Line #26 Literature/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice


1	[[quoteright:281:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cain_The_Postman_Always_Rings_Twice.jpg]]
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3	''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' is a 1934 crime novel written by Creator/JamesMCain.
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5	Frank Chambers, a young drifter, finds himself in a dusty diner in rural UsefulNotes/{{California}} in search of a meal. At the diner, he finds a job and a seductive married woman named Cora. Their attraction is instantaneous, and so starts their passionate affair. Cora's tired of living her life this way, married to an old Greek man named Nick whom she doesn't truly love. She wants to start over but keep the diner. Frank and she come up with the perfect solution and {{the perfect crime}}-- to murder Nick. After an unsuccessful first try, they succeed. Too perfect a crime to have really succeeded, lawyers are onto them. Will they be caught, and how will they pay for their actions?
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7	It was controversial in its day for the violence and the sadomasochistic sexual relations between Cora and Frank. It is considered one of the best novels of modern literature.
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9	Its most famous adaptation was the [[Film/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice1946 1946 film noir]], which was [[Film/ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice1981 remade in 1981]] (although Creator/WarnerBros did not initially make either English-language version, they own both of them today, acquiring the 1981 version in its 1989 purchase of Creator/{{Lorimar}}-Telepictures, and the 1946 version when Time Warner acquired [[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Turner Broadcasting System]], the owners of the pre-1986 Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer library, in 1996). There was also a 1939 French adaptation, ''The Last Turning'', and a 1943 Italian adaptation, ''Film/{{Ossessione}}''.[[note]]With a war on, the producers didn't bother to get the rights to Cain's novel, so ''Ossessione'' wasn't shown in the United States until 1976.[[/note]]
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11	----
12	!!Tropes used by the novel:
13	* AmoralAttorney: Katz, who manages to get the protagonists acquitted - though he knows that they're guilty - just to win a bet with the prosecutor.
14	* AutoErotica: Early in the novel, Cora and Frank have sex in a car.
15	* BettyAndVeronica: A version that became popularized in FilmNoir.
16	* {{Blackmail}}: Kennedy, who works for Katz, attempts this with Frank and Cora. He is not successful.
17	* TheDrifter: Frank. We're first introduced to him bumming a ride in the back of someone's truck without their knowing, and he apparently has lived in (and been arrested in) multiple states at just 24 years old.
18	* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Cora is killed in a car accident, the same way that they managed to kill Nick. Frank got away with a crime he did commit - killing Nick - but he's sentenced to death for one he did not, as Cora's death really was an accident.]]
19	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Cora
20	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Just when Cora and Frank repaired their relationship and she became pregnant, Cora is killed in a car accident. Frank is accused of murdering her, and sentenced to death]].
21	* EasyAmnesia: After the attempt to hit Nick's head and make it look like he drowned in the bathtub, Nick gets retrograde amnesia from the nonfatal blow Frank managed to get.
22	* FemmeFatale: Cora is a perfect example.
23	* HaveAGayOldTime: Comes up when Frank and Katz are discussing Kennedy:
24	-->"He used to be a dick, but he's not a dick anymore."[[note]]"Dick" is period slang for "detective".[[/note]]
25	* InsuranceFraud: Used as a plot point. Nick changed his life insurance policy a day before he was murdered.
26	* KarmaHoudini: Played with, [[spoiler:then averted for both Cora and Frank.]]
27	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: Cora and Frank try to kill Nick like this twice; [[spoiler:it works for the second time. When Cora dies in a genuine car accident, Frank is accused of murdering her like this.]]
28	* ThePerfectCrime: After the first attempt, Frank deliberately wants to avoid the "perfect murder"; perfect things are suspicious.
29	* UglyGuyHotWife: Nick and Cora.
30	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Snyder Snyder-Gray]] murder.
31	* WordSaladTitle: The postman never shows up and is not even alluded to. There's lots of speculation as to where the name comes from, but James M. Cain admits it was something of a NonSequitur. Website/TheOtherWiki has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Postman_Always_Rings_Twice_(novel)#Explanation_of_title several possible interpretations]].

Context Literature / ThePostmanAlwaysRingsTwice