The Car Man (Bourne) opera. I didn't even know it that well, and I still don't know it that well, to be honest. I know there are parallels, but it was more the feeling of the music and the feeling of what we all know Carmen to be." The story is loosely based on the 1934 novel "The Postman Always Rings Twice" by American novelist James M. Cain (1892–1977) and the 1946 and 1981 films of the same name respectively starring John Garfield and Lana Turner, and Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. In the films, Frank, a drifter, stops at a rural California diner
Lana Turner in a lead role opposite John Garfield in "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946), a film noir based on James M. Cain's debut novel of the same name. In the film, she portrays Cora, a diner proprietor who devises a plan to murder her husband with a drifter who has become her lover. The now-classic film noir marked a turning point in Turner's career as her first femme fatale role. Reviews of the film, and in particular, Turner's performance, were glowing, with Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" writing it was "the role of her career." "Life" magazine named