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John Spencer asked this question about The Postman Always Rings Twice:
Is this quintessential noir?
Greg John, no. It is short and gritty, but it's on the unbelievable side. Double Indemnity is pretty much the same story, more polished, more intense, but …moreJohn, no. It is short and gritty, but it's on the unbelievable side. Double Indemnity is pretty much the same story, more polished, more intense, but no, that isn't noir either. Hammet and Chandler? No, they are hard-boiled private eyes, but that's not noir either. Real Noir? Try Cornell Woolrich's "I Married a Dead Man.". Or Jim Thompson's "Killer Inside Me." Or David Goodis' "Down There", made into the Trauffaut film, "Shoot the Piano Player" (the French, you know, embraced American noir, at the time, and gave it a name, more than Americans, who were hooked on Erle Stanley Gardner in the 1940s and 1950s. Or Kenneth Fearing's "The Big Clock", made into a very good noir film. Or just find Otto Penzler's "Big Book of Noir" and find a favorite author and go from there. That's not to say "Postman" isn't good, as it is. But real noir came during and after WW2, imo. (less)
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The Postman Always Rings Twice
by James M. Cain
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