the postman always rings twice ( 1946 film )
cain, james m. “the postman always rings twice. ” the postman always rings twice, double
john garfield and lana turner in the postman always rings twice (1946) .
the postman always rings twice. dir. tay garnett. mgm, 1946 .
the postman always rings twice (post - production script for the ...
the postman always rings twice is the better - known adaptation of the postman always rings twice, directed by tay garnett and released in 1946. it is considered one of the key entries in the film noir genre .
cain, james m. the postman always rings twice. london: orion, 2005 .
abstract aesthetic thoughts aside, the postman always rings twice is a solid film that you should definitely check out .
postman always rings twice, the. dir. tay garnett. perf. lana turner and john garfield .
taylor, ella. “‘postman always rings twice’ inspires ‘jerichow. ’” los angeles times, may 17 2009 .
read “from book to cinema: adaptation and the construction of film noir in the postman always rings twice ” after the jump ...
the postman always rings twice (1946) is one of the best film noirs of all time - and one of the earliest prototypes of today' s' erotic thrillers.'
[ 6 ] ella taylor, “‘postman always rings twice’ inspires “jerichow, ”’ los angeles times, 17 may 2009 urltoken. ↩
with the headline: the screen;' the postman always rings twice,' with lana turner in a star role, makes its appearance of the capitol .
james m. cain' s the postman always rings twice resembles his double indemnity and though the postman always rings twice was written almost ten years prior, tay garnett' s film adaptation places emphasis on the film as a cheaper
parody
of sorts to double indemnity. yet cain' s the postman always rings twice acts almost as a draft for his later double indemnity. despite its initial similarities and its very obvious issues, garnett' s film adaptation is highly entertaining and to this day, wonderful .
there have been films in which another beach has stood in for malibu' s. the finale from the original “a star is born” was filmed in laguna beach. ditto for beach scenes in “the postman always rings twice” (1946) .
the steamy the postman always rings twice (1946) paired garfield with lana turner for a classic tale of revenge and deception. garfield’s acting in a supporting role to gregory peck in gentleman’s agreement (1947) —a film controversial at the time for its frank treatment of anti - semitism—is regarded as…
[ … ] the postman always rings twice (1946 and 1981): released today are both the 1946 version (lana turner & john garfield) and the 1981 version (jack nicholson & jessica lange). both are entertaining movies, but for my money i would go with the 1946. the real crime here is that they didn’t release them together in a two - pack! here is a great review for the 1946 version from our friend at twenty fours frames. [ … ]
trailer for the postman always rings twice (1981) director: bob rafelson cast: jack nicholson, jessica lange, john colicos, michael lerner, john p. ryan, anjelica huston visit urltoken for more info
a lean, mean tale of adultery and murder, james m. cain' s bestselling, once - scandalous 1934 novel
the postman always rings twice
is often considered a central text of noir fiction .
tay garnett, american director who, during a career that spanned more than four decades, worked in a variety of genres but was best known for the film - noir classic the postman always rings twice (1946). garnett sold cartoons and stories to pulp magazines before serving in world war i as a pilot in…
…in the film noir classic the postman always rings twice (1946). her later box office hits include the bad and the beautiful (1952), peyton place (1957), imitation of life (1959), and madame x (1966). thereafter she occasionally appeared in minor film melodramas and such television soap operas as falcon crest. …
garfield in tay garnett’s the postman always rings twice, 1946) to college professors (edward g. robinson in lang’s the woman in the window, 1944). the ethics that these characters espouse are often borne more of personal code than true concern for their fellow man. for example, humphrey bogart (the…
jason holt, a proponent of neo - noir as a superior and more fully realized version of the genre, argues that in this way, the postman always rings twice is indicative of many early, compromised noir pictures (38) .
the postman always rings twice (post - production script for the 1946 film) by cain, james m. (novel); tay garnett (director); harry ruskin and niven busch (screenwriter); george white (editor): metro - goldwyn - mayer [ mgm ], beverly hills, ca - royal books, inc. , abaa
the postman always rings twice (1946) offers a famous example of the male gaze. in the scene below, the audience is introduced to cora smith, the film’s lead female character. using close - ups, the camera forces the viewer to stare at cora’s body. it creates a mode of looking that is sexual, voyeuristic, and associated with the male protagonist’s point - of - view .
a year after converting the character study and social critique of james m. cain' s mildred pierce into a melodramatic murder mystery, hollywood did a more accurate job on his the postman always rings twice, already a sleek tale of lust, murder and retribution .
…directed his most noteworthy film, the postman always rings twice, an adaptation of james m. cain’s crime novel. john garfield was perfectly cast as frank, the drifter who cannot say no to his employer’s seductive wife, even when it means committing murder, and lana turner gave the performance of her…
the postman always rings twice / an andrew braunsberg production; produced in association with metro - goldwyn - mayer; produced by charles mulvehill and bob rafelson; directed by bob rafelson
( pa0000100011 / 1981 - 05 - 04). united states copyright office .
