Gene Tierney Studio Stars Collection [DVD]

Contains five of Gene Tierney's greatest films: Thunder Birds, Tobacco Road, Laura, Leave Her to Heaven and The Ghost and Mrs Muir.

Thunder Birds - While it certainly shows its age, Thunder Birds is still a perfectly entertaining example of the pre-war programmers that Hollywood churned out at the height of World War II. The standard-issue romance is strictly routine, but it gives radiant star Gene Tierney a chance to shine as she juggles the affections of a seasoned pilot trainer (Preston Foster) and a British trainee (John Sutton) who must conquer his fear of heights before earning his wings. --Jeff Shannon, amazon.com

Tobacco Road - Adapted from Jack Kirkland's controversial play (which was itself adapted from Erskine Caldwell's even-more-controversial novel), Tobacco Road details the sordid immorality amongst poor, inbred, white folks. Directed by John Ford, the film focuses on the Lester family, a big, shiftless, backwoods bunch. The family is about to be kicked off their land because they stopped paying rent, but they continually eschew anyone who tries to help them out. Though not as explicit as the novel or stage play, the film was still considered to be sufficiently steamy by audiences at the time.

Laura - This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. Gene Tierney brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example of the genre, but under the tasteful decor and high-society fashions lies a world seething in jealousy, passion, blackmail, and murder. Vincent Price co-stars as a blithe gigolo and David Raksin's lush theme has become a wistful romantic standard. --Sean Axmaker, amazon.com

Leave Her to Heaven is one of the most unblinkingly perverse movies ever offered up as a prestige picture by a major studio in the golden age of Hollywood. Gene Tierney scored an Oscar nomination playing a demonically obsessive daughter of privilege with her own monstrous notion of love. By the time she crosses eyebeams with popular novelist Cornel Wilde on a New Mexico-bound train, her jealous manipulations have driven her parents apart and her father to his grave. Mere screen moments later, she's jettisoned rising-politico fiancé Vincent Price and accepted a marriage proposal the besotted/bewildered Wilde hasn't quite made. Can the wrecking of his and several other lives be far behind? Not to mention a murder or two?--Richard T. Jameson, amazon.com

The Ghost and Mrs Muir - Joseph Mankiewicz's moody classic is less ghost story than romantic fantasy, a handsome 1947 drama of impossible love set on the picturesque turn-of-the-century New England coast. Independent young widow Lucy Muir (the luminous Gene Tierney) falls in love with a grand seaside house and moves in, only to discover the cantankerous ghost of the hot-tempered Captain Gregg (a histrionically flamboyant performance by Rex Harrison). Lucy refuses to be frightened away, earning his respect, his friendship, and later his love. As his affection grows he fades away, leaving Lucy free to undertake a more worldly suitor with his own guarded secret. It’s a sublime adult drama, and Tierney delivers one of her most understated performances as the resolute Mrs. Muir. --Sean Axmaker, amazon.com

Five films from the 1940s featuring actress Gene Tierney. William A Wellman directs the WWII aviation drama 'Thunder Birds' (1942). John Sutton stars as Peter Stackhouse, a British aviophobe who is nonetheless determined to become a pilot. Stackhouse's resolution comes from his desire to serve his country, and his strength is recognised by Steve Britt (Preston Foster), who takes him under his wing and becomes his patient teacher. The two men's bond is tested, however, when they both fall for the same girl, Kay (Tierney). John Ford directs the 1941 hillbilly comedy 'Tobacco Road', in which shiftless Jeeter Lester (Charley Grapewin) and his long-suffering wife and family live in a rural backwater where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank's plans to take over the land for more profitable farming. Subplots involve the affairs and marriages of son Dude (William Tracy) and daughter Ellie May (Tierney). Otto Preminger directs the celebrated film noir 'Laura' (1944), based on Vera Caspary's novel. A policeman investigating the alleged murder of a mysterious woman called Laura (Tierney) finds himself falling in love with her - and soon realises he is not the only one. Cornel Wilde plays opposite Tierney in the classic melodrama 'Leave Her to Heaven' (1946). Tierney plays Ellen, a jealous woman engaged to a politician. Uninhibited by this commitment, she lures the handsome Richard (Wilde) into marriage after knowing him for only a few days. But Richard soon learns from her sister and mother that Ellen's selfish, possessive love has ruined other people's lives. Rex Harrison stars in the comedy 'The Ghost and Mrs Muir' (1947) as the salty old sea dog ghost of a ship's captain who befriends a beautiful widow (Tierney) and persuades her not to re-marry a ghastly man. Inevitably romance blossoms between the two worlds.