Review of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) by Jacob M — 18 Jul 2013

The Postman Always Rings Twice. What kind of title is The Postman Always Rings Twice? I know it's the title of the book, but it's one of the worst titles ever for a movie. Other than a comment at the end of the film, the title has nothing to do with the film itself. Now, on with my review for the film that should be called Adulterous Romance Gone Wrong.

In The Postman Always Rings Twice, drifter Frank Chambers (John Garfield) gets a job as a small diner run by Nick Smith (Cecil Kellaway). When he meets Nick's attractive wife (Lana Turner), he soon wants to have a sexual relationship with her. They soon plot to kill off Nick so they can get married and claim his insurance policy. The plan works well, but with the law on to them, can the two lovers manage to escape their crimes?

The film also stars Hume Cronyn as crooked judge Arthur Keets.

I really wanted to like this film. I really did. The casting of Lana Turner and John Garfield is brilliant, especially Turner, who's pretty attractive, while a sick and twisted woman. The chemistry comes off as the best thing in the film. I also liked the thrills in the film, particularly in the killing scenes.

If I liked these scenes, then what's wrong with the film? Well, besides the awful film title, it seemed to me like the film director was attempting to knock Alfred Hitchcock by putting crazy plot twists after another. While Hitchcock succeeded in this, particularly in Vertigo, Tay Garnett, however, overdid it on the twists, making the film less convincing. Also, while I was impressed by the performances of Lana Turner and John Garfield and their chemistry was good, the romance, however, wasn't. What didn't help at all was the censorship restrictions during sexual scenes (Back in the day, you could only kiss for 3 seconds). The restrictions really dumbed the film down and makes the romantic scenes dull.

The biggest disappointment in The Postman Always Rings Twice is the ending. While is was predictable that something bad was going to happen to the characters, the way it was presented was a letdown. I'm not going to give it away, but if you've heard the Styx song "Renegade," then you know how it's going to end. While something like this works in a rock song, it fails miserably in a thriller.

I had high expectations for The Postman Always Rings Twice, but I was disappointed, especially in the ending and the many twists and melodrama. The 95% Tomatometer score is a joke. Literally.