In the catalog of film adaptations of James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, Pierre Chenal’s Le Dernier Tournant (US: The Last Turning) is a strong contribution, even if inferior to Luchino Visconti’s and Tay Garnett’s later films. In this familiar noir tale, drifter Frank (Fernand Gravey) stops at a roadside diner and ends up working for the owner (Michel Simon) and his beautiful, much younger wife Cora (Corinne Luchaire); once Frank and Cora begin their inevitable love affair behind the older man’s back, they conjure up ways to eliminate him for good. Chenal does a fine job with the material, perhaps held back slightly by a lead actor (Gravey) who’s more petulant than he is virile, and there’s some interesting camera work that previews the frenetic noir cinematography yet to come when the cycle takes off in America. But the star of the film is Michel Simon, who portrays the oafish, detestable husband with more pathos than the character probably deserves, his own accordion playing a tease for the lovers to dance, his black cat an omen for his pending misfortune.