The Postman Always Rings Twice

(Tay Garnett, US 1946, 113 min., 35mm)

For this rare film noir from MGM, the studio turned to a hard-bitten James M. Cain novel as the source and Lana Turner to provide the heat as a woman trapped in a loveless marriage. When drifter Frank Chambers (John Garfield) stops at the Twin Oaks diner, the owner Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) takes a liking to him and offers him a job. Nick’s wife, Cora (Turner), sees opportunity in Frank to get out and, after an aborted elopement, decides the only way through their predicament is to kill Nick and collect the insurance money. Iconic through and through, with memorable visuals, situations, and dialogue, Postman proves that even the “Dream Factory” could produce a cynical masterpiece. As Frank says, “With my brains and your looks, we could go places.”