( 1946), but the actor had said no. when mccrea refused to appear in
it makes sense. but as moviemaking goes, the first english - language adaptation of the postman always rings twice is the best. in fact, except for a few hollywood cleanups as expected for those times, it' s one of the best adaptations of a modern novel you' ll find .
in the postman always rings twice (1946), we couldn' t get an actor that better brings this out than john garfield. he could have made a career of playing lowlifes from the other side of the tracks who nevertheless elicit audience empathy. in postman we know he' s no good, and perhaps not too bright, but we like him anyway. if anything, he' s almost too likable to be the sleazy drifting frank chambers of the novel .
the long hesitation of the
hays office
to permit a motion picture to be made from james m. cain' s plain - spoken novel ,
the postman always rings twice ,
is proved an unnecessary caution by the film which came to the capitol yesterday. for
the postman ,
as evidenced in this treatment, makes a sternly
moral
picture on the... view full article in timesmachine »
this dark melodrama was the third screen adaptation of james m. cain' s the postman always rings twice - the previous two were pierre chenal' s le dernier tournant (1939, fr .) and luchino visconti' s first feature - the unauthorized ossessione (1943, it .) with the setting transferred to fascist italy .
postman always rings twice! my favorite. i \' ll listen today. garfield is forgotten by most, but man he was good. this is a great big - star hollywood noir. also, if you guys are interested in a new film noir message board (we link to you guys) you can go to urltoken
frank chambers (john garfield) and cora smith (lana turner) knock off nick (cecil kellaway) in 1946 film .
the postman always rings twice is a 1981 film adaptation of the 1934 novel by the same name by james m. cain. the film was produced by lorimar in association with metro - goldwyn - mayer [ 2 ] and originally released theatrically in north america by paramount pictures. this version, based on a screenplay by david mamet and directed by bob rafelson, starred jack nicholson and jessica lange. the film was shot in santa barbara, california .
by contrast, the endings of classic noirs, an artifice of the production code and compliant creative intentions, almost always ring a little off, false, not only to life, but, much worse, to themselves. a most unfortunate illustration is the postman always rings twice, an otherwise fine noir that ends with frank explaining, for the audience, that poetic justice has been received! (holt 38 - 9 )
film festivals are not the only venues where the film industry produces all male panels .
the postman always rings twice (1981) is now available on blu - ray at the wb shop urltoken jack nicholson and jessica lange smolder and burn in a sexy, violent remake of james m. cain' s classic about adulterous lovers who plot murder. like warner bros. on facebook at urltoken follow warner bros. on twitter at urltoken
east los angeles union pacific train station appears two times in the postman always rings twice. towards the end of the film, cora learns that her mother has had a heart attack and decides to visit her in iowa. the depot is shown in the scene in which cora departs and the scene in which she returns from her trip. the depot’s rear side, which is currently inaccessible, is visible in both segments .
in honor of the halloween season, i’ve been delving into noir. i just watched the postman always rings twice, tay garnett’s 1946 classic about femme fatale cora smith (lana turner) who conspires with her boyfriend, frank chambers (john garfield), to kill her husband, nick (cecil kellaway). though it takes cora and frank two very dramatic tries, the couple finally succeeds at the task, but the murder, of course, comes back to haunt them .
le facteur sonne toujours deux fois. 1946 film de tay garnett. avec lana turner et john garfield. la scene du rouge a levres. the lipstick scene
the meaning of independent film has changed since robert redford established the sundance film festival in 1981 .
my father had been a hollywood star, famous for playing tough guys, including alongside lana turner in “the postman always rings twice. ” he was one of the first actors to set up his own production company, and his first independent film, “body and soul, ” released in 1947, remains among the finest boxing films ever made. it was nominated for three oscars and was a huge critical and commercial success .
robinson—past 50 when his bourgeois dupes fell for joan bennett’s spider woman in fritz lang’s a woman at the window (1944) and scarlet street (1945) —would have made an older edward / tony. this is in keeping with the spirit of noirs in which sluggish older husbands like those played by tom powers in double indemnity (1944) and cecil kellaway in the postman always rings twice (1946) were disposed of by the anti - heroine’s virile younger lovers, played respectively by fred macmurray and john garfield .
