Film Review
The third and best of the four film adaptations of James M. Cain's
popular yet controversial thriller novel
The Postman Always Rings Twice is
this suspenseful and erotically charged film noir, which features Lana
Turner in her most memorable screen role. Although MGM bought the
film rights to the novel almost immediately after its publication in
1934, it was not until 1946 that the studio was able to come up with a
treatment that was acceptable to Cain and the enforcers of the
Hollywood Production Code. In the interim, two foreign language
versions were made - one in France:
Le Dernier Tournant (1939),
directed by Pierre Chenal and featuring Michel Simon; the other in
Italy:
Ossessione (1943), directed by
Luchino Visconti. 1981 saw the release of yet another
version, directed by Bob Rafelson and starring Jack Nicholson and
Jessica Lange, which is remembered only for its raunchy sex scenes.
The 1946 adaptation of
The Postman Always Rings Twice stands head and shoulders above the others, partly
because it more successfully evokes the tension and sultriness of the
original novel, but also because it has a narrative coherence and
authenticity which are somewhat lacking in the others.
The film was a substantial box office hit, netting a handsome
profit of 1.6 million dollars for MGM, even though the studio
boss Louis B. Meyer reputedly loathed it. Lana Turner is at her
most overtly sensual in her startling portrayal of a femme fatale who
has the outward appearance of an unblemished angel (she wears
fluorescent white throughout most of the film) and the inner aspect of
depraved hussy who appears capable of anything. By contrast, what
her co-star John Garfield provides is one hundred per cent animal
machismo, the earthy counterpoint to Turner's seductively cool femininity in
what is surely one of cinema's most torrid on-screen couplings.
Sidney Wagner's lush, atmospheric black-and-white photography heightens
the eroticism of this darkly illicit love affair whilst underscoring
the tragic inevitability of the protagonists' downfall, in true film
noir fashion, making this a compelling and haunting variation on the
themes of fatal attraction, sin and redemption.
© James Travers 2008
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Film Synopsis
Frank Chambers, an unemployed drifter, is touring the backwaters of
California when he comes across a roadside café which has a
vacancy for a handyman. Frank allows the café's amiable
owner, Nick Smith, to talk him into taking on the job, although what
makes up his mind is a salacious glimpse of Nick's beautiful young
wife, Cora. From the moment they meet, Frank and Cora are
consumed by an intense longing for one another and, without Nick
knowing, they embark on a discrete love affair. When, some time
later, Nick announces that he is going to sell up the café and
move back home to nurse his invalid sister, Cora is horrified by what
the future appears to offer her. She coerces Frank into helping
her to kill her husband, making his death look like a road
accident. Attorney Kyle Sackett is not taken in by this deception
and resolves to bring Frank and Cora to justice...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.