The Postman Always Rings Twice as Film Noir Essay Example
The Postman Always Rings Twice as Film Noir
Tony Garnett’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) seems a quintessential film noir. The title suggests a fateful conclusion for the two main characters—a flawed drifter named Frank (John Garfield) and his restless female conspirator, Cora (Lana Turner). Garnett’s crime drama is crafted with the stylish devices usually characteristic of the film noir genre—low-key lighting; a flawed, inept hero; and an archetypal femme fatale. Certain thematic codes are also persistent: psychological conflict, paranoia, fate, and moral ambiguity. Three telling scenes communicate the noir stylistics effectively—where nearly all of the devices converge simultaneously: (1) Frank’s first meeting with Cora at the Twin Oaks roadside diner, (2) The couple’s arraignment at the municipal court, and (3) Their final attempt to reconcile their relationship.
Frank, a drifter, has bummed a ride and is dropped off at the Twin Oaks diner outside Los Angeles because he spots a “man wanted” sign posted outside. His introduction to the owner’s beautiful wife, named Cora Smith, is a fateful one as attested to by Frank’s voice-over narration of the story in which he later states, “I wish I had never met her.” Cora is a femme fatale, who leads to Frank’s destruction. The film language suggests—by the use of light and shadow—that she has power over him. Once Frank is inside, Cora’s husband seats him at the restaurant counter, where he is neatly framed by the criss-crossed grid of shadows cast onto the wall from the windowpanes. When Frank hears a clink on the floor, he looks down and sees a lipstick, dropped by Cora, rolling across the grid lines of the shadows on the floor near him. He retrieves the lipstick and is struck dumb by Cora’s beauty—her mesmerizing eyes and her sophisticated attire. Her close-fitting white shorts and a white turban are highly unusual clothing for a cook’s wife at a roadside diner. Frank is
Tony Garnett’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) seems a quintessential film noir. The title suggests a fateful conclusion for the two main characters—a flawed drifter named Frank (John Garfield) and his restless female conspirator, Cora (Lana Turner). Garnett’s crime drama is crafted with the stylish devices usually characteristic of the film noir genre—low-key lighting; a flawed, inept hero; and an archetypal femme fatale. Certain thematic codes are also persistent: psychological conflict, paranoia, fate, and moral ambiguity. Three telling scenes communicate the noir stylistics effectively—where nearly all of the devices converge simultaneously: (1) Frank’s first meeting with Cora at the Twin Oaks roadside diner, (2) The couple’s arraignment at the municipal court, and (3) Their final attempt to reconcile their relationship.
Frank, a drifter, has bummed a ride and is dropped off at the Twin Oaks diner outside Los Angeles because he spots a “man wanted” sign posted outside. His introduction to the owner’s beautiful wife, named Cora Smith, is a fateful one as attested to by Frank’s voice-over narration of the story in which he later states, “I wish I had never met her.” Cora is a femme fatale, who leads to Frank’s destruction. The film language suggests—by the use of light and shadow—that she has power over him. Once Frank is inside, Cora’s husband seats him at the restaurant counter, where he is neatly framed by the criss-crossed grid of shadows cast onto the wall from the windowpanes. When Frank hears a clink on the floor, he looks down and sees a lipstick, dropped by Cora, rolling across the grid lines of the shadows on the floor near him. He retrieves the lipstick and is struck dumb by Cora’s beauty—her mesmerizing eyes and her sophisticated attire. Her close-fitting white shorts and a white turban are highly unusual clothing for a cook’s wife at a roadside diner. Frank is