The Postman Always Rings Twice (2012)

I love all film noirs because of the way they were filmed and acted. The setting were always fantastic and the plots always teeming with murder, blackmail, and alienation. The characters were low-lifes, detectives, or femme fatales. In all film noirs, there is romance, but the sexiest film noir, by far, is the original version of The Postman Always Rings Twice. The on-screen chemistry between platinum blonde Lana Turner and drifter John Garfield is enough to carry a 113 minute movie. Throw in Cecil Kellaway and Hume Cronyn as part of the great supporting cast, a wonderful story by James M. Cain, and tragic irony and the result is one of the fastest moving, most enjoyable film noirs produced in the golden age of Hollywood.

Lana Turner's Cora ranks as one of the most seemingly innocent and utterly drop-dead beautiful goddesses ever to touch the silver screen.

In this film noir pot boiler, actors Lana Turner and John Garfield were two of the biggest stars in Hollywood. And both are at the top of their game in this Tay Garnett directed film. Garfield, in one of his best performances, plays Frank Chambers. After catching a ride hitchhiking he stumbles into a diner with a "Man Wanted" sign posted outside. The sign has double meaning as the story plays out. The diner is owned by Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway) and his younger, much younger wife Cora (Turner).

In a great scene early in the film, Nick has gone into town on some errands and Cora makes her entrance by dropping her lipstick which roles over to Frank's feet. We don't see her at first, nor does Frank. He picks up the lipstick and looks up along with the rest of us to find young Cora. She's a platinum blond, decked out in a glistening white 2-piece outfit with short shorts and her hair neatly tucked into a turban. You can see Frank gasp ever so faintly, as did I. She's a knockout and yes, we know where this is all headed.

Bored with her life with dull Nick, Cora and Frank begin their affair and quietly plot Nick's demise. Based on a novel by James M. Cain and adapted for the screen by Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch, "Postman" is quintessential noir. We have the good, bad guy and the innocent good guy. And of course the bad girl that usually gets her way. This terrific picture was one of Garfield and Turner's best work, although reports were that they were not fond of each other. You would never know it by watching their work here.

The Blu ray package is a winner. The transfer is in 1080p with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio. The extras however are all in standard definition. While the film may not be quite as sharp as some black and white films I've seen, it looks very good. Some of the night scenes seem like daylight to me but than is probably just limitations of the original photography. The audio is DTS-HD Master Audio mono, delivered from the front channels. Likewise it shouldn't be expected to be groundbreaking but it is clear and crisp with limited noise. The extras include a couple excellent documentaries. Here is a brief review of "Lana Turner...A Daughter's Memoir" (2001):

Included in the Blu ray version of 1946's "The Postman Always Rings Twice," this 86 minute documentary does a nice job of highlighting the long career of glamorous film star, Lana Turner. It is narrated by Robert Wagner and includes some juicy tidbits from Turner's only child, Cheryl Crane. She was the lonely product of Turner and her second husband, restaurateur Stephen Crane. Turner was married 7 times and had numerous other lovers. Ms. Crane was a casualty of being ignored by her mother, although they became closer in Turner's later life. Crane became headline fodder in 1958, when at the age of 14 stabbed to death her mother's lover, gangster Johnny Stompanato. Crane also alleges being molested repeatedly by her mother's fourth husband, actor Lex Barker (Tarzan films). There are numerous other contributors including Kirk Douglas, Robert Stack, Juanita Moore and her make-up artist and confidant Del Armstrong. The documentary is very interesting if you are curious about actors and film studios in the late 30's and 1940's.

Here is a review of "The John Garfield Story" (2003): This is another documentary included on the Blu ray version of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946). While it doesn't go into much depth of the man himself, the film does cover most of his career leading up to his untimely death at age 39. The film is narrated by his youngest daughter, Julie Garfield (Julie was John's real name). Naturally her father is shown in the best light possible with plenty of talking head accolades by various people who knew Garfield. Those included actors James Cromwell, Hume Cronyn, Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Glover, Lee Grant and many others.

Other extras include a film introduction by Richard Jewell, a 16 minute short called "Phantoms, Inc." about confidence men preying of unexpected victims of the era (1940's), a color cartoon called "Red Hot Riding Hood," a theatrical trailer and an audio only version of a Screen Guild Theater Broadcast.

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At the beginning of the movie, when Frank (excellent John Garfield)arrives to the lonely gas station, a sign makes explicit the movie plot: "Man Wanted". Cora (Lana Turner) needs desperately a man to satisfy her and kill her husband.

This is a criminal drama marked by destiny, thanks to James Cain, and exasperated by Niven Busch, greek tragedy and alarm signs lover: Cora first appears with a blindy white dress, and Frank's hamburger is burning. And, as it must be, a black cat starts the fatality of treason.

