Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

richard-1787 I hadn't seen this movie is years when I decided to watch it again tonight. Frankly, it wasn't as good as I . It starts and stops and then starts again, especially after the lead couple murders Nick. (The movie goes on a LONG time after the couple murder Nick.) There are lots of things that don't make any real sense, either, such as the public defender's reasons for acting the way he does. What is good, though, indeed very good, is the presentation of Lana Turner's character. Few women have been presented as sexier while wearing their clothes. From the very moment we see her, it is clear that she is willing to seduce any good looking guy, even if that gets him in trouble. She appears to have no morals. John Garfield's character is more ambiguous, but then the whole movie is supposedly his confession to a priest, so it would stand to reason that he might try to paint himself in a better light and shift the blame for their behavior to Turner's character.Watch this for Turner, and the chemistry between her and Garfield. The less attention you pay to the plot, the less its weaknesses will bother you.

Python Hyena The Postman Always Rings (1946): Dir: Tay Garnett / Cast: John Garfield, Lana Turner, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames: Psychological thriller about karma that is done in similar vein as Double Indemnity. John Garfield stars as Frank Chambers, a drifter who arrives at a diner and eventually lands a job there. Cecil Kellaway plays the diner owner, Nick Smith whose wife Cora Smith, played by Lana Turner has an affair with Chambers. She doesn't love her husband and schemes with Chambers to have him murdered so that she may take ownership of the diner. Eventually they succeed but not everything goes as smoothly as planned. Director Tay Garnett ups the tension to counter any possible sympathy given the wrong parties. John Garfield as Chambers is a man concealed by lust and lured into a dire scheme that doesn't reveal all of the answers until the consequences surface. Lana Turner as Cora is tired of a ionless marriage and lured by greed. Cecil Kellaway as Nick is blunt in his future plans that would have Cora in a life not desired by her. His weakness is his drunkenness, which Chambers and Cora take full advantage of. Fine ing work by Leon Ames as a clever attorney pitting one factor against another, and Hume Cronyn as an equally clever lawyer. Theme regards the price of sin and its ability to knock on one's door willing to deliver unwanted news. Score: 9 / 10

Noirdame79 Although I've been classic movie buff for years, I only saw this movie a few years ago. I'd heard about it, of course, and seen photos, but hadn't actually gotten around to viewing it. I bought the DVD and it sat on my shelf for a while. When I finally popped into my DVD player, I found myself highly entertained, if a bit mystified by some of the plot twists, some of which made sense, some of which did not. But on the whole, it was essential viewing for a film noir fan, or any fan of Lana Turner or John Garfield.A plot synopsis is unnecessary, because so many other reviewers have already done so, and wonderfully detailed descriptions. The heat that is generated on screen between Turner and Garfield is no myth; from the moment their characters cross paths, there's ion and doom written all over them. The attraction is instant, and with the Production Code in place, the subtlety and innuendo does more than explicit sex scenes could. Although the 1981 film version was able to be truer to the details of James M. Cain's novel, the chemistry between the leads was lacking, and no amount of lurid sex can disguise that. Turner and Garfield were Cora Smith and Frank Chambers, period. Their individual coloring provided an intriguing contrast which also contributed to their on screen dynamic. The rest of the cast, including Cecil Kellaway as Cora's elderly husband, Leon Ames as the District Attorney, Hume Cronyn as the defense lawyer and Audrey Totter as the girl Frank picks up outside a diner, are also no less than stellar.The script makes use of the male voice-over/narration so common in the genre, and it works well since Garfield is in almost every scene. There are questions, though as to the first murder plot and the obvious stupidity of Cora's husband Nick, and the legal wrangling in the courtroom sequences. However, the performances almost make you overlook the plot holes. In the end, Turner, Garfield and the rest of the cast won me over. Cora and Frank are not experienced criminals, and they inevitably make mistakes that end up costing them dearly. But their desire and eventual love for each other never really fades, despite the mistrust and anger that often comes to the surface. The title refers to death coming more than once, and it certainly does in this case.Although the DVD was released by Warner Brothers (John Garfield's home studio at the time), the movie was made by MGM, which may for the lack of grittiness that is to be expected in film noir. Director Tay Garnett had a fairly long career, but was never considered a top director. Both Lana Turner and John Garfield made their film debuts in the late 1930s; while Turner, the blonde glamour girl who proved she had presence on film to make her one of the screen immortals went on to even greater fame in melodramas (both on screen and off) in the 50s and 60s, Garfield only had a few years left; his heart condition was made worse by his interrogation and blacklisting during the McCarthy witch hunts. He truly never gave a bad performance, and "Postman" is one of his best. He continued to work until the last year of his life, and is considered to be one of the finest actors of his generation, and of course, was one of the first Method actors in film. His early ing was a great loss to the film industry, but the impressive body of work he left behind will undoubtedly endure.It's not a perfect film, but a fascinating one.

Mr_Ectoplasma This film noir has Lana Turner as Cora, the naive wife of a much older roadside café owner, clashing with Frank, a drifter, played by John Garfield, who rolls into town and gets a job at the diner. The two begin a flaming romance and eventually plot the murder of Cora's husband, with insurmountable ramifications.Although not perhaps the most realistic or gritty noir, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" is memorable for two reasons: first, because it was perhaps the first instance in which MGM sweater girl Lana Turner was truly able to cut her teeth; and second, its atmosphere is explosively provocative and quietly dazzling.Shadowy and slow burning, the film moves between worlds as Cora and Frank become a singular threat to Nick, and their fate unravels and splinters into a dramatic finale. Based on the book by James N. Cain (who also wrote "Double Indemnity"), "The Postman Always Rings Twice" is less talkier than a lot of noir, but constructs a languid atmosphere and is rife with dramatic (if not always entirely believable) characters. Turner lights up the screen as perhaps the most glamorous waitress of all time, and John Garfield has a great chemistry with her on screen. Moody cinematography bolstered with closeups and subtle stylistic touches accentuate the general mood of the picture.Overall, this is a fantastic noir, but it's not Mickey Spillane or anything of the like; it's a bit more leisurely and the stakes don't feel as grave as they do in other noir of the era, but the performances and dreary atmosphere that lurks in every scene make this worth the while. Lana Turner's vixenish take as the naive-turned-evil waitress is worth the price of ission alone. I'd describe the film as a weird collision of major studio gloss with the gritty tropes of noir, which, while some people may not find it that appealing, I personally enjoyed the dichotomy. 8/10.