The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946]

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE is an American film noir that was directed by Tay Garnett and originally released by MGM in May 1946.  It stars Lana Turner, John Garfield and Cecil Kellaway with support from Leon Ames and Hume Cronyn.  Based on the novel by James M. Cain it tells of the doomed love affair between a drifter and the seductive wife of his boss, who runs a filling station-cum-hamburger joint.

Strictly speaking this movie is outside the remit of Cinema Delirium in that it’s well known, highly regarded and has attained classic status.  It is neither obscure, unjustly neglected nor weird.  The sole reason I am writing about the film is that it stars John Garfield, an actor who was very popular in his day but who latterly suffered at the hands of HUAC and died at the age of just 39.  I am interested in Garfield because he is almost totally forgotten today, outside of movie buffs.  Show his picture to 100 people in the street and I’d be astounded if five knew his name. 

This process by which famous stars pass into obscurity is fascinating to me and I’m drawn to those who have suffered that fate (if suffered is the correct word).  I often wonder whether this phenomenon will happen to stars of more recent vintage.  Back in the 30s and 40s there were far more films being made and consequently far more actors and actresses about; only the most successful would emerge from that mass so it follows that a lot of talent would fade from the memory.  Of course it was much longer ago too and there will always be this tendency to forget.  So perhaps I’m not talking so much about stars being remembered, in a physiological sense, but stars whose fame endures over several generations.  For instance, James Dean was a handsome, talented and hugely popular actor who died young; exactly the same is true of Garfield and yet he is almost completely forgotten.  The same comparison can be made with Marilyn Monroe and Gail Russell. The question of why one and not the other is what interests me.

These days there are far fewer films in production so there are fewer stars to remember but fame seems to be more fleeting.  Josh Hartnett, Chris Klein and Chris O’Donnell are examples of those whose fame has declined almost as quickly as it arose.  Female stars have it even worse because the point at which the phone stops ringing comes a lot earlier than it does for men.  Consider Oscar winner Faye Dunaway: she was arguably the foremost female star in the mid-70s but she’s more or less unheard of these days.  This intrigues me too: stars whose fame disappears while they are still alive.  How must that feel?

When he appeared before HUAC in April 1951and was asked to name friends who were or had been Communists Garfield refused and his film career was over at a stroke.  Unlike Elia Kazan, Garfield was unwilling to sacrifice the careers of others in order to advance his own.  As it happens Garfield had never been a Communist but he certainly identified with leftist and liberal ideals and concerns about those on the margins of society, no doubt due to his own tough working-class upbringing.

These qualities are why I think he is so effective as Frank Chambers in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE.  

Frank lives a rootless, hand to mouth existence; he is charming but emotionally inarticulate; he is a man tired of not being able to dine at the top table; he is feckless but believes life owes him something.  When he meets Cora he sees someone who can satisfy all his cravings but from the moment he lays eyes on her he is embarked on a path that only leads one way.  Although Frank has streetwise cunning he is basically a sap who thinks he is one step ahead only to find that when yanked out of his natural milieu into the world of judges and lawyers he is miles behind.  The sap who isn’t as bright as he thinks is the archetypal male protagonist of the film noir.  And indeed of the neo-noir: as Kathleen Turner says to William Hurt in BODY HEAT [1981], "You're not very bright are you? I like that in a man."

What I liked about the film is the way the idea to kill Cora’s husband Nick develops organically, in synch with the growing passion of Frank and Cora’s relationship.  There’s no moment at which you can say either one is responsible for it: Frank mentions it first but as a joke; the idea comes to Cora later but she is more serious.  Did Frank plant a seed?  Was Cora thinking of it already?  Or did it spark into life when they were both thinking it at the same time?  The film doesn’t make this clear; what we do know is that once the plan is hatched they are both in it together.

Nick is played by Cecil Kellaway as basically a nice bloke but who isn’t handsome enough or young enough or vital enough for Cora.  His affability makes the plot to kill him more unforgiveable but indicates the irresistible passion Frank and Cora have for one another.  In Bob Rafelson’s 1981 remake Nick is played by John Colicos who by looks and behaviour is a much less sympathetic character; when the plot is hatched in that version you’re practically rooting for them.

Lana Turner is an actress I have obviously heard of but up to this point had never seen in a movie.  I’d read that she wasn’t a great actress but I have to say she’s good in this.  The female role is crucial in a film noir because you have to believe she is someone for whom the man will do anything, even be drawn into crime and murder.  Turner does this very well in this picture; it helps of course that she is drop dead gorgeous.

The supporting cast are also good: Leon Ames as the dogged prosecutor determined to bring Frank and / or Cora to justice.  Hume Cronyn plays Cora’s crafty, cynical lawyer; I like Cronyn: he was particularly memorable as Warren Beatty’s editor boss in Alan J. Pakula’s paranoid thriller THE PARALLAX VIEW [1974] but appeared in many good films.  He was also half of one of Hollywood’s most enduring marriages, to Jessica Tandy.  Audrey Totter has a small role too; she’s not very well known but late in the 40s she made three terrific films in three years: this one, THE LADY IN THE LAKE [1947] and THE SET-UP [1947] which is possibly the best sports film ever made and stars my hero Robert Ryan.  You’ll also spot Morris Ankrum as the judge: he was also in THE LADY IN THE LAKE but is more familiar to me as grizzled authority figures in a number of good and very bad sci-fi movies in the 50s.

Tay Garnett is not a name you hear or read much about these days, possibly because his best work was done a very long time ago and the latter part of his career was mainly in TV episodes.  But in the 40s he directed some very accomplished pictures including this and BATAAN [1943] an excellent WW2 movie coincidentally (or perhaps not) also shot by Sidney Wagner.