and jessica lange, but the 1946 version, with its button - pushing steaminess and stylish direction, remains the gold standard. —
a critical and commercial success upon its 1946 release, tay garnett’s the postman always rings twice is considered by “many the definitive postwar noir” (dixon 16 - 7). while critical reevaluations from the mid - seventies onward vary wildly in their qualitative assessment of the film, it is undeniable that the postman came about at the historical epicenter of film noir’s birth and maturation, and that its “quintessential” collection of “noir situations, collections of characters, and plot structures” makes it one of the most foundational and instructive entries in the american noir canon (mayer and mcdonnell 340). like many early noir features, the postman is based on a 1930s pulp novel; written by james m. cain, the work itself marked, alongside several similarly hard - boiled contemporary books, the “beginning of (the) classic period of noir novels in the united states” (faison 6) .
grossman draws attention to lana turner’s cora papadakis in the postman always ring twice, whose reputation as a quintessential femme fatale is unearned given how “desperately confined” she is in an unhappy marriage to the older husband who intends to squirrel her away from california to northern canada to help him take care of his disabled sister .
title drop: frank notes that when a person is expecting to get a letter, it' s all right if you don' t hear it the first time, because the postman always rings twice. they got off murdering nick scot - free, but cora is now dead and frank on his way to receive the death penalty. he says that the postman has indeed rung a second time for each of them. this is different than the novel. james m cain, who wrote the source novel, admitted that the title was mostly a non - sequitur .
[ 22 ] see tim bergfelder’s reading of this film in the context of german film noir, “german cinema and film noir, ” in spicer, european film noir, 144 - 146. ↩
( 1946), garfield' s next film at his home studio warner bros. , made the studio amenable to the loan to mgm, particularly since garfield found the role of frank chambers much more suitable .
we never know the people in “the postman always rings twice. ” they are kept rigidly imprisoned within a tradition of absolute naturalism: they exist, they eat, they sleep, they act. that would be acceptable if the filmmakers could stand outside their characters and have feelings about them. but i never believed that was the case. rafelson and his collaborators have gone to infinite pains, successfully, to create a film that is wonderfully achieved on the level of production. but they have not filled it with the purposes of its characters .
the postman always rings twice (1946) is one of the best film noirs of all time - and one of the earliest prototypes of today' s' erotic thrillers.' the screenplay (by harry ruskin and niven busch) was based on the controversial first novel / pot - boiler (1934) of the same name by notorious writer james m. cain. cain was known for novels with forbidden lust, love triangles, brutal, raw sexiness, and adultery - motivated murder. two previous, sexually - charged classic film noirs adapted from cain' s novels had met with both critical and box - office success: mgm' s double indemnity (1944) and warner bros.' mildred pierce (1945) .
lawrence kasdan’s directorial debut remains, to this day, one of the sexiest movies ever to grace the big screen—not to mention, the rare occasion where the phrase “erotic thriller” can be appropriately uttered without the slightest hint of a snicker. boasting a star - making performance by kathleen turner, the film takes the standard double indemnity / the postman always rings twice premise (femme fatale hires lover to kill husband) and grafts it onto the humid nightmare that is florida in the midst of a heat wave. memorable sex scenes aside, however, the film is also a master class in how to build suspense and escalate tension. — m. r .
the final verdict? well, the film is not the extraordinary classic some folks say it is. it is not up there with the two previously made films based on cain novels, “mildred pierce” and billy wilder’s masterpiece “double indemnity. ” of course, few films are on the same playing field as wilder’s film. that said, if you put aside the fact lana turner is just too stunning, and too well lit, to be believable as a waitress at a pit stop diner, and ignore the unsatisfying un - noir like ending, “the postman always rings twice” remains a flawed yet significant portrayal of ill - fated passion, and a ground breaking work in adult film entertainment .
frank: well, i never liked any job i ever had. maybe the next one is the one i’ve always been looking for .
initially imposed in the mid - 1930s, and serving as the law of the land until the mid - 1950s, the “awesomely repressive” production code, authored from strict, draconian catholic principles and “prohibiting the showing or mentioning of almost everything germane to the situation of normal human adults, ” made adapting the postman always rings twice a dubious proposition for the better part of a decade (cook 237). the book was published, and the film rights purchased, right around the time the code came into effect, and it was generally understood – even by cain himself, who admitted in 1946 that he wrote his books knowing they would “have censor trouble” – that any hollywood adaptation would face serious hurdles (madden 57). the book was practically a checklist of everything the production code forbade. as summarized by leonard leff and jerold simmons :
fun trivia: after buying the rights to this controversial novel in 1934, it took the studio 12 years to find a way to sneak it past the censors. in the meantime, it was a (flop) broadway play, and two foreign films – france’s “le dernier tourant” and the italian classic, “ossessione. ” it’d be adapted again, in 1981, as the sexy “the postman always rings twice, ” with jack nicholson and jessica lange – and, some feel, slightly ripped off the same year as the even sexier “body heat. ” (but the eroticism was always there — look quickly, grownups and you might just catch garfield french - kissing turner in some of their clinches. )
the purpose of adaptation, after all, need not be the note - for - note replication of what the source material did well. the postman always rings twice strikes its own path out of necessity – there simply was no way, under then - current conditions, to make such replications – but it does so thoughtfully, as we have seen consistently throughout this section. these surface - level changes made out of production code requirements often give way to meaningful, provocative, and intriguing alterations to the substance of the story, including a largely wholesale reconfiguring of the plot’s thematic arc .
