Thursday Evening Movie Review

The Netflix DVD sleeve for The Postman Always Rings Twice plays up the controversy that the movie generated when it was released in 1946, saying that "although the sex scenes were watered down to conform to industry standards, the movie was still considered shocking for its time". Well, that's a bit misleading. There are no real sex scenes in the movie. There are only kissing scenes. It turns out that the controversy was over the fact that male lead John Garfield apparently used his tongue in one of the kissing scenes with Lana Turner.

And why is Garfield's Frank Chambers kissing Turner's Cora Smith? Why, because he's young, handsome, and dangerous; and she's bored by her loveless marriage to Nick (Cecil Kellaway), a man old enough to be her father. Frank Chambers is a drifter who gets a job at the Smiths' roadside lunch counter-cum-motel and promptly begins to put the moves on Cora. Cora responds to them soon enough. This being film noir (the novel upon which this movie was based was written by James M. Cain, who also wrote Double Indemnity, which was made into another film noir classic), the next step is that they begin to plan Nick's murder, both so that they can be together and so they can continue to operate the Smith's business. I won't give away the rest of the story for those who haven't seen in and want to, but suffice it to say that it includes bungling plotters, clumsy cats, unscrupulous lawyers, and blackmailing private investigators.

This was an enjoyable movie. The plot is entertaining and engrossing, although there are parts where it is a bit thin. The acting is good, particularly that done by Hume Cronyn, who plays one of the aforementioned unscrupulous lawyers. Lana Turner is beautiful, and there is a good deal of sexual tension despite the lack of actual sex scenes. What's not to like?