The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 film noir based on the 1934 novel by James M. Cain. Tay Garnett was a movie director who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ... Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 – June 29, 1995) was an Academy award-nominated American film actress. ... John Garfield John Garfield (born March 4, 1913 in New York City; died May 21, 1952 in New York City) was an American actor. ... Cecil Kellaway (August 22, 1893 – February 28, 1973), born in Cape Town, South Africa, was an Academy Award-nominated British actor. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Leon Ames (born January 20, 1902 in Portland, Indiana; died October 12, 1993 in Los Angeles, California), born Leon Waycoff to a Russian family, was an American film actor. ... Audrey Totter Audrey Totter (born December 20, 1918 in Joliet, Illinois) is an American actress. ... George Bassman (February 2, 1914 - June 26, 1997) was an American composer and songwriter. ... Erich Zeisl was an Austrian Jewish composer, (Vienna 18 May 1905 - Los Angeles 18 February 1959). ... MGM logo Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer or MGM, is a large media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of cinema and television programs. ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... This still from The Big Combo (1955) demonstrates the visual style of film noir at its most extreme. ... See also: 1933 in literature, other events of 1934, 1935 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain. ... James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American journalist and novelist. ...

This adaptation of the novel is the best known, starring Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn, Leon Ames, and Audrey Totter. It was directed by Tay Garnett, with a score written by George Bassman and Erich Zeisl (the latter uncredited). Lana Turner (February 8, 1921 – June 29, 1995) was an Academy award-nominated American film actress. ... John Garfield John Garfield (born March 4, 1913 in New York City; died May 21, 1952 in New York City) was an American actor. ... Cecil Kellaway (August 22, 1893 – February 28, 1973), born in Cape Town, South Africa, was an Academy Award-nominated British actor. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Leon Ames (born January 20, 1902 in Portland, Indiana; died October 12, 1993 in Los Angeles, California), born Leon Waycoff to a Russian family, was an American film actor. ... Audrey Totter Audrey Totter (born December 20, 1918 in Joliet, Illinois) is an American actress. ... Tay Garnett was a movie director who has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ... George Bassman (February 2, 1914 - June 26, 1997) was an American composer and songwriter. ... Erich Zeisl was an Austrian Jewish composer, (Vienna 18 May 1905 - Los Angeles 18 February 1959). ...

Plot

Cora, as she first appears to Frank -- her gaze lures him, eventually, to commit murder.

Frank is a drifter who stops at a rural diner for a meal, and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a young, beautiful woman, Cora, and her much older husband, Nick, who is of foreign extraction. Frank and Cora have an affair. Cora is tired of her situation, married to a man she does not love, and working at a diner that she wishes to own. She and Frank scheme to murder Nick in order to start a new life together without her losing the diner. Their first attempt at the murder is a failure, but they eventually succeed. Image File history File links Postman_24. ... Image File history File links Postman_24. ... Sign in a rural area in Dalarna, Sweden Qichun, a rural town in Hubei province, China An artists rendering of an aerial view of the Maryland countryside: Jane Frank (Jane Schenthal Frank, 1918-1986), Aerial Series: Ploughed Fields, Maryland, 1974, acrylic and mixed materials on apertured double canvas, 52...

The local prosecutor suspects what has actually occurred, but doesn't have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on one another, he tries only Cora for the crime. Although they do turn against each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. With the tactic having failed to generate any new evidence for the prosecution, Cora benefits from a plea bargain in which she pleads guilty to manslaughter and receives probation.

Frank and Cora eventually patch together their tumultuous relationship, and now plan for a future together. But as they seem to be prepared finally to live "happily ever after", Cora dies in a car accident. Ironically, although it was in fact truly an accident, the circumstances seem suspicious enough that Frank is then wrongly convicted of murdering her by having staged the accident. He is sentenced to death.

Explanation of the title

When informed that his last chance at a reprieve from his death sentence has been denied, and thus his execution is now at hand, Frank is at first incredulous that he will be executed for murdering Cora, even though he is innocent of having done so. But when informed that authorities now have irrefutable evidence of his guilt in the murder of Nick, Frank decides that his impending death is actually his overdue punishment for that crime, despite his official conviction being for killing Cora.

Frank contemplates that when a person is expecting to receive a letter, it is of no concern if at first he does not hear the postman ring the doorbell, because the postman will always ring a second time, and that second ring will invariably be heard. After they escaped legal punishment for Nick's murder, but nonetheless with Cora now dead and Frank on his way to the death chamber, he notes that the postman has indeed rung a second time for each of them.

Reputation and references to the film

• The film was voted #49 on the American Film Institute's 100 Greatest Love Stories list.
• This version is referenced in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill 2.
• The film was referenced in an episode of Charmed. In, "Charmed Noir", one of the protagonists, Paige Matthews is magically sent to a fictional world set in the 1920s or 1930s. Upon arrival she decides to change her clothing to that typically worn in this era. Her new look is complemented by a fellow character who believes she looks like Lana Turner "straight out of The Postman Always Rings Twice, the good version" (i.e., the 1940s film). Paige later calls herself Lana, in the episode, to disguise her real name.

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, actor, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. ... Kill Bill is the fourth film by writer-director Quentin Tarantino. ... Charmed is an American television series that ran for eight seasons on The WB. It was produced by Aaron Spelling and is about three sisters who are the worlds most powerful good witches, known throughout the supernatural community as The Charmed Ones but known to everyone else as the... Kyle Brody pays homage to the 1940s in Charmed Noir // Episode of the popular U.S. television series, Charmed Episode Number: 8 Season: 7 First Aired: November 14, 2004 on The WB Production Code: 4301142 Writer: Curtis Kheel Director: Michael Grossman Cast: Alyssa Milano as Phoebe Halliwell, Rose McGowan as... Paige Matthews is a fictional character, and one of three female leads, on the WB television series Charmed. ...

Other versions

• Ossessione (Obsession) (1943 Italian film)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981 film)
• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1982 opera)

Ossessione 1943 Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943) is generally considered to be the first Neorealist film. ... The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1981 film adaptation of a novel by James M. Cain. ... // January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. ... The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1982 opera with music by Stephen Paulus, based on the 1934 novel by James M. Cain. ...

External links

• The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) at Movie Tome
• The Postman Always Rings Twice at the Internet Movie Database