A Year: Day to Day Men: 2nd of May
Nestled in Slate-Gray Sheets
May 2, 1946 was the release date of the film “The Postman Always Rings Twice”.
The film noir “The Postman Always Rings Twice” is one of the earliest prototypes of today’s erotic thrillers. The screenplay by Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch was based on the 1934 controversial first novel of the same name by crime fiction writer James M. Cain. Cain was known for novels with forbidden lust, love triangles, brutal, raw sexiness, and adultery-motivated murder. Two previous, sexually-charged classic film noirs adapted from Cain’s novels had met with both critical and box-office success: “Double Indemnity” and “Mildred Pierce”.
In early February 1934, before Cain’s novel was published, a synopsis of his story was submitted to the Production Code Administration, which reviewed movie scripts against the morals code established for motion picture industry. The PCA persuaded RKO Studio to abandon its plans to film Cain’s story, calling it “definitely unsuitable for motion picture production.”
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer purchased the rights to make a movie adaptation a full twelve years prior the film’s release. They were dissuaded from moving forward with the project earlier because of fears that its themes of adultery and murder would run afoul of the production code that began to be rigorously enforced not long after they had acquired the rights. The studio finally decided to proceed with the film in 1944.
The film was a breakthrough in the battle against screen censorship. Although the Production Code Administration had kept James M. Cain’s novel off the screen for twelve years, they approved the 1946 picture despite its sizzling love scenes. Shocked fans even insisted the two stars, Lana Turner and John Garfield, were French kissing on screen.
“The Postman Always Rings Twice” was a big hit, earning about five million dollars at the box office, recording a profit of about two million dollars. Despite the profit, Louis B. Mayer of MGM hated the film. Although known now as a one of the key works in the development of the film noir style, it did not receive even one Academy Award nomination.