... has little of the insinuating nature of the best film noir .
. the film’s cryptic title is explained by garfield’s character at the movie’s conclusion .
background: first published in 1934, james m. cain’s novel the postman always rings twice was so controversial for its sex and violence that it was banned by the city of boston. although mgm optioned the book shortly after it came out, it took twelve years for the motion picture production code to loosen up enough for an adaptation to be made. by that time, cain’s novel had already inspired two other film adaptations: the french le dernier tournant (1939) and the italian ossessione (1943). incidentally, the latter (an unauthorized version directed by luchino visconti) is considered by many to be a pioneering work of italian neorealism .
despite the sexuality and violence, the film is a fairly faithful rendition of cain’s steamy lust driven work. this was cain’s first novel, published in 1934, after being rejected over ten times by various publishers. originally titled “bar - b - q” publishers alfred knopf purchased the rights and changed the name to “the postman always rings twice. ” the book was a hit and various movie studios were interested in acquiring the property for the screen. however, this was 1934 and the newly enforced production code turned thumbs down on cain’s lurid work. in spite of a promise made by censor joe breen that the novel would never make it to the screen, mgm purchased the screen rights sitting on the property for twelve years .
i have not read mildred pierce” in many years but after just rereading “postman” i am going back to that one too .
there are a lot of good things in this adaptation of the postman always rings twice, and i strongly recommend it, but i can’t help but feel like it misses something from cain’s novel. i think that something is cain’s writing itself: so much of the novel’s urgency comes from it being narrated by frank chambers, and cain uses his memorable writer’s voice to bring that character to life. i guess something stemming from the writing itself is inevitably lost when a great book is translated to film. i mean, just imagine it going the other way: how could someone translate great cinematography or excellent performances into prose ?
“the postman always rings twice” is an absolutely superb mounting of a hollow and disappointing production. it shows a technical mastery of filmmaking, and we are dazzled by the performances, the atmosphere, the mood of mounting violence. but by the second hour of the film we' ve lost our bearings: what is this movie saying about its characters? what does it feel and believe about them? why was it necessary to tell their stories? the movie is based on a hardboiled, classic novel by james m. cain, which has already inspired three previous films, including the famous 1946 john garfield version. it isn' t difficult to guess why the director, bob rafelson, wanted to make it again. on the basis of his key scenes, he was attracted by the physical violence in the story and he felt that in 1981 he could deal more frankly with cain' s sexual savagery .
had director tay garnett shot the postman in the brooding style of film noir – strong on shadows and sparseness – he might well have put the wind back into the breen sails. but the ambience of metro - goldwyn - mayer hardly encouraged garnett to produce a cold and harsh postman. film noir thrived on pinched budgets and intellectual commitment, neither of which characterized mgm... garnett knew how the postman should look to please not only joseph breen but louis mayer. when the picture entered principal photography in summer 1945, he bathed the sets in light and diffused the fatality of the story. (leff and simmons 135 )
various treatments and scripts were submitted by m - g - m to the pca between 1940 and 1945, and in may 1945, the pca approved a revised temporary script. in an april 1946
someone else i’ll have to give serious consideration to is cecil kellaway as nick, who completely embodies the blissful ignorance of cain’s character. the greek is the only innocent character in the postman always rings twice, the only one not trying to screw everyone else over; he’s too consumed with ouzo and the day - to - day running of the diner to notice the two lovers plotting against him. (there’s a fun half - suspenseful, half - comedic sequence where he almost catches on .) cain’s novel is almost like a greek tragedy, with every character possessing a fatal flaw: while frank’s is lust and cora’s is ambition, nick’s is merely stupidity .
non - neurotic men are hard to find in film noir’s broad swathe. the dominant male figures in citizen kane (1941), the maltese falcon (1941), double indemnity, laura (1944), the killers (1946), the postman always rings twice, out of the past (1947), the lady from shanghai (1947), in a lonely place (1950), sunset boulevard (1950), on dangerous ground (1951), kiss me deadly (1955), touch of evil (1957), and vertigo—as good a canonical list as there is—manifest, in different combinations, greed, treachery, lust, cruelty, narcissism, paranoia, corruptibility, vanity, passivity, and exploitability. excepting bogart’s selfish sam spade in the maltese falcon and ralph meeker’s brutal mike hammer in kiss me deadly, the strongest among them can seem as weak as a kitten .
