The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

The district attorney and the defence lawyer are on the same side, the side of justice. Each is motivated by the adversarial system, but neither values his private victory above truth. Both sentence the guilty by ascertaining that he is such and by making sure that he knows that they know it.

Hume Cronyn's eccentric character, the defence lawyer, is the most substantial one. The others are victims of selfishness (narrowly construed), which blinds them to the consequences of their blunders. The circumstances do not force the protagonists to display the qualities that are not apparent from the outset. With the characters doomed, the narrative lacking suspense, and the direction lacking poetry, the story is didactic.