Wicked Women? You decide...

Leave Her To Heaven (John M. Stahl 1945)

Don't be fooled by the sugar coated first half of Leave Her to Heaven: The cute and romantic way the leads meet, Gene Tierney's luminous beauty (quite something in Technicolor), and the way everyone seems so happy! It's almost cornball. But it's easy not to spot that this particular angel cake contains one or two razor blades beneath the sweet icing.
There is the occasional hint at the wickedness bubbling below the surface - the appearance of Vincent Price, her jealousy, her unnatural fixation with her dead father (not to mention the breathtaking scattering of his ashes), but nothing prepares you for the first jarring cut of those hidden blades.
Up until the first shocking realisation of Ellen's wickedness, I was on her side. After all, she only wants to be alone with her man, Richard (Cornel Wilde looking as bland as ever - Technicolor making him a lovely shade of beige!) And her crushed expression when her whole family turn up at their love-nest is so perfect, it makes me laugh out loud that Richard can't see it! - they are already sharing with Richard's invalid brother (who says "Gosh!" far too much) and Richard's friend (the rather annoying Chill Wills). When the mother admits to Ellen's sister that they shouldn't have come, you think "Hell, yes!" they are on their honeymoon!!
Well, she has had enough and resolves to do something about it and when it happens... your jaw hits the floor! (This is a woman who is quite unhinged) Then she does it again and again! She will stop at nothing to stop anyone getting close to her man.
There are moments of pure cinema here and Tierney captures the moment perfectly - even when she is hidden behind sunglasses, her monotone delivery and glacial expression says it all. And the scene with the staircase, she knows what to do and her eyes tell you everything you need to know about what she's thinking.
Gene Tierney is a stunningly beautiful actress and quite often she is dismissed as a serious performer because of this. But under the right director she can be electric. Her films with Otto Preminger are a case in point and she is also very good in The Ghost and Mrs Muir. This for me though is her finest performance.
By the end of the film though, I wonder to myself how evil Ellen really is. Yes, she does really wicked things but obviously this is a manifestation of here mental illness. Yet no-one does anything to help her! Her mother especially, many times in the film, admits to knowing something is amiss with her daughter. Then do something - wringing hands never helped anyone! Incidentally, even Ellen's jealous paranoia of her husband's fidelity is, ultimately, shown to be justified!
Is Ellen Berent really a monster or a victim?? In 1945 it would have been easy to say "hang the bitch" but in our more enlightened times our analysis has to be less black & white.

A Woman's Face (George Cukor 1941)
Sometimes I actually prefer 'A Woman's Face' over Mildred Pierce - Cukor seems to have subdued Crawford a little, making her seem less histrionic - softer and less brittle. But I suppose that's why it's less popular - we want the brittle glamour and we love to see Joanie "suffering in furs". In 'Mildred Pierce' we don't quite believe her as a frumpy house-wife, wearing a pinnie, baking pies, so as soon as she dons the shoulder-pads and starts bashing Vida about, we cheer! But Anna Holm is a great character too and just as exciting to me. The 'softening' of her performance adds an extra layer of ambiguity to what could have otherwise been a more obviously villainous character.
Scarred physically as well as mentally, Anna takes her misfortunes out on the silly 'beautiful' women of the film with blackmail. It's not long before she is falling for the insidious charms of Conrad Veidt and is seduced into the worst of all crimes - the murder of a child. This poses a troubling flaw in her characterisation (probably not intentional) as you don't know till the end of the flic whether she carries out her heinous act or not, (this being Hollywood you maybe have a fair idea though). But the fact that she, at least, considers it seriously is infinitely harder to forgive than her blackmail endeavours. It does add to your interest in Anna but at the same time you sympathise with her less.

It's a marvelous film and Crawford is great - possibly my favourite performance of hers. Veidt, as usual, is wonderfully malevolent as the villain of the piece and their scenes together are eery and spellbinding (despite some seriously dodgy dialogue) .
Many of the minor characters do a fine job too - I particularly liked Albert Bassermann's crusty old Consul and Ossa Massen is a delight as one of Crawford's 'silly' victims (Crawford gets to give her a good slapping). Melvyn Douglas, on the other hand, is only adequate. To me he seems to be in the wrong movie - his screwball and matinée idol pedigree doesn't ring true in such a dark and gothic tale.
It's surprisingly cinematic for a Cukor pic (as great as I think his films are, sometimes I do find them a little visually flat), looking very noirish and gothic (as ever, Crawford is perfectly lighted). And it has a very exciting chase in the snow for a finale.

Even though both films instill a certain amount of ambiguity and doubt about how 'evil' either woman really is, personally I don't feel that either of the women are really bad. I'm more inclined to think Anna Holm is more of a villain than Ellen Berent, as Anna seems to act through spite and greed whereas Ellen's actions seem to be dictated by a mental illness. Yet, ironically, poor Ellen is portrayed less sympathetically (not showing remorse for her actions for example) so of course Hollywood dictates that she should pay the ultimate price. To me that makes her the more tragic of the two.
So, would I invite Ellen or Anna round for tea and biscuits? Well I'm sure I would feel quite safe... but I may just hide the knives!