this remake of the 1946 movie of the same name accounts an affair between a seedy drifter and a seductive wife of a roadside café owner. this begins a chain of events that culminates in murder .
after achieving critical success as one of germany’s leading contemporary film makers with his gespenster / ghosts trilogy (2000, 2005, 2007), christian petzold’s subsequent film, jerichow (2008) has continued his interest in utilizing genre conventions to explore the dynamics between his central characters, lost in the forgotten and empty spaces of post - unification germany, this “zwischendeutschland. ” a loose adaptation of james m. cain’s the postman always rings twice, and thus assuming a position in an enduring series of celebrated film adaptations of the novel in hollywood and european cinema, petzold’s film sets the ménage - à - trois in place in the depopulated landscape of northeastern germany. with the inevitable crime playing out against the “immanent borderscapes that make up the heart of late capitalist germany” (abel 2008), petzold’s use of genre cinema again raises questions about the economic and political settlement of germany set against the urban and provincial spaces of late capitalism, and about the impossibility of returning home .
yet for a variety of reasons – many of them related to hollywood’s extremely restrictive production code – the two noir traditions, literary and cinematic, differ greatly, a truth that is especially evident within the postman always rings twice. garnett’s film displays a profound shift in content and ideology from the book upon which it is based, and while this was largely necessitated by the specifics of the production code, what makes the film so compelling, as both a historical curiosity and a (mostly) timeless viewing experience, is how it uses those restrictions to its advantage. by embracing the possibilities of adaptation as a means to find new and meaningful ways of expressing and expanding upon the barest narrative elements of its source material, rather than succumbing to mindless sanitization, the film offers a critical case study in understanding how film noir, working within the content limitations of the time, disassembles its literary antecedents and constructs itself anew as a unique and enigmatic cinematic tradition .
fast forward / freeze frame: you may need to hit the pause button once or twice, especially when the police get involved, and the d. a. starts getting tricky .
this week’s selection emerges from an interesting, challenging assignment. when i applied to the ba / ma program in film studies at the university of colorado last october (a program in which one earns one’s graduate degree at the same time as one’s undergraduate), the biggest part of the application was the ‘october surprise, ’ in which applicants were given a film and a topic on friday afternoon, and tasked with returning a 10 - 20 page research paper on the movie monday morning. it’s quite sadistic in theory, but as i tend to write my major essays in concentrated bursts over a few days, this was actually quite enjoyable, as the film – tay garnett’s the postman always rings twice – encompassed plenty of possible paths for study, and made for a really fascinating research experience. this paper should be fully accessible whether one has seen the film or not, and offers an interesting look at hollywood cinema during the height of the production code era. enjoy ...
the magic in the film is in the chemical reaction between garfield and lana, their performances are sizzling .
that is interesting pointing out the similarity between “they drive by night” and “postman. ” i have to watch it again, it has been a while .
guest in the house, 1944, film noir directed by john brahm. avi
a typically noir tale of murderous infidelity. scheming lovers plot to do away with the hapless husband and remove the obstacle to their happiness. there are obvious comparisons with double indemnity, with a hastily drawn - up life insurance policy figuring, and the consequences of the couples' actions closing around them like a net. but frank and cora' s path to freedom is haphazard and unplanned - they really are making it up as they go along - and consequently the movie feels less tightly structured. the postman always rings twice still has a lot going for it, familiar noir beats executed with style; there' re just a few issues that hold it back from true genre classic status .
of all the filmmakers who have tackled
postman ,
petzold, a precise and analytical director, is the one best suited to approximating the compact vividness of cain' s prose .
indeed, this is one of the largest points of critical contention in discussions of the film. though there were not, of course, any set conventions for film noir at the time – the term itself not coming into use for years to come – stories that were ‘noirish’ in their narrative construction and ideology obviously called, from the beginning, for “a consistency of vision and effect that compels recognition... of a pervasive evil infecting the world in which the characters move” (miller 55). the stylistic traits of the noir – dark environments, heavy employment of shadows, atmospheres of rain and grime – therefore extend naturally from the stories being told, and by being “brighter and glossier” than its noir contemporaries, most “evident in the lighting, which has much more fill and far fewer shadows” than what we typically associate with the genre, the postman always rings twice is an obvious outlier among noir pictures (mayer and mcdonnell 342) .
david madden calls james m. cain “... the twenty - minute egg of the hard - boiled school, ” and refers to the postman always rings twice as “the quintessential tough - guy novel... ” (1). the ‘tough - guy’ novel evolves from the related traditions of “hard - boiled private detective” literature (which itself “departed from the genteel english novel of detection”) and “proletarian” novels (“derived from european naturalism and american selective realism”), and is distinguished by deeply ingrained pessimism, a stark reflection of the mood of the great depression – without making any overt political statements – and non - psychological forms of character development built around action, rather than inner or outer expressions of emotion (madden 1 - 2, 12) .