This movie is EXCELLENT, undoubtly the best NOIR there's ever been. John Garfield, before being accused of being a communist by senator McArthy, gave life to Frank, a handsome tramp that gets a job at a gas station where a "man is wanted". Lana Turner steals the show performing Cora, the beautiful and dreadful wife of the gas station owner, Cecil Kellaway. This is Tay Garnett's best work, and the cinematography is perfect for a movie that it's literally creepy, dark, desperate and lusty.

Definitely in myy Top 10 of all time. A TIMELESS CLASSIC!!!!

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This spellbinding 1946 B&W flick, set in California, pits sultry Lana Turner against John Garfield in a neverending love-hate relationship, which ironically parallels the lives of its 2 stars. Turner, 7 times married & dead in 1995 at 74, is electrified at first glance by Garfield, in real life, a tough Jewish bad boy who was later blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and died in 1952 at 39. Classic scenes in this all-American classic include: shots in the Twin Oaks Diner,(owned by the husband Lana didn't love), including donuts and a steaming mug of coffee full-body shots of Lana in shorts & halter top (one helluva beautiful dame) and a wonderful "love me or leave me" scene in the Pacific Ocean, where Lana tests the love of the only man she has ever loved. According to legend, the title of this short James M. Cain novella had no relevance in the book. Not so in the movie. Find out for yourself why the postman always rings twice and why this is one of the greatest movies ever made.

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When the picture starts, we see John Garfield exiting a car after thanking the driver for giving him a ride. There is a sign hanging on a gasoline pump that simply says "Man Wanted"(instead of "Help Wanted"). From that moment on anyone watching this outstanding film will be riveted by this story of sexual tension, adultery, murder, betrayal and everything else that screenwriters Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch took from the James M. Cain novel of the same name. This is the only time that John Garfield and Lana Turner appeared on screen together and they both give two of the best performances of their respective careers. Turner is especially outstanding as Cora Smith, the young bride(and obviously unsatisfied) of the much older Cecil Kellaway who owns the roadside diner. The introduction of Turner's character is one of the greatest ever put on film which everyone needs to see just to show how great filmmaking can be. From that unforgetable entrance until the end of the picture, Turner's Cora Smith is something to behold. She's "perfect" in every sense of the word but only on the outside. Perfect hair, perfect make-up, perfect clothes, etc. Dressing in white throughout most of the picture, she's anything but "pure". She's the ultimate "femme fatale" and Garfield soon gets caught in her web. John Garfield was loaned to MGM for this picture and Turner thought he was all wrong for the lead. Having just ended his seven year contract with Warner Bros(1938-1946) Garfield was embarking on his most productive years in films with not only this picture but "Body and Soul" & "Gentleman's Agreement"(both from 1947) and "Force of Evil"(1948). He was the first of the Method actors when he arrived in Hollywood in 1938 for his first film. By the time he died 1952 he had paved the way for Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, and James Dean as well as a host of other actors. The "Method" as it was called continues even today with any film Daniel Day-Lewis is in. This Blu Ray release is the third of Garfield's films to be released on Blu Ray this year. Previous to this Warner release, Olive Films released "Body and Soul" and "Force of Evil" on Blu Ray with excellent results. Warner's Blu Ray of "Postman" is not perfect like Turner's character, but it's probably the best we're going to get. It's obvious that it wasn't struck from the original negative and it's doubtful that the original still exists. There is still a lot of grain visable in the film which is why I'm only giving it four stars. There are no lines or specks running through the frames like most of the pictures from this period and the blacks and whites do look sharper. All and all, it's an above average Blu Ray but not excellent. However, compared to the regular DVD which I also have, it's much improved. It's not Criterion that's for sure. "The Postman Always Rings Twice" is 113 minutes and contains the following subtitles: English, French, Spanish(Castillian), Spanish(Latino), Portuguese, German, and Italian. Audio features include: English DTS-HD Master Audio Mono and French,Spanish,Portuguese,German,Italian all in Dolby Digital Mono. Some of the special features include "The John Garfield Story" narrated by his daughter Julie Garfield and "Lana Turner: A Daughter's Memoir" by her daughter Cheryl Crane. If you've never seen "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and love film noir at it's best, then I would highly recommend getting this new Blu Ray from Warner Home Video. If you're a fan of both Lana Turner or John Garfield then this title needs to be in your collection. Fox will be releasing "Gentleman's Agreement" in January(2013) on Blu Ray and fans of John Garfield will have another chance to re-discover this great actor. With the bulk of his Warner Bros films(1938-1946) owned by Warner Home Video, hopefully will get to see more of his films on Blu Ray in the future. Until then, "The Postman Always Rings Twice" on Blu Ray is highly recommended.

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