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Summary: One movie that must be seen to be believed.
Review: To paraphrase Winston Churchill, this film is an enigma wrapped in a riddle inside a conundrum, and the slow unveiling of the plot, with its many surprises--both shocking and hilarious--will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. John Frankenheimer's reputation as a director is based largely on this movie; he's never come close to equaling it, but that still doesn't detract from the brilliance of his achievement here. The excellence of the acting--particularly Angela Lansbury as the ultimate dragon mom, Laurence Harvey as her victim-son, and James Gregory as her buffoonish senator husband--is beyond praise. The screenplay is spectacularly witty (wait till you see how Gregory and Lansbury make their final determination of how many Communists there are in the State Department). David Amram's contrapuntal score is the perfect finishing touch to this film, which was perhaps the one good thing to come out of Cold War paranoia.
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Summary: Too Hauntingly Real
Review: This psychological thriller was better than the superb novel of the same name by Richard Condon that it was based upon. This is because the Casting Dept. homered with every selection. Angela Lansbury is positively oozing with greepieness as the mother of all conspirators. Frank Sinatara is perfectly suited to the role of the rough-around-the-edges good guy with too much on his mind. Janet Leigh is spellbinding as his love interest, as is the bride of Raymond, the doomed robot-assasin-turned hero. The plot would've been thought far-fetched in 1960; less so today, given what has been going on in Washingtom, D.C. these last seven years. The movie beging with an American patrol being brainwashed following capture during the Korean War. The Communists are working with a prominent right-wing American leader-turned-traitor to find a 'robot assasin,' someone who can be brainwashed into killing on command, and then forgetting every detail. The choice of subject turns out to be the son of the woman behind the plot. This is supposed to bind her to the Communist cause, but, as she reveals just before planting a long, deep kiss on sonny boy, she is using them to get into power so that she can smash them. Her vehicle is Husmand #2, a boozing Senator of limited intelligence who can be easily managed. The McCarthy-like Senator gets one of the few laugh lines in the movie, ehen he complains to Wifey that he gets teased about the fact that he constantly changes the number of Communists that he 'knows' are in the State Department. Pleading with his wife for an easy-to-remember number, the camera close-ups the Heinz ketchup bottle in his hand, with which he is indunating a piece of meat. