(It's not Il Postino...but--)
 
Luchino Visconti's OSSESSIONE (Obsession) was made in 1942, prior to the
better known BICYCLE THIEVES of 1948. It is a very similar
melodrama--about a doomed love affair between two desperate Italians,
ending in the woman's death and the man's arrest. U-turn shares some
aspects of the road itself as a prominent symbol with Ossessione.
 
According to Peter Bondanella's text on Italian Cinema, Visconti received
a French translation of James Cain's original 'Postman' novel from Jean
Renoir, but a French film adaption had been done in 1939 by Pierre Chenal
called The Last Turn (or, Le dernier tournant). The (first) American
version by Tay Garnett appeared in 1946.
 
-Susan Vaill
 
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama.