Movie Review: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Synopsis: Drifter Frank Chambers accepts a job at a rural diner and falls in love with the owner's beautiful and ambitious wife, Cora. Cora feels the same about him but has worked too hard to make the diner successful and leaving her husband, Nick, would mean starting over from scratch. The only way for them to be together is to murder Nick. But, to get away with that, they have to fool a very capable district attorney.
Who's in it? The movie stars Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn and Leon Ames.
Review: I came across this film on one of our movie channels a couple weeks ago and, mostly because it's a movie I had always wanted to watch, decided to record it for a rainy day.
My original intention was to watch it by myself (probably early in the morning, when everyone was still asleep). However, my wife and I were unimpressed with a movie we attempted to watch on Netflix and, since we didn't have a contingency plan, I decided to watch this film with her. Overall, it turned out to be a good choice.
There were a couple things I found I really liked about this movie. The first was, even though there were times when Cora (Turner) seemed to be a bit manipulative, I found I didn't really hate her. After all, she was pretty much trapped in a loveless marriage (with a man who is old enough to be her dad) and, when Nick (Kellaway) decided to sell the diner without consulting her, that, along with the fact he had a drinking problem, did make me feel a little sorry for her. To be clear, I still didn't condone her desire to murder her husband. But, he wasn't a saint either.
Of course, I think the thing I liked best about this film was the way the district attorney (Ames) always seemed to be one step ahead of them but was perfectly countered by their unscrupulous defense attorney (Cronyn). As a result, the movie wound up not being as predictable as I thought it would be and I wasn't sure if they would wind up paying the price for murder or would actually get away with it.
Final Opinion: It was an intriguing film with a few surprise twists. I enjoyed watching it and would recommend it.
My Grade: A
Who's in it? The movie stars Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, Hume Cronyn and Leon Ames.
Review: I came across this film on one of our movie channels a couple weeks ago and, mostly because it's a movie I had always wanted to watch, decided to record it for a rainy day.
My original intention was to watch it by myself (probably early in the morning, when everyone was still asleep). However, my wife and I were unimpressed with a movie we attempted to watch on Netflix and, since we didn't have a contingency plan, I decided to watch this film with her. Overall, it turned out to be a good choice.
There were a couple things I found I really liked about this movie. The first was, even though there were times when Cora (Turner) seemed to be a bit manipulative, I found I didn't really hate her. After all, she was pretty much trapped in a loveless marriage (with a man who is old enough to be her dad) and, when Nick (Kellaway) decided to sell the diner without consulting her, that, along with the fact he had a drinking problem, did make me feel a little sorry for her. To be clear, I still didn't condone her desire to murder her husband. But, he wasn't a saint either.
Of course, I think the thing I liked best about this film was the way the district attorney (Ames) always seemed to be one step ahead of them but was perfectly countered by their unscrupulous defense attorney (Cronyn). As a result, the movie wound up not being as predictable as I thought it would be and I wasn't sure if they would wind up paying the price for murder or would actually get away with it.
Final Opinion: It was an intriguing film with a few surprise twists. I enjoyed watching it and would recommend it.
My Grade: A
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