post - production dialogue cutting continuity script for the 1946 film noir, the definitive adaptation of james m. cain' s legendary first novel, starring john garfield and lana turner in career defining performances. card wrappers, noted as
dialogue cutting continuity
on the front wrapper, dated february 27, 1946, credit for film editor george white, and several numeric holograph pencil notations, and with the title in red holograph ink along the top edge. collates complete, detailing 6 reels, mimeograph. bound at the top edge with two gold brads. in a custom clamshell box with leather spine titles. bookseller inventory # 124525
handyman john garfield' s torrid affair with married lana turner leads to the murder of her husband and a tragic betrayal. mpaa rating: notrated (c) 1946 a warner bros. entertainment inc. all rights reserved
by 1946, the novel had been filmed twice in europe. in 1939, a french version “le demier tournant” directed by pierre chenal and as “ossessione” in 1942 by italy’s luchino visconti, an unauthorized adaptation. the victory of world war ii was still fresh in everyone’s minds still, there seemed to be a dark void in the american psyche and post war films began to reflect this in works like “the maltese falcon and “stranger on the third floor. ”
adapted forom james m. cain' s story, the film... more info
exploring the worlds of film, tv and gaming with jonathan r. lack and friends !
dixon, wheeler winston. film noir and the cinema of paranoia. new brunswick: rutgers
miller, gabriel. screening the novel: rediscovered american fiction in film. new york :
the most recent
postman
variation and perhaps also the greatest testament to the story' s adaptability, is a 2009 film ,
jerichow
( on dvd from cinema guild), by christian petzold (whose latest film ,
barbara ,
germany' s official oscar submission this year, is set to open in the u. s. soon) .
whether it' s the 1946 adaptation with lana turner and john garfield, the 1981 version with jack nicholson and jessica lange, or 2009' s' jerichow,' the movies based on james m. cain' s bestselling 1934 novel have proved popular .
the best - known version, from 1946, directed by tay garnett and starring lana turner and john garfield, gave the noir genre one of its most iconic femme fatales and one of its most persuasively doomed love - hate affairs. (the film has just been issued in a blu - ray dvd edition by warner home video. )
if i were an author i would be upset about some of the changes hollywood has made in transferring material to the screen. i know cain was not happy with what they did with “postman” also .
—. film noir and the spaces of modernity. cambridge: harvard university press, 2004 .
vincendeau, ginette. “french film noir. ” european film noir. ed. andrew spicer. manchester: manchester university press, 2007. 23 - 54 .
jerichow. dir. christian petzold. schramm film koerner und weber, 2009 .
there is validity to holt’s point. certainly, the undermining of the film’s noir merits due to production code considerations is a more meaningful complaint here than it is anywhere else (and a much more substantive complaint than those aimed at the film’s aesthetics). whether one is offended by the lack of faithfulness to cain’s book or to the preceding 110 minutes of cinema, the postman’s ending is unfortunate, an undeniable blemish that cannot be ignored .
the next day, we were so busy, i hardly had a chance to look at her. not until the middle of the morning. there was always a lull about that time. and nick had just left for la .
wood, mary p. “italian film noir. ” european film noir. ed. andrew spicer. manchester: manchester university press, 2007. 236 - 271 .
with a supporting role. watch hume cronyn and leon ames... both excellent! theories abound for reasons why this movie was named' the postman...'... .
bergfelder, tim. “german cinema and film noir. ” european film noir. ed. andrew spicer. manchester: manchester university press, 2007. 138 - 163 .
the film was screened out of competition at the 1981 cannes film festival. [ 4 ] the film got mostly negative reviews from most critics, who felt that the remake was wasted. they also believed the ending was
very weak
compared to the original film. they also criticized the fact that the meaning of the title is not explained in the remake, which can lead to confusion among viewers. it scores an 83 %
fresh
rating on rotten tomatoes, with 10 positive reviews and two negative .
so while mildred pierce deserved— needed —a remake, which it finally got very recently, there was no real necessity for a postman do - over. which we got 35 years after the original anyway .
something the movie adds to the novel though is a credible explanation of the title. in the book, postmen go unmentioned. in the film though, frank makes a nice speech on death row near the end about how punishment for your sins always catches up to you. you might escape it once—as he and cora did once in court—but karma will try again and get you at home the second time .
why adults will like it: glossy, terribly tasteful mgm wasn’t particularly comfortable with noir. but it’s the casting that carries things through here – john garfield brings an urban earthiness to frank, and lana turner was at her unobtainable peak as the devious cora (always dressed in mockingly innocent white). even the miscasting works to the film’s advantage; gus is supposed to be a hardbitten old slob, but likable, grandfatherly cecil kellaway makes the film all the more powerful .
the first time john garfield, and we the audience, see lana turner in “the postman always rings twice” she is exquisite looking, dressed all in white wearing a turban, a tight blouse with her bare mid - drift exposed, and a tight fitting pair of shorts containing the shapeliest pair of legs ever to stand in high heels. garfield, kneeing down to pick up her lipstick case that rolled across the floor, is hooked from the moment he sees her. his eyes working their way up from her incredible legs to her full breasts to her superlative face. it remains today, more than fifty years later, one of the greatest screen entrances in film. for half the film, director tay garnett had turner wear white, her turban, those fantastic short shorts, her jacket, her waitress outfit, even her hair is platinum blonde. only after plans are set in motion to kill her husband do the outfits all turn to black, visually symbolizing the good and evil of her character. this visual imagery would be used almost fifteen years later by alfred hitchcock with janet leigh’s white and black bras and half - slips in “psycho. ”
since its coining in 1946 by french critic nino frank, who observed from afar something dark, quite literally, going on at the american cinema, the term “film noir” has been debated and debated and debated some more. is it a genre? a subgenre? a movement? a trend? a commentary? a style? for the purposes of this introduction, let’s call it a response .
chance events trap hitch - hiker al roberts in a tightening net of film noir trouble .
the postman always rings twice is indeed an exemplary model for ‘tough - guy’ literature. at a brisk and breathless 100 pages – which, madden correctly notes, “may be experienced in one sitting” akin to a movie – the novel recounts the story of frank chambers, a drifter who arrives by chance at the twin oaks tavern, where he not only finds new employment, but intense temptation in the form of cora, beautiful and mysterious wife to tavern owner nick papadakis (38). after discovering mutual attraction in one another, frank, who sees how unhappy cora is in her relationship with “the greek” – as nick is most often called, resulting in a strong, omnipresent undercurrent of racial and ethnic tension that would be abandoned in garnett’s film version – decides to help cora kill her husband. after two attempts, frank and cora succeed, and are both set free in the aftermath of some complex legal wrangling, only for cora to die shortly thereafter in a genuine car accident, with frank sentenced to death for supposedly arranging her ‘murder. ’
[ 7 ] ginette vincendeau argues that this “is the most socially anchored version of the story [ ref…. ] where the 1946 american version emphasizes the erotic charge of the femme fatale (lana turner) and visconti’s the attraction of the young male hero (massimo girotti), chenal gives weight and sympathy to the husband, played by michel simon, significantly the greater star of the french trio. the ambiguity of simon’s performance suggests that he is a willing participant in the ‘infernal trio’ rather than simply a victim. ” ginette vincendeau, “french film noir, ” in andrew spicer, ed. , european film noir (manchester: manchester up, 2007) 29. ↩
these changes were enough to make the postman fit for production, and perhaps the most impressive thing about the film garnett eventually created is that, though most of its alterations to the source material were necessitated by the needlessly puritan ideology of the production code, the film is ultimately just as thoughtful and provocative, if not more so in places, than the novel it is based on (though critics who get hung up on the undeniably compromised ending would typically argue otherwise). it simply builds its drama in different ways, and operates on divergent thematic paths .
pick, pick, pick on lana turner. i’m sick of it. the film is a classic because of her not in spite of her. she was always as good if not better than her material. had anyone else starred in that film it would probably be forgotten by now. there is a reason turner was a true star for some 30 years – nobody lasts that long without something in her favor .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
mayer, geoff, and brian mcdonnell. encyclopedia of film noir. westport: greenwood press ,
but that' s the problem with this film as a book adaptation. it' s nearly perfect. nearly .
park, william. what is film noir? lewisburg: bucknell university press, 2011. print .
woman in white: cora dresses entirely in white throughout the film, save for two scenes in which she wears black .
. the film features all the elements of an enduring noir classic: sexy leading players, tight script and direction, and a shocking climax .
garnett’s film is in fact so adept at depicting passion that “though [ the ] screenwriters... had cut much of the anger and feeling out of the novel, breen predicted that ‘the overall flavor of lust’ would bring the censor boards down on the postman ” (leff and simmons 134). that did not come to pass, of course, due in large part to another concession garnett made to appease not only the production code administration, but mgm itself :
forty years before the blair witch project popularized the idea of a film being told from the camera’s perspective, actor / director robert montgomery gave this radical idea a spin with lady in the lake, his adaptation of one of raymond chandler’s philip marlowe detective stories. ultimately, the case proves to be minor marlowe and the first - person gimmick does eventually wear thin over the course of the film’s runtime. putting aside these reservations, however, the film is most certainly worth a watch if just to witness montgomery’s sheer audacity and inventiveness. it’s the textbook example of a film being ahead of its time. — m. r .
