The Postman Always Rings Twice

The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1946 American film noir starring Lana Turner, John Garfield, and Cecil Kellaway. It is based on the 1934 novel of the same name by James M. Cain.

Frank (Garfield), a young drifter, sees a "man wanted" sign at a gas station/diner along the highway near Los Angeles.  He responds and is offered a job as an assistant by the owner, Nick (Kellaway), a middle-aged man.

Nick starts to make Frank a hamburger in the diner, but needs to leave to attend a motorist looking to fill his car with gas.  Then a remarkable scene takes place.

While sitting at the diner's lunch counter waiting for the hamburger, Frank hears something rolling on the floor towards him.  He looks down and sees lipstick.  

Frank turns in the direction from whence the lipstick came and sees a beautiful young woman dressed all in white.  It is Cora (Turner), Nick's wife.  

Nick picks up the lipstick and asks, "You drop this?"  Cora responds, "Uh-huh."  Without looking at Frank, she hold out her hand and expects Frank to walk over and place the lipstick in it.

Instead, Frank leans against the counter and holds the lipstick in his hand, waiting for Cora to retrieve it.  Obviously annoyed, Cora walks over, takes the lipstick, returns from where she was, applies the lipstick to her lips, looks at Frank one more time before closing the door behind her, all the while maintaining an icy expression.

After this cold beginning, Frank and Cora start a romantic relationship.  Cora, not in love with Nick, suggests to Frank that divorce is not the answer.  They will wind up with nothing.

While Nick, Cora (driving) and Frank are all together in a car, Frank kills Nick with a blow to his head.  Then Cora and Frank stage an auto accident making it seem as if that was how Nick died.  Frank is also injured.  

The district attorney, a witness to the accident, brings criminal  charges against Cora.  She enters into a plea bargain pleading guilty to manslaughter and receives a suspended sentence.  Frank and Cora have seemingly gotten away with murder.  

In an interesting side bar, Frank and Cora then have to get married as California law at the time prohibited an unrelated couple from living together.  

Later, while Frank is driving, they get into a real car accident and Cora is killed.  Frank is unjustly convicted of murder and is sentenced to be executed.  

While on death row, Frank is visited by the District Attorney, who confronts him with evidence of his involvement in Nick's murder.  He reasons that if he resists his legal fate in Cora's death, he'll only wind up back where he is with a conviction for Nick's murder.  

Frank muses that, just as the postman always rings twice to make sure people receive their mail, fate has ensured that he and Cora have finally paid the price for their crime.  Hollywood during this period had to show that crime didn't pay.  That would change.