I, the Jury [1953]

I, THE JURY is an American film noir that was written and directed by Harry Essex and originally released in August 1953.  It stars Biff Elliott, Peggie Castle and Preston Foster.  The first cinema adaptation of a Mickey Spillane novel it features his infamous character Mike Hammer, here seeking vengeance for the murder of an ex-service buddy.

I'll confess I was expecting this to be rubbish: it's almost always overlooked in favour of Robert Aldrich's KISS ME DEADLY [1955] which has a better cast, a better director and is undeniably the better film.  However, what surprised me was that I, THE JURY is a genuinely good film in its own right.

Some of John Alton's superb use of light and, more importantly, dark

I think there are three main reasons for this.  First, and foremost, is the cinematography of John Alton which is at times breathtakingly beautiful.  I know I say this a lot but one of the (many) things I love about genre movies is the never-ending ability to surprise.  In this instance it is the discovery of something beautiful far from its usual haunts.  I don't mean this sound superior but your average man in the street would be hard pressed to define what a cinematographer is, much less be able to name any.  If he had heard of any they would almost certainly be those worked chiefly in relatively recent colour films.  Even among film buffs who know their history may cite Gregg Toland, Nick Musuraca, Lee Garmes or Lucian Ballard before John Alton.  This is partly because he quit the business when he was only in his mid-fifties and partly because there isn't one truly outstanding film on his CV.  But make no mistake he was one of the very best.

Light and ominous shadow

Not having read Painting with Light, his book about the art of cinematography, I'm not in a position to impart much information about how Alton achieved his results but I do know that he regarded black and white as colours and that he believed that the decision as to what to light in a scene was less important that the decision as to what not to light.  You might say then that his motto could have been 'Don't be afraid of the dark'.  It may be part of the reason he retired so early that his approach was much more suited to the black and white era.  Indeed his approach was almost uniquely suited to the shadowy world of the film noir, a genre which was at its zenith in the 1940s and 50s.

An artistic separation of black and white.

Alton's cinematography is what lifts I, THE JURY out of the the morass, particularly in the last half hour as Hammer closes in on his quarry.  The scenes in Hammer's otherwise deserted office building are stunning and, in my view, a clear influence on Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER [1982] which was shot by Jordan Cronenweth and has itself been describes as a future noir.  If for no other reason you should try to see this movie for its photography which is the work of a master at the peak of his powers.

A selection of shots that recall BLADE RUNNER

The second reason why the film works is that it has the classic film noir elements in place: an unconventional but essentially decent private eye; a femme fatale; a crime that is merely the tip of an iceberg; and cynicism.  Mike Hammer is not a fully rounded character like Philip Marlowe; in fact he is not much more than two personality traits - a hair-trigger temper and a propensity for violence.  He gets results by physical means whereas Marlowe is more cerebral.  Still, people liked Dirty Harry and Popeye Doyle and they were similarly blunt instruments with disregard for bureaucracy and procedure.

Mike Hammer (C) dishes out a pasting...

Hammer's willingness to brutalise pretty much anyone who crosses his path is a nihilistic philosophy and consequently it is the violence which constitutes the third reason why the film works.  Of course by today's standards it's tame but nevertheless one can imagine it was shocking in the context of its time.  The violence isn't in the form of shoot-outs but punch ups: long, brutal punishing fights that look ugly, as cinema violence should.

...and prepares to receive one.

If I'm honest the film has faults.  One is Biff Elliott as Hammer: to put it bluntly, as Hammer would, Elliott is not much of an actor.  Okay so Hammer is not a multi-faceted character but Elliott never hints at any depth or complexity; he's certainly proficient at the physical stuff but he can't emote worth a damn.  It's a shame because such a mediocre performance kind of holes the film below the waterline.

Biff Elliott as Mike Hammer.  Or 'Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer', to give him his full title

Fortunately, Peggie Castle as the femme fatale Charlotte Manning is really good and there are some excellent character actors in the supporting cast, including Nestor Paiva and an uncredited Elisha Cook Jr. The script has a couple of laughably bad moments: one I can't mention without giving the game away but the other is absolutely priceless and comes when Hammer first sees the dead body of his pal Jack. Watch out for it.

Hammer and Bobo (Elisha Cook Jr)

Elliott didn't have much of a film career but kept working into 1980s, mostly on TV and B-movie genre pictures.  Of interest to delirious film fans he's in THE NAVY VS THE NIGHT MONSTERS [1966], a Mamie Van Doren picture that was produced by Jack Broder who also gave the world BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN VAMPIRE [1952] which has the most literal and the most baffling title I've ever come across.  Elliott is also in the John 'Bud' Cardos sci-fi / horror picture THE DARK [1979] which may or may not feature on these pages at some future point.

Peggie Castle as Charlotte Manning.  It's just occurred to me that she looks a little like Scarlett Johansson

Peggie Castle is another sad Hollywood tale: a beautiful, talented actress she mainly appeared in second rate films and had a long battle with alcoholism.  Sadly it was a battle she lost in 1973 aged just 45.

Writer-director Harry Essex was very much a writer first and director second.  Frankly he doesn't do much on I, THE JURY other than let John Alton get on with it, which is probably why the film looks great but has such a poor performance at its heart.  Essex only directed three other features although two of them probably qualify as delirious: OCTAMAN [1971] and THE CREMATORS [1972].  He has a lot of writing credits though including two genre classics: CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON [1954] and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE [1953] the latter of which you can read about here.