very restrained desaturated colours.
Leave Her to Heaven was a major innovation and a big influence in that regard as it was one of the few major Hollywood Technicolor films to favour a desaturated look and so everything looks real and likelike. There were other Technicolor films with similarly restrained palette, Heaven Can Wait then most of the films in Britian like The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus and later The River.
Leave Her to Heaven itself was unusual since at the time, the general policy was Technicolor for comedies, musicals and big-budget spectaculars and black-and-white for crime films, Westerns(save for the Roy Rogers ones) and serious ventures.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
You wanna see eye-popping color, rent
Black Narcissus from Powell and Pressburger.
Niagra with Marilyn Monroe also features a horrible woman and vivid, saturated color moments.
I find it interesting that a commenter above names "Leave Her to Heaven", "Heaven Can Wait", "Colonel Blimp", "A Matter of Life and Death", and "Black Narcissus" as "desaturated" color films with a "restrained palette", when actually each of those films has deeply saturated, brilliant color.
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