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Originally Posted by Paul.R.S
We'll have to 'agree to disagree,' especially about Danny's death being more relief than tragedy.
I think many an actor might opine that it's the hallmark of a good craftsman when one can embody another character regardless--if not because--of whatever meshugas is going on in their own personal life. I felt Hickman's comments re Tierney were sufficiently technical/analytical as to not be dismissed as "stupid" or "self-centered." In other words, just because he didn't speculate that the faults he finds in her work might be attributable to issues in Tierney's personal life at the time doesn't IMO render meritless his perspectives about what it means as an actor to embody a character versus "indicating" and giving a "presentational" performance.
Furthermore, Hickman's comments sometimes were directed at other actors' work in the picture as well. So unless it's your perspective that what Hickman felt are deficiencies/issues with others' performances are attributable to personal issues in those actors' lives as well and they should thereby be afforded "pity and compassion," it doesn't quite hold much water to opine that Hickman's observations are off-base because he's not sensitive enough to Tierney's daughter's medical issues.
This bit of business about citing Tierney's perf being Oscar-nommed is of course problematic, too. There are plenty of "iconic" performances over the decades that the Academy has failed to recognize, and many perfs that were recognized by Oscar which are arguably less-deserving than others in any given year. Indeed, what I understood to be part of Hickman's critique--namely, that Tierney was a beautiful woman who was out of her league/overwhelmed--isn't invalidated just because the Academy perhaps nommed someone as much for their looks as their skills as a performer. Hollywood shocker! I'd opine that the scene which likely won Tierney the Oscar nom is the one where she is speechless and motionless and we don't even see her eyes: When she's [Show spoiler]wearing the sunglasses watching Danny drown . Ironically, it's Danny who is giving us more as an actor here given what you might recall we learn from Hickman on the commentary about this scene--namely, that the water was extremely cold, the stuntman didn't do the scene, so it's Hickman who was repeatedly asked to dive as deeply as possible so as to not be visible on camera. A crew member ended up jumping in to pull him outta the water when he said he had a cramp and he was nevertheless directed to keep performing.
Personally, I found the redness of Tierney's lipstick--and the ways it is highlighted by Leon Shamroy's lensing--just as if not more iconic than anything about her acting. Hopefully we can at least agree that everyone is fabulously overdressed in this picture.  |
Yes, we certainly disagree about the validity of Hickman's "insights", not only into Tierney's performance, but those pertaining to the rest of the cast and crew as well.
To be fair, I first recorded my disdain regarding the commentary track on the original Fox Studio Classics DVD release of
Leave Her to Heaven almost
ten years ago when I pointed out in one of the two reviews I wrote at the time:
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... The disc also features an audio commentary by film critic Richard Schickel, who clearly was unprepared for the job: he refers to Price's character by the wrong name; mistakenly identifies two child players as boys (one, played by Betty Hannon, is obviously a girl); and vacillates back and forth in his opinions regarding the film's qualities. Additional commentary is also offered by actor Darryl Hickman, who played Cornel Wilde's brother in the film. Hickman clearly loathed making the movie, and snipes ungraciously about Tierney as an actress and as a human being, ignoring the fact that she was struggling with the devastating prospect of institutionalizing her mentally enfeebled 18-month-old daughter during the course of the film's production. Hickman also takes potshots at Jeanne Crain (appearing in her fifth film role of any size), director John M. Stahl, and the personality of cameraman Leon Shamroy (although he is clearly an admirer of the latter's work). The sour and ineffective commentary aside, the DVD presentation of Leave Her to Heaven is a superb example of 1940's Hollywood moviemaking and the DVD format at their very best, and is most highly recommended for your viewing pleasure.
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Listening to the commentary for the first time almost a decade ago, I was unable to reconcile Hickman's complaints about the production (and particularly with Miss Tierney and her performance) with the statements made by other participants. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck wrote memos after seeing the rough cut of the film in which he stated unequivocally that Miss Tierney would not only be nominated for her performance as Ellen, but that he expected to her win and was going to hold back the release of her next film,
Dragonwyck, until after the Oscars in March 1946 to capitalize on her Best Actress win. He, obviously, was quite impressed with her work.
Vincent Price, interviewed by film historian Michael Buckley for a two-part interview in
Films in Review (May 1988 and June/July 1988) also lavished praise on Miss Tierney as a person and as an actress. After telling Buckley that he only kept in touch with three of his co-stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood (Jane Russell, Deanna Durbin, and Gene Tierney), he went on to rave, "Gene was the
most underrated actress that we ever had! I've known her since she was about 17; and I
adored her!" Price added, "She wasn't really a great beauty or sex idol. When you look at
Laura (his favorite of his films) and people ask why it has lasted, I think it's because of Gene Tierney ..." (The italics, by the way, weren't added by me. They appeared in the original interview.)
In her autobiography,
Self-Portrait (Wyden Books, 1979), the only negative thing Tierney remembered about the
Leave Her to Heaven shoot was director John M. Stahl's impatience with leading man Cornel Wilde who in one scene, according to Tierney, "was meant to be weak and couldn't quite pull it off." She was extremely complimentary about the contributions of the rest of the cast and crew, including Stahl and Jeanne Crain. Like Hickman, she noted that Bass Lake was cold and icy, but instead of complaining, she observed, "
Leave Her to Heaven was not an easy film to make. The really good ones seldom are." And she added, "I am grateful to John [Stahl] for allowing me to play Ellen as I understood her."
Leave Her to Heaven, of course, went on to become 20th Century-Fox's highest grossing film of the 1940's, bringing more money into the studio coffers than such acclaimed films as
The Grapes of Wrath,
How Green Was My Valley,
Laura,
The Razor's Edge,
Gentleman's Agreement,
The Snake Pit,
A Letter to Three Wives,
Twelve O'Clock High, etc., etc. No doubt the film was pre-sold by the success of the Ben Ames Williams' best-selling novel on which the film was based, but there's also no doubt that the film wouldn't have been a runaway smash if Tierney hadn't knocked one out of the ballpark. Even fellow Best Actress nominee Jennifer Jones (
Love Letters) and her husband, producer David O. Selznick lavished Tierney with praise. And no less a personage than Noel Coward told her circa 1950 that Tierney's portrayal of Ellen had given him one of the most memorable nights he had ever spent in the cinema: "Now that," he said, "was acting."
I sincerely wish that one of the film's actual stars had participated in the commentary; unfortunately, when it was recorded only Crain was still alive, and she was living the life of a recluse. All the other top-billed players and the key crew people had already died. Supporting player Hickman was the only one left, and while his recollections about his own small involvement obviously have some merit, he can hardly be considered an authority on what was an extensive shoot, much of which took place while he was not present.
On a side note (and yes, I know I'm being snide): watch actress Kay Riley as the nurse in the scene in which Danny learns he and Dick and Ellen are going to Back of the Moon. As Hickman gushes, "Aw, golly gee, Dick", watch Miss Riley's face closely as she reacts. I've seen the film dozens of times, and I swear she looks as though she wants to grimace or roll her eyes in response!
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And, since it's TT's, we should (hopefully) also finally get Basil Poledouris' brief, but lovely score in its entirety on an isolated track. MGM created a new HD master for the film in late 2014. That, combined with an August release, makes for perfect timing for the film's HD (and widescreen) debut.
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