Dead ringers for a transient postman? : an approach to five films after James M. Cain’s ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’

Abstract

James M. Cain’s 1934 novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, itself no stranger to controversy, has inspired numerous film adaptations which in turn managed to cause a stir on many a level and occasion. Curiously, however, only two originated in the same country and language as the novel, and they were neither the first to be made nor were they the most critically acclaimed versions. By selecting adaptations filmed and presented in black and white, this dissertation aims to discuss five films that ostensibly deal with the same literary source (one remotely so) but with very different aesthetic, thematic, visionary (and if one will, cultural and political) preoccupations, with an aim of looking less at transformations of plot, and more at shifts and upheavals of a more essential and formative nature. The films discussed are: ‘Le dernier tournant’ (1939), France, directed by Pierre Chenal. ‘Ossessione’ (1943), Italy, directed by Luchino Visconti. ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ (1946), USA, directed by Tay Garnett. ‘Cronaca di un amore’ (1950), Italy, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. ‘Szenvedély’ (Passion, 1998), Hungary, directed by György Fehér.