The Postman Always Rings Twice (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
”Stealing a man’s wife, that’s nothing, but stealing his car, that’s larceny.” John Garfield and Lana Turner in the 1946 movie.Frank Chambers is a drifter, a man who, when life gets too heavy, catches the next boxcar out of town or puts his thumb out on the nearest highway. Being comfortable or achieving normalcy comes with too much responsibility. He’d rather bum it than have anyone relying on him. It all begins with a sandwich in a California diner on a road in the middle of nearly nowhere. Nick “The Greek” Papadakis owns the diner and is in need of some help. The Greek offers Frank a job which even though he is broke still sounds like...well..work. Until he meets Cora.”Then I saw her. She had been out back, in the kitchen, but she came in to gather up my dishes. Except for the shape, she really wasn’t a raving beauty, but she had a sulky look to her, and her lips stuck out in a way that made me want to mash them in for her.”He takes the job. Something sparks between them, something desperate, something twisted, something so bad it is good. The first time The Greek leaves them alone, Frank is all over her: ”I took her in my arms and mashed my mouth up against hers….'Bite me! Bite me!'I bit her. I sunk my teeth into her lips so deep I could feel the blood spurt into my mouth. It was running down her neck when I carried her upstairs.” The steamy kitchen scene from the 1981 movie starring Jessica Lange and Jack NicholsonThe pain they inflict on each other in that encounter is only the beginning of this passionate, sadomasochistic relationship with unexpected moments of what could be termed romance. ”Tomorrow night, if I come back, there’ll be kisses. Lovely ones, Frank. Not drunken kisses. Kisses with dreams in them. Kisses that come from life, not death.”Which would all seem very sweet except for the fact that they are planning to kill The Greek. Frank would have never had the ambition for such a deed on his own. His idea is that they just take off, become gypsies, live off the land, but Cora wants to be free, and she also wants the diner. She is a femme fatale.“I ripped all her clothes off. She twisted and turned, slow, so they would slip out from under her. Then she closed her eyes and lay back on the pillow. Her hair was falling over her shoulders in snaky curls. Her eye was all black, and her breasts weren’t drawn up and pointing up at me, but soft, and spread out in two big pink splotches. She looked like the great grandmother of every whore in the world. The devil got his money’s worth that night.” 1946 poster for the movieFrank is caught up in this woman who is game for anything. She lets him do things to her that would have most any other woman screaming for help. It is hard to determine if Cora actually had any feelings for Frank or for The Greek. Certainly, The Greek and Frank liked each other more than Cora liked either of them. Was she playing the game she had to play to get the accomplice she needed? Was the perversion of their relationship something she needed as well? The Greek was too old for her, but Frank as it turns out was not who she needed either. The trial sequence is convoluted, crafty, and artful as their attorney builds this elaborate defense designed to defeat his frenemy, the prosecutor. He doesn’t care if they are guilty. He only cares about winning. Frank turns on Cora; Cora turns on Frank (another form of foreplay?) which is all part of the defense attorney's plan to set them free. The ending of the novel certainly seems a commentary by James M. Cain that people do not escape their guilts nor their destinies. One of the more suggestive movie posters from 1981.There has been much puzzlement over the title because there is no postman involved in the story or anything that would readily suggest a reason for the title. I’ve been doing some research, and it seems that the most logical explanation that people have come up with is that in this time period when the postman delivered the mail, he would ring the bell on the house once, but if he had a telegram, he would ring twice. Telegrams were expensive, and to receive one generally meant that something bad has happened. The title probably made more sense to people in 1934 than it does to us today. If we accept this explanation, then Cain is warning his audience that nothing good is coming. This is a terrific noir novel, a prime example of the genre. This book and this writer have certainly had an enduring impact on not only the hard boiled mystery novel, but also on literature and Hollywood. The book has been filmed seven times with most people agreeing that the 1946 version with John Garfield and Lana Turner was the best. The book was banned in Boston for being too sexually violent. There were several scenes that even by contemporary standards had me squirming due to the graphic nature, but I was also reading with a certain amount of awe at the audacity of an author trying to depict the very real, dark aspects of a deranged, desperate relationship. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.comI also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
