Watch The Postman Always Rings Twice For Free

I wanted to but couldn't!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Producer: Carey Wilson. Copyright 6 March 1946 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 2 May 1946. U.S. release: May 1946. U.K. release: 13 May 1946. Australian release: 1 August 1946. 11 reels. 10,286 feet. 114 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Nick Smith, the middle-aged proprietor of a roadside restaurant, hires drifter Frank Chambers as a handyman. Frank is immediately attracted to Nick's beautiful wife, Cora. Before long, Cora, who had long before tired of her drab existence, returns his feeling, and they fall in love. Cora hates Nick, and eventually talks Frank into helping her kill him so that they can take over the restaurant.NOTES: Despite enthusiastic contemporary reviews and its present cult status, Postman was not nominated for any awards, nor did it achieve top rank at the box-office. However, it was no slacker either. Eventually with re-issues it did take in nearly $4 million in gross domestic rentals - not bad money by anyone's reckoning.COMMENT: As readers will know, I'm not a rabid fan of Lana Turner. However, the role of Cora Smith was the one she was born to play. Justifiably, it's the role with which she'll always be identified. Garfield is great too. And there are outstanding support performances from Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn and Alan Reed.Despite an episodic plot, the writers and the director manage to keep the story firmly focused on the two protagonists. There is always an underlying tension, even when things seem normal enough on the surface.Garnett's forceful direction, combined with M-G-M's typically highly professional "finish", make this noirishly moody black-and-white version (notice how swings in mood are powerfully accomplished by switching from radiant lighting to somber, from Turner almost always dressed in white to the occasional black) the superior of all others. (These include the French 1939 Le Dernier Tournant with Fernand Gravet, Michel Simon and Corinne Luchaire, the Italian 1942 Ossessione with Massimo Girotti and Clara Calamai, and the 1980 color re-make with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange).OTHER VIEWS: The Postman Always Rings Twice takes time to get into stride. It is not really until the court room scenes where brilliant playing by Hume Cronyn and Leon Ames taking full advantage of some terse, suspenseful dialogue brings the film really to life. Garfield and Turner are either somewhat miscast or else made to appear so by the scriptwriter's obvious endeavors to water down their viciousness and make them appear more likable and sympathetic characters. As it is, they fall between the two stools. Garfield particularly plays with little color. Turner's make-up and costuming give little more than a suggestion of the character's cheap and brassy allure. Turner always looks so beautifully clean and meticulously groomed it makes nonsense of the script. The director compounds the dullness of their scenes by filming them for the most part in disinterested long takes. It is only in the court room scenes that he directs with his usual dash and pace. The photography is all wrong. Garfield and Turner are carefully and attractively lit so that they look like two star-crossed lovers instead of a couple of cheap thugs. The same applies for other credits like music, art direction. The film is far too glossy in the typical M-G-M manner. What a pity the novel wasn't filmed by Fox or Warner Bros! - JHR writing as Charles Freeman.

The Postman Always Rings Twice is one of the darker film noirs from the 1940s, in which the characters commit heinous crimes and have few redeeming qualities. The film ultimately reaches the profound conclusion that it sets out to make, but the path moving towards that goal is unnecessarily complicated and not always believable. The film's premise is kick-started when Frank, a vagabond, and Cora, a frustrated housewife, form an intimate connection. Their relationship seems rather dubious, as the affair starts quickly despite Frank's apparent lack of charm, good looks, and personality.Cora claims she felt connected to Frank because of his "smarts," but this apparent intelligence is suspiciously lacking onscreen. It is possible the movie wishes to implicate Cora in manipulating Frank for her own purpose, but this implication is not strong enough to overcome the doubtful beginning of the relationship. However, as the two become entangled in crime, their relationship becomes more realistic and interesting. The movie presents a fascinating psychological study of love and trust in a criminal situation. The plot for the first half of the movie is straightforward, even boring--it isn't until the second half that events accelerate. The fluctuating love-hate relationship between the two leads keeps the plot interesting, but at times the movie focuses too much on technicalities, while other scenes from the movie seem unnecessary for the ultimate goal. The acting serves the plot well enough, but there are certain lines of dialogue delivered with such a dated acting style that it could pull a viewer out of the suspense. The final scene of The Postman Always Rings Twice offers a perfect conclusion for a film noir, as it raises questions regarding the moral responsibility of man and the consequences of a person's actions. This result is worth a watch, even if the the movie as a whole isn't as gripping as it strives to be.

A decent enough classic film noir and Lana Turner is stunning, but it lacks a hard edge.Part of the problem with 'The Postman Always Rings Twice' is that John Garfield is a little soft in the role of Frank the drifter, and I didn't feel real heat between him and Lana Turner. At times the film feels staged, as if the characters are going through the motions, instead of feeling all-consuming passion and prepared to murder for it. Of course we have the production code to blame for some of this, and certainly for neutering the references to rough sex present in Cain's novel. Another problem is director Tay Garnett, who is uneven in his story-telling, starting with the beginning of the illicit romance, which is implausibly abrupt. Later on we're hit with a succession of rapid (and convenient) plot devices, and the film borders on melodrama. The last scene in particular is awful. On the other hand, there are some nice moments, particularly when murder is being considered or attempted, but I don't want to spoil it. Lana Turner is gorgeous, though at 25 seems ridiculously paired with the 53 year old Cecil Kellaway (even with the explanation the script provides). The scenes of her on the beach at night with Garfield help evoke a forbidden feeling. She plays her part pretty well, with expressive eyes and some breathless moments. Of the supporting cast, Hume Cronyn stands out and is strong in the role of a lawyer. You can do worse, but you can do better.

. . . according to the California state police in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. You see, the cat doesn't ring at all, because it's just a cat, and cat's don't ring. It just slinks around, electrocuting people. If ladders and cats are bad luck separately, this Film Noir effort shows that they're double trouble together. Since there is no disclaimer at the end of POSTMAN about "no animals being harmed during the making of this movie," viewers can only assume that the doomed feline shown in full rigor "the morning after" is not just "faking it" by "playing dead." Its late night death screech during the previous scene sounded real (rather than the result of "vocal coaching"), and I still can't forget than Hollywood allowed Thomasina to be buried alive (not to mention what happened to the little daughter's kitty in I REMEMBER MAMA). Some say cats have nine lives. However, Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, the Shaggy Dog and their canine cohorts seem to put out 10 "arfs" on the big screen for each "meow" heard there. Blofeld strokes his Fluffy White Pu$$y Cat as the head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E., just the foremost in a long line of screen villains to favor the nefarious feline over "Man's best friend." The POSTMAN killers are merely one more entry to a very long list.