POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE-1946

POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE- 1946

The first time I heard of this film was the remake in 1981. For some reason I thought this was some sexy dark murder mystery... that impression lasted for over 25 years until I finally got the chance to see the original version with Lana Turner and John Garfield.
Now I have to say this is another one of those comedies that is a parody of itself and its genre! I had no idea from the moment Cora drops her lipstick to introduce herself to Frank Chambers, the tough, handsome stranger, the movie was a laughing ride down a roller coaster!

I love murder plots like these as much predictable as the many I've seen from "Double Indemnity" to "The Prowler", but I had no idea the direction this movie end up going after the murder took place.

Throwing in the two lawyers into this movie was an ingenious idea! They play these two killer lovebirds so well into against each other that you laugh and you cry along with them! Hume Cronyn was wonderful as the conniving defense attorney Arthur Keats using all the tricks in the book for them to admit to the murder but somehow was still able to help them get out of going to jail! He had some really great lines with Frank Chambers:

Frank Chambers: He's a plainclothes dick if I ever saw one.

Arthur Keats: He used to be a dick, but he's not a dick anymore.

Or lines like :Stealing a man's wife, that's nothing, but stealing a man's car, that's larceny!


Just watching how the Keats fooled the two of them doubting each other from one minute to the next; and sharing the doubts too, one get to really like and care about these characters. The ending was quite a shame, but treated so well and somewhat light hearted that I didn't feel sad or sorry of any of the victims. For the longest time I thought this story was about a bored housewife having an affair with her postman...you know "The postman always rings twice" like this was the signal for her to let him into the house...but I was far far from the actual story and the meaning of this suspensful tale...This was a job well done!