Time and nature takes its course, and Garfield and Turner fall in love. In the way is the genial but stubborn Kellaway. Turner refuses to give up the diner, which she believes has a future, for Garfield. Kellaway announces plans to sell the diner, and move Turner in with his stroke-paralyzed sister. Turner and Garfield respond by murdering Kellaway in a car "accident."
District attorney Leon Ames is on to the shady lovers. His dream of sending them to the gas chamber is shattered by crafty defense attorney Hume Cronyn, whose sole motive for saving them is to get the best of longtime adversary Ames. Turner and Garfield are at last able to run the diner together, but mutual suspicions and the Production Code ensure their eventual punishment.
The voice of Fred Flintstone, Alan Reed, has a small role as Cronyn's larcenous but hapless assistant.
How others will see it. Many classic film lovers regard The Postman Always rings Twice as top-notch film noir. User ratings at imdb.com are high, particularly with older audiences. Star power helps the cause: Turner and Garfield are bona-fide moviestars, and Kellaway and Cronyn have three Oscar acting nominations between them.
How I felt about it. On the other hand, it is telling that the present film garnered no Oscar nods of its own. Another bad sign is that the director is Tay Garnett, a Hollywood veteran known for a competent but uninspired output. The various requirements of the Production Code were incompatible with James M. Cain's bestselling source novel.
But the real problem here are the two lead characters. We are supposed to like John Garfield and Lana Turner, even though both are murderers and two-timers, she is a golddigger, and he turns her in to D.A. Ames, which shows both cowardice and disloyalty.
We are expected to believe that Turner married Kellaway because she was tired of being pestered by guys. We also must believe that Turner will nearly drown herself just to find out whether Garfield loves her enough to save her. Then there's the cop fixated with stray cats, and the defense attorney who laughs off a potential $10,000 payday (200K in 2010 dollars). Also, if you plead guilty in a pre-trial hearing, no trial will be held for you to plead not guilty. And Ames is unlikely to pay a friendly visit to Garfield in his prison cell on the day of his execution.