Main Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Audrey Totter
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
James M. Cain's novel received its first authorized screen treatment in this MGM production. Drifter Frank Chambers (John Garfield) takes a job at a roadhouse run by slovenly but likeable Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway). Nick's sexy young wife Cora (Lana Turner) takes an immediate liking to Frank, but he senses that she's trouble and he keeps his distance--for a while, anyway. Inevitably succumbing to Cora's tawdry charms, Frank enters into her scheme to murder Nick and claim the old boy's insurance money. Not long after committing the foul deed, Frank and Cora are arrested. Thanks to the conniving of slimy attorney Arthur Keats (Hume Cronyn), the illicit lovers are able to beat the murder rap--but, as the film's title symbolically indicates, they eventually pay for their misdeeds in an unexpected manner. Fans of the James M. Cain original--not to mention Cain himself--were aghast at the changes made in the novel by screenwriters Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch; many of the alterations were made to conform with censorship standards of the era, while others simply existed to massage the egos of the stars. Even so, the 1946 version of The Postman Always Rings Twice is infinitely more satisfying than the no-holds-barred 1981 remake, directed by Bob Rafelson with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
A classic 1940s film noir, The Postman Always Rings Twice is shot through with an overwhelming sense of the inevitability of fate. In the tradition of Greek tragedy, characters who appear to be in control of their fates turn out to be trapped and compelled by urges beyond their control. They are attractive but flawed, and corrupt at a level so basic that no amount of absolution can cleanse them of their sins. Lana Turner is so magnetically attractive that it is easy to see why John Garfield's character is so quick to fall under her charms and into her arms. Garfield does a capable job of portraying his character's basic moral neutrality: he will do what has to be done, not because it is right or wrong, but simply because it is what must be done. The Macbeth-like plotting of the lovers leads to the predictable recriminations and double-crosses. Even in noir, evil is punished. Eventually. Sort of. The passions that drive the couple to murder are the same fates that manipulated Macbeth, but, in both cases, the characters must pay a price for their weaknesses. The relentless intensity of the Turner-Garfield relationship has rarely been matched on screen. The taut script by Harry Ruskin was based on the novel by noir-meister James M. Cain (Double IndemnityMildred Pierce), and director Tay Garnett carefully evokes all the conventions of the genre without expanding them. ~ Dan Jardine, All Movie Guide
Alan Reed, Sr. - Ezra Liam Kennedy; Leon Ames - Kyle Sackett; Jeff York - Blair; Morris Ankrum - Judge; Betty Blythe - Customer; Wally Cassell - Ben; Jack Chefe - Headwaiter; Dick Crockett - Reporter; Edward Earle - Doctor; James Farley - Warden; Byron Foulger - Picnic Manager; Joel Friedkin - John X. MacHugh; William Halligan - Judge; Paul Kruger - Officer; Frank Mayo - Bailiff; Harold Miller - Photographer; Howard Mitchell - Doctor; Garry Owen - Truck Driver; Dorothy Phillips - Nurse; Paula Ray - Woman; Jeffrey Sayre - Reporter; Reginald Simpson - Photographer; John Maurice Sullivan - Doctor; Charles Williams - Doctor; Oliver Cross - Man; Philip Ahlm; Brick Sullivan - Officer; Virginia Randolph - Snooty Woman; John Alban; James Darrell - Reporter; George Noisom - Telegraph Messenger; Dan Quigg; Walter Ridge; Edgar Sherrod; Tom Dillon - Father McConnell; Cameron Grant - Willie; Paul Bradley - Man
Credit
Randall Duell - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Irene - Costume Designer, Marion Herwood Keyes - Costume Designer, Tay Garnett - Director, George White - Editor, George Bassman - Composer (Music Score), Richard A. Whiting - Songwriter, Neil Moret - Songwriter, Jack Dawn - Makeup, Sidney Wagner - Cinematographer, Carey Wilson - Producer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Douglas Shearer - Sound/Sound Designer, Niven Busch - Screenwriter, Harry Ruskin - Screenwriter, James M. Cain - Book Author