and rutger hauer, as well as some of the most emotionally intense action set pieces ever put to film. moreover, a good portion of the film’s appeal lies in its incorporation of film noir aesthetics—shadow - filled, rainy metropolitan exteriors, a brooding yet resourceful investigator hero, retro ’40s fashion—into its dreary, dystopian setting. at one point, the film even boasted a philip marlowe - esque voiceover narration that was thankfully excised from future cuts. once regarded as a failed experiment ,
aestheticizes violence without fetishizing it. bullet holes and knife wounds help color the film in dark brushstrokes—such is the coens’ wont—and careful attention to shot composition ratchets the film’s morbid elements to almost intoxicating heights. you’ll want to look away, but the coens keep your eyes glued to their somber fatalism. —
faison, stephen. existentialism, film noir, and hard - boiled fiction. amherst: cambria press ,
it was not until the 1944 film adaptation of cain’s similarly challenging novel, double indemnity, that successfully bringing the postman to the screen became viable. the double indemnity film removed some of the most ‘objectionable’ content from cain’s book, but the core of the story was left intact, thus indicating that the postman might have a similar shot at being told on film. “producers called the release of dobule indemnity ‘an emancipation for hollywood writing, ’” explain leff and simmons, and that very same year, louis b. mayer returned to the property he had long considered a lost cause to see if a production code - acceptable outline could be created (131, 133). mayer was intent on maintaining the core of the story, but he promised production code administration president joseph breen that frank and cora’s “lust would be suggested rather than flagrantly expressed, ” and adjusted in his outline many elements of the story to reflect more normative moral values (thus leading to the previously mentioned tonal variations, enhanced character introspection, and further justification and punishment for the central transgression) (leff and simmons 133 - 4) .
many films that represent women’s desire do so in “non gaze” - related ways. jane campion’s the piano (1993) expresses the heroine’s passionate nature through the film’s famous score .
as a film noir, it lacks some of the shadowy ambiance characteristic of the genre. instead, it is in the twisting, torturous path that cora and frank take on their march to murder and their often brutal interactions with the law and each other as their botched homicide unfolds that gives the film its nasty, noir component .
sizzles and flares with crackling tension, laying waste to the 1981 version with jessica lange and jack nicholson. though criticized for compromising the sexual nature of the story to appease the censors, the envelope gets pushed just far enough to make the film one of the hottest of the least graphic variety .
was a rarity in its heyday, though if you didn’t know lupino held the reins, you might not guess the film was directed with a feminine touch .
some of the postman’s locations also withstood the test of time. the one i was most excited to discover was the now abandoned east los angeles union pacific train station located at 5480 ferguson drive in commerce. i’ve mentioned before that there are few things i love more in this world than abandoned places and this one did not disappoint .
regional censorship reports contained in the mpaa / pca file indicate that the film was banned in indonesia, switzerland and spain, and that deletions to the picture were made in other countries .
holt, jason. “a darker shade: realism in neo - noir. ” the philosophy of film noir. ed. mark t .
when film critics talk about the gaze, they are often referring to the “male gaze”. but what does that really mean? and is there a female equivalent?
the postman always rings twice is a 1946 film noir based on the 1934 novel of the same name by james m. cain . this adaptation of the novel features lana turner , john garfield , cecil kellaway , hume cronyn , leon ames , and audrey totter . it was directed by tay garnett . the musical score was written by george bassman and erich zeisl ( the latter uncredited ) . this version was the third filming of the postman always rings twice , but the first under the novel 's original title and the first in english . previously , the novel had been filmed as le dernier tournant ( the last turning ) in france in 1939 and as ossessione ( obsession ) in italy in 1943 . 
the postman always rings twice is a 1946 film noir based on the 1934 novel of the same name by james m. cain. this adaptation of the novel features lana turner, john garfield, cecil kellaway, hume cronyn, leon ames, and audrey totter. it was directed by tay garnett. the musical score was written by george bassman and erich zeisl (the latter uncredited). this version was the third filming of the postman always rings twice, but the first under the novel's original title and the first in english. previously, the novel had been filmed as le dernier tournant (the last turning) in france in 1939 and as ossessione (obsession) in italy in 1943.
the postman always rings twice is a 1946 film noir based on the 1934 novel of the same name by james m. cain. this adaptation of the novel features lana turner, john garfield, cecil kellaway, hume cronyn, leon ames, and audrey totter. it was directed by tay garnett. the musical score was written by george bassman and erich zeisl (the latter uncredited). this version was the third filming of the postman always rings twice, but the first under the novel's original title and the first in english. previously, the novel had been filmed as le dernier tournant (the last turning) in france in 1939 and as ossessione (obsession) in italy in 1943.