Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Among the Classic Film Noirs, few are so well crafted, or so ahead of its time, as Tay Garnett's THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. The title comes from an ironic English expression that suggests fate. And fate, as in most good stories, noir or not, is Character.

James M. Cain's 1934 first pulp novel(a), not quite 100 pages long, has lots of character, tough natural dialogue and a first person narrator. It was a natural for the Movies, as were his later works: Mildred Pierce and Serenade. The French saw the novel's steamy potential in LA DERNIER (Chenal, 1939), and then the Italians, in renowned Director Luchino Visconti's famed debut film, OBSESSIONE (1942); and although Bob Rafelson's 1981 version, with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange, is truer to the original, people and critics in America always talk about Garnett's 1946 job as being the Real Noir.

Wanderer Frank Chambers (John Garfield) tells us, chance had Good Samaritan Kyle Sackett (Leon Ames), who happened to also be the county DA, drop him off in front of one of those oceanside restaurants dotting Highway 1 north of LA. The owner of the place Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) -- Papadakis in the book -- happened to need a handyman. Nick had a much younger wife, the ambitious Cora (Lana Turner), who had a lot of time on her hands to do her nails, and not much companionship. Do we need say more?

Garnett was lucky to have Garfield, a poor Brooklyn lad who never forgot his roots. No one in his time better conveyed the pain of being a loser with Main Chance between him and hell. And Lana Turner, nearly ten years an ingenue, broke forth as a dramatic actress here, and was probably never so good again. The pair portray powerfully the furtive, lonely mating dance of two people entering a dangerous relationship, knowing its wrong, but swept along by seeming coincidence.

In fact, almost everything in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE is coincidence, and strangely, that fact generates considerable heat, sympathy and belief in the viewer.

If Frank hadn't stopped there . . . if Nick hadn't liked Frank . . . if Cora had gotten Frank fired . . . if they hadn't gone for a swim . . . if Nick hadn't gone to LA . . . if someone had picked up Frank and Cora on the highway when they ran away . . . if the cat hadn't . . . .

When we look back, our lives are like that. Fortunately, the vicissitudes of our mundane relationships don't usually lead to murder.

FATE. . . FATE . . . FATE . . . .

And of course, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, as a movie, proves to be the product of a similar process.

Why fate or coincidence should should have nurtured this excellent movie warrants some exploration of the quiet company professionals who labored for the Studios in that period. Former Navy pilot William Taylor Garnett, called a "light" professional by Leslie Halliwell, wrote twenty stories, adaptations and screen plays in the 1920's, and he went on to write, direct and sometimes produce such interesting, forgotten projects as SLAVE SHIP (1937). In the 1940's, in addition to the Cain adaptation, he settled down to directing a dozen solid commercial works. In the 1950's, he went on to make TV episodes for Gun Smoke, Bonanza, Raw Hide and The Naked City. After which, he finished out his career directing action films in Alaska during the 1970's. THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE remains his best remembered feature film.

Why this film?

Well, in addition to the potent basis provided by Cain, Garnett had Harry Ruskin and especially Niven Busch as writers. Ruskin started with the curious pioneer musical THE KING OF JAZZ (Anderson, 1930) and did nothing as distinguished afterward, except for Dr. Kildare and Andy Hardy pictures, until our film in question. Niven Busch, on the other hand, had a list of intriguing credits, before and after THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. He had written IN OLD CHICAGO (King, 1938) and THE WESTERNER (Wyler, 1940) and would go on later to write DUEL IN THE SUN (Vidor, 1946) and PURSUED (Walsh, 1947). He was on the proverbial roll.

Music plays a part in establishing the mood, and lubricating the slide of Frank and Cora. George Bassman is not a name remembered like that of a Miklos Rozsa, but he had a long workmanlike career as an orchestrator, arranger and conductor. For instance, he arranged the orchestral and choral score of THE WIZARD OF OZ (Fleming, 1939) and conducted the music for RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (Peckinpah, 1962). You may not remember the insinuating theme that Bassman lays down behind Sidney Wagner's photography in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, but you will remember it, if you hear it again later, even if you can't place it.

Photographer Wagner had spent over twenty years as a second unit man, and working as a minor DP in Hollywood or Mexico, mostly on B Pictures. Following TORTILLA FLAT (Fleming, 1942), he was hitting his stride in this film, only to die the next year at age 47.

And in the list of technicians we discover a final touch, the name of Cedric Gibbons as Supervising Art Director. Irishman Gibbons, creator of The Oscar, in a 50 year career, designed the look of over 1500 MGM films, often giving them the only distinction they displayed. He was on the job for sure in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.

The postman has rung a number of times for this Cain story, no more loudly or memorably than in the 1946 effort of the artists mentioned above.



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older