The Postman Always Rings Twice

Hollywood’s first version of James M. Cain’s oft-adapted novel ranks with Double Indemnity (also based on a Cain novel) as one of the quintessential examples of amour fou turned murderous in the tangled, treacherous noir universe. (Earlier versions of Postman had been filmed in France by Pierre Chenal, as Le Dernier tournant, and in Italy by Luchino Visconti, as Ossessione.) A handsome drifter (John Garfield) arrives at a shabby, out-the-way roadside café, where he is drawn into the seductive web of platinum blonde Cora (Lana Turner), beautiful young wife of the aging proprietor, and joins with her in a deadly plot. A la Double Indemnity, the action is recounted in fatalistic flashback; the film is “cast as a bleak memory in which, from the other side of paradise, a condemned man surveys the age-old trail through sex, love, and disillusionment” (Tom Milne, Time Out). A glossy 1981 remake starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange was more explicit sexually but not nearly as satisfying. “One of the best of the Hollywood film noir of the Forties, perfectly bringing to life the atmosphere of the novel and its suggestion of soulless American ambition” (Sadoul, Dictionary of Films). B&W, 35mm. 113 mins.