Two Versions of The Postman Always Rings Twice on Blu-ray

In November, Warner Home Entertainment will bring both versions of the film noir classic The Postman Always Rings Twice to Blu-ray - the 1946 original and the 1981 remake. These adaptations of James M. Cain's influential crime novel focus on how the torrid affair between a drifter and a restaurant owner's amoral wife leads to psychological rot and murder.

In director Tay Garnett's 1946 film, Lana Turner (Who's Got the Action?) and John Garfield (Force of Evil) play the duplicitous lovers, while Cecil Kellaway (Harvey) co-stars as Turner's doomed husband. At the time, the film's subject matter caused quite a stir with the audiences and the Production Code, but its questionable content seems tame when compared to the 1981 interpretation of Cain's novel.

For that picture, director Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces) and screenwriter David Mamet (The Untouchables) infused the story with graphic scenes of sexuality in order to more strongly convey the unstable passion motivating its antiheroes - here played by Jack Nicholson (The Departed) and Jessica Lange (American Horror Story) - to such desperate criminal activities.

The supplementary and technical specifications for the individual Blu-rays are still unknown.

Both versions of The Postman Always Rings Twice street on November 13th.

Note: Despite the image of Jack Nicholson on the first of the two following clips, that clip plays the trailer for the 1946 version.