The actions of people in the pursuit of love and happiness are sometimes unplanned spontaneous and dangerous. In this story a man comes to town and becomes involved with a married woman. They plan and plot her way out of the marriage, options on the table they want things to be clean. They have a plan, how will it unfold? Will they walk away in each other arms in happiness? One thing for sure is there will be blood.Well if your familiar with the authors writing and read his novel Double Indemnity you will know that his story becomes intricate and a web that his characters must free themselves from. This was another enjoyable tale of individuals and the macabre. I found this info on the title of the novel on good old Wikipedia..The title is something of a non sequitur in that nowhere in the novel does a postman appear, nor is one even alluded to. The title's meaning has therefore often been the subject of speculation. William Marling, for instance, suggested that Cain may have taken the title from the sensational 1927 case of Ruth Snyder. Snyder was a woman who, like Cora in Postman, had conspired with her lover to murder her husband. It is recognized that Cain used the Snyder case as an inspiration for his 1943 novel Double Indemnity; Marling believes it was also a model for the plot and the title of Postman. In the real-life case, Snyder said she had prevented her husband from discovering the changes she had made to his life insurance policy by telling the postman to deliver the policy's payment notices only to her, and instructing him to ring the doorbell twice as a signal indicating he had such a delivery for her.In the preface to Double Indemnity, however, Cain gave a specific, and entirely different, explanation of the origin the title for The Postman Always Rings Twice, writing that it came from a discussion he had had with screenwriter Vincent Lawrence. According to Cain, Lawrence spoke of the anxiety he felt when waiting for the postman to bring him news on a submitted manuscript—specifically noting that he would know when the postman had finally arrived because he always rang twice. Cain then lit upon that phrase as a title for his novel. Upon discussing it further, the two men agreed such a phrase was metaphorically suited to Frank's situation at the end of the novel.With the "postman" being God, or Fate, the "delivery" meant for Frank was his own death as just retribution for murdering Nick. Frank had missed the first "ring" when he initially got away with that killing. However, the postman rang again, and this time the ring was heard: Frank is wrongly convicted of having murdered Cora, and then sentenced to die. The theme of an inescapable fate is further underscored by the Greek's escape from death in the lovers' first murder attempt, only to be done in by their second one.In his biography of Cain, Roy Hoopes recounts the conversation between Cain and Lawrence, only he extends Lawrence's remarks. He did not merely say that the postman always rang twice, but rather that he was sometimes so anxious waiting for the postman that he would go into his backyard to avoid hearing his ring. It was no good, however, for if the postman's first ring was not noticed, his second one, even from the backyard, would be. (view spoiler)[ (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about The Postman Always Rings Twice (2010)?
می گویند پستچی همیشه دو بار زنگ می زند. پستچی هر که هست، چه خدا باشد، چه تقدیر و چه شانس، دو بار حق اشتباه داری، دوبار می شود پای آدم بلغزد، دو بار جان سالم به در می بری و باز به تو فرصت می دهند، اما بار سومی در کار نخواهد بود. پستچی می رود، روی برمی گرداند، هر چه هست، در همان دو بار باید یادشان بگیری، به خودت بیایی و بعد منتظر انتقام سخت پستچی می مانیدیالوگی از فیلم پستچی همیشه دوبار زنگ می زندداستانی جنایی/درام که با زبان عامینه توسط قاتل به صورت اول شخص روایت می شود.داستان ریتمی تند و ضربانی دارد و بارها خواننده را غافلگیر می کند.داستان در ژانر پلیسی سیاه - نوآر(شاخه سینما)- نوشته شده و بیشتر حول جایگاه قتل،شخصیت قاتل و افکار،احساسات و آرزوهای وی و همدستش کورا(همسر مقتول) می چرخد. با اقتباس از این اثر،فیلمی به کارگردانی باب رافلسون ( سال 1981 محصول مشترک آمریکا و آلمان غربی ) و درخشش جک نیکلسون در نقش فرانک (قاتل) و فیلمی دیگر به کارگردانی تی گرنت (سال 1946 - محصول آمریکا) ساخته شده است.در نگاه اول عنوان کتاب ارتباطی با متن داستان ندارد،با این وجود نوینسده در انتخاب عنوان ظرافت خاصی به خرج داده است.بر اساس حدس و گمان گفته می شود پرونده حقیقی جنایی روث اسنایدر(1927) الهام بخش کین در انتخاب نام داستان بوده است.در آن پرونده نیز زنی با همدستی معشوقه اش اقدام به قتل شوهر خود و دریافت غرامت بیمه می کند.اسنایدر برای جلوگیری از لو رفتن ماجرای بیمه،به پستچی گفته بود تا هنگام رساندن بیمه نامه به منزلش،دوبار زنگ زده تا اسنایدر متوجه علامت شده و خود شخصا آن را دریافت نماید.علاوه بر این،عنوان "پستچی همیشه دوبار زنگ می زند" اشاره به این مضوع دارد که در نهایت عدالت به روش خویش مجرم را جزا می دهد (ممکن است بار اول صدای زنگ نامه رسان شنیده نشود،اما مطمئنا پستچی برای بار دوم زنگ خواهد زد و این بار همه صدای آن را خواهند شنید).در این داستان نیز بار اول حقیقت از محضر دادگاه مخفی می ماند.اما بار دوم فرانک به خاطر جرم قتل ناکرده ی دیگری در تنگنا افتاده و این بار حقیقت ماجرا روشن می شود.همچنین می توان عنوان را به صورت دیگری نیز تحلیل کرد.فرانک دوبار اقدام به قتل مرد یونانی(نیک) می کند و هر دوبار به نحوی از ماجرا جان سالم به در می برد.با این حال بار سوم دیگر راه فراری برای نیک نیست( هم معنی با این ضرب المثل فارسی که "یك بار جستی ملخک، دو بار جستی ملخک ، آخر به دستی ملخک"). جذابیت ذاتی داستان، نحوه روایت، فصل های کوتاه(16 فصل) و ترجمه روان آن؛کتاب را به اثری استثنایی در این ژانر بدل کرده استاین عکس اعدام روث اسنایدر را در ۱۲ ژانویه سال ۱۹۲۸ نشان میدهد.این تصویر، نخستین عکسی می باشد که از صحنه یک اعدام با صندلی الکتریکی گرفته شده است. تصویر به علت تکان های ناشی از عبور جریان الکتریسیته از اسنایدر تا حدودی تار است.عکسبردای مخفیانه و غیرقانونی توسط تام هووارد و به سفارش نشریه نیویورک دیلی نیوز صورت گرفته استتوضیحات بیشتر در ارتباط با کتاب و نحوه انتخاب عنوان آن
—Kamran
Frank & Cora are extremely persistent murderers. They have that old American worth ethic that gently reminds you to try and try again, even when the fatty you are trying to murder refuses to die. But they're not just a pair of go-getters, they are also into things like biting and scratching S&M. And sound business plans.This book is a noir treasure. It packs my picnic basket with the romance of Southern California; the palm trees, roadside diners, orange groves, and persistent Los Angeles county lawyers. And at 100 pages, anyone who complains about reading it up gets an automatic ticket to hell, no exceptions. James Cain gives you all of the depth of the Greats like Shakespeare, with none of the bullshit. Thee knowest what I mean.I liked how quickly Frank and Cora came to these sociopathic conclusions. Like, "kk, we hate your greasy hubs and we want to run away. Kill him b4, tho?"Go read it or I will kill you in a fake car accident.
—Sunday
Some time ago I read an interview with James M. Cain in Paris Review Interviews. I had no idea who he was but of course I had heard of ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’. There was a book, there were films. I knew all about it. Here is the storyline as I saw it: it’s some sort of erotic crime thing. A woman lives alone, a guy comes to the door, says he is a postman, she lets him in, he rapes her and kills her but it’s all very ambiguous actually. Anyway, she should’ve known he wasn’t a postman because the postman always rings twice and this guy only rung once, get it? Yeah. It turns out there aren’t any postmen in this book and nobody rings (twice or otherwise). And while I believe my version is pretty good, Cain’s might be a little better. To cut a short story even shorter, it’s a tale about love, sex and murder. And different feline species. We have a cat which gets electrocuted, we have wild pumas and we have Cora, the self-proclaimed hellcat.Frank Chambers was just passing by because that was what he did in life – pass by. He would go on with his life of a rolling stone, get arrested every now and then, maybe get an odd job here and there, if it weren’t for Cora, the wife of a Greek owner of a diner in the middle of nowhere. More sophisticated men wouldn’t look at her twice, but to men like Frank Chambers Cora is the sort of woman you’d kill for. You know, the fire of his loins and the cause of his downfall. Cain knows how to write a story without resorting to flowery descriptions or linguistic acrobatics. His writing is sparse and of no-frills kind but it’s hypnotically rhythmic. It’s a shame that creative writing courses discourage people from writing like that anymore. Many contemporary writers would probably drown this story in all the unnecessary thus robbing it of its emotional immediacy. By the way, if you like I can happily tell you the storyline of any other book I haven’t read, like ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ or ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ or ‘The Sound and the Fury’ or ‘The Blind Assassin’. I have them all figured out.
—Kinga
