John Garfield of the last film, based on the life of Al Schmid, a war hero blinded in combat. In preparing for the role, Garfield lived for several weeks with Schmid and his wife in Philadelphia and would blindfold himself for hours at a time. After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946) with Lana Turner, "Humoresque" (1946) with Joan Crawford, and the Oscar-winning Best Picture "Gentleman's Agreement" (1947). In "Gentleman's Agreement", Garfield took a featured, but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America.
The Postman Always Rings Twice (novel) the Victorian era. When mail (post) was delivered, the postman knocked once to let the household know it was there: no reply was needed. When there was a telegram, however, which had to be handed over personally, he knocked twice so that the household would know to answer the door. Telegrams were expensive and usually the bringers of bad news: so a postman knocking (later, ringing) twice signaled trouble was on the way. In the preface to "Double Indemnity", Cain wrote that the title of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" came from a discussion he had with the screenwriter Vincent