Cain, James M.

The American author and journalist James Mallahan Cain was a prominent figure in 20th century fiction. Alongside Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, he was among the first authors of "hardboiled" crime fiction that came to influence American noir fiction and film. Many of his works are considered classics, especially the novellas The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) and Double Indemnity (1943). The former was unusually explicit about sex for its time. A vagrant, Frank Chambers, falls in love with the beautiful Cara Papadakis whose husband owns a lunch wagon. Alongside several of Cain’s books it has been adapted for the screen a number of times in several countries. A toned down Hollywood production, starring John Garfield and Lana Turner came in 1946, but most famous is probably Bob Rafelson’s 1981 version starring Jessica Lange and Jack Nicholson.