Product description

The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946] [DVD]

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Average customer rating: 4.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 0732190065858
Label : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Release date : 2006-06-01
Title : The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946] [DVD]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Parental Guidance
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1946-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 108
Studio : Warner Home Video
Theatrical releaseDate : 1946-05-02
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even under the heavy censorship of 1946 Hollywood, Lana Turner and John Garfield's libidinous desires burn up the screen in Tay Garnett's adaptation of James M. Cain's torrid crime melodrama. Platinum blond Turner is Cora, a restless sexpot stuck in a roadside diner married to mundane middle-aged fry cook Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) when handsome drifter Frank (Garfield) blows her way. It's lust at first sight, a rapacious desire that neither can break off, and before long they're plotting his demise--but in the wicked world of Cain nothing is that easy. Garnett's visual approach is subdued compared to the more expressionistic film noir of the period, but he's at no loss when he films the luminous Turner in her milky-white wardrobe. She radiates repressed sexuality and uncontrollable passion while Garfield's smart-talking loner Frank mixes street-smart swagger and scrappy toughness with vulnerability and sincere intensity. Co-star Hume Cronyn cuts a cold, calculating figure as their conniving lawyer, a chilly character that only increases our feelings for the murderous couple, victims of an all-consuming Iamour fou/I that drives their passions to extremes. --ISean Axmaker, Amazon.com/I

Customer reviews

review by: ViewerSig date: 2009-06-14 rating:

Don't waste your money
I found this film absolute rubbish and the only reason I sat through it was to look at Lana Turner. The worst of the genre by far. br / br /Garfield could not act his way out of a paper bag and the plot is ludicrous with religious redemption thrown in at the end. br / br /

review by: date: 2009-03-27 rating:

Not a Film Noir great
I can't be as positive towards this film as most other reviewers here. br / br /Plus points are the basic story which is full of possibilities for an imaginative director; the creation of the isolated roadside diner locations, both indoors and out, which provide a plausible setting for the bottling-up and then expressing of strong passions; strong acting from an ensemble of fine character actors who surround the guilty leads; and then there's Lana Turner, who looks $1,000,000 both in white and in black. Her initial entry is a masterstroke - we see first her lipstick rolling towards John Garfield, then her shoes, then her legs and finally the whole of her as Garfield gapes at this apparition. br / br /But these pluses are to my mind outweighed by lost opportunities. One of the problems is that no compelling reason is ever presented why we should care over much for the guilty couple since neither of them possesses much in the way of developed, interesting character. The censorship protocols of the era of course precluded any overt sex, but nevertheless I never caught any sexual chemistry between Turner and Garfield. Though they are both on screen almost throughout, they seemed to me to be curiously apart, and it's almost a surprise that they ever got close enough for Lana Turner to get pregnant! The screenplay is adequate but never crackles as it needs to if it is to compensate for the censorship rules, and such sharp lines as exist are given to the supporting players rather than to the principals. Lastly, neither John Garfield nor Lana Turner succeed in extracting their characters from the torpor of the unfrequented diner they inhabit, and I thought were in the end stumped by their dullness. br / br /A missed opportunity in that there was a better film than this to be made from this novel.

review by: date: 2009-02-26 rating:

I like the boys and the boys like me
br / br / br /I recently watched double Indemnity which is a classic James M Cain story. This was not as intense but it is an outstanding story and film br / br /You don't actually notice the first person narrator but of course you are seeing everything from his point of view. br / br /I hadn't seen Lana Turner that much and she is stunning. Her platinum blonde hair is striking and always well lit through out the film. Her outfits usually white shorts or bathing suits set it all off very well. In certain scenes she goes into black.She didn't need a makeover show to know how to drive men to murder on her behalf . she would be the one giving the lessons in how to hook a man. br / br /I like the idea that you could go swimming at night in the sea but if Lana turner asked me I would do it even in the North Sea let alone the Pacific. br / br /If I had any niggle about the story it would be you wonder why her husband Nick seemed almost happy to throw them together . Maybe he just wanted someone to admire his choice of wife and was happy to show her off. br / br /The actions of the lawyers being the DA and the defence lawyer were studies in conniving. The DA was certain he would get a conviction by any means and the defence lawyer was playing a tricky game which first time round worked so they luckily go away with attempted murder. br / br /They then plan the real murder and again amazingly they get away with it. br / br /I wasn't expecting the ending but it was very neat. br / br /The dialogue isn't as sparkling as Double Indemnity but it is a classic story and film and I cant recommend it highly enough br / br /As Lana Turner who had seven husband and boasted about her many lovers said. I like the boys and the boys like me. Watching this film you can see why.

review by: date: 2008-10-01 rating:

Love and lust, love and murder. James M. Cain, John Garfield and Lana Turner make fine, tawdry story
With platinum hair, dark eyelashes and pouty lips, Cora Smith is a slut to dream about. Or maybe she's just an ambitious, dissatisfied wife, married to Nick, the fat older owner of a greasy roadside diner. Or maybe all those banked flames of hers are getting too much fresh oxygen from tough, dumb Frank Chambers, who drifts into her life and watches Cora's lipstick roll across the diner floor to his feet. It doesn't matter. Fate is walking slowly down the highway toward Cora and Frank. Nothing is going to change what passion and murder will bring them, and the twist of ironic justice sets them up for a great ending. br / br /There are so many good things about this movie. The four obvious ones start with the story by James M. Cain. We're talking hot lust, dumb love and the kind of ironic inevitability that always comes in first-class noirs. There's the cynical display of the legal process, not quite corrupt -- what does justice have to do with the law? -- but rewarding to those who can best manipulate it. There's Lana Turner as Cora, no actress, but who makes believable the kind of blood-thumping single-mindedness that can turn a not-so-smart drifter into a willing participant in murder. She can offer sex and she can offer love, and neither we nor Frank is sure which has any truth. Frank will settle for the sex, but then he realizes with Cora he might have both. And there's John Garfield as Frank in a perfect performance as this flawed, gullible sap who thinks he can commit murder and call it love. All he wants is Cora on a hot night. He winds up wanting Cora for eternity, and is comforted that she'll be there for him. br / br /Do many people remember John Garfield now? He made a name on Broadway and an even bigger name in Hollywood. He was a committed liberal who was ruined during the Commie witch-hunts. By the late Forties he couldn't find work in Hollywood. All those studio heads who made money from his films didn't want to touch him. He was no Communist, just too liberal for the frightened suits. Garfield's film career was in tatters. He was a first-class actor but naive when it came to politics. He couldn't understand what was happening to him. He died of heart failure in New York in 1952 while trying to reestablish himself on the stage. He was 39. To see just how good he was, watch his reaction shots in this movie...when he first sees Cora...when he has to get in the car next to Nick right after he's smashed Nick's skull with a bottle...when at the end of the movie he reads Cora's note and listens to the DA. Garfield's last major movie was Force of Evil in 1948. These two films demonstrate just how powerful a screen actor John Garfield was and how much the United States lost through expediency and intimidation. br / br /The DVD transfer is just fine. Among the extras is a fine documentary about Garfield.

review by: Bishbaby date: 2008-05-10 rating:

Compelling Dark Drama
I rate this movie as a career high for both of the main players; Lana Turner and John Garfield. br / br /At the beginning of the movie , Lana Turner's Cora is like an accident waiting to happen, or a bomb without a fuse. She ouzes frustration in her marriage of convenience to a dull, older man. She is fit and sexy. Surely it is only a matter of time before........ Enter John Garfield's drifter character. He too exudes a strong yet vulnerable blue collar sexuality. They look at each other like hungry cats look when they hear the tin opener. The rest of the movie is inevitable. br / br /The sex scenes in the 1980s remake are embarassingly explicit. Here the metaphor and implication is part of the art, and the film is all the better for it. What is left to your imagination is so much more erotic than anything on the screen could be. br / br /As their relationship develops, and their evil plans hatch, a lot of me feels sorry for them and hopes that they get away with it. They are driven by, and are slaves to their passion for each other. That was never going to happen in 1946 Hollywood. The clue is in the title. They end up paying for their sins. br / br /I envy their passion, but not it's consequences. This is a fine film noir. br / br /Extras on the disc include a lengthy and very interesting profile of John Garfield. I learned a lot from it, and have become more of a fan. He was certainly on a roll in 1946. As well as being loaned out to MGM for this one, at his home studio Warner Bros, he made 'Humoresque' with Joan Crawford. It may may not be as well remembered as '...Postman..', but was one of the biggest grossing movies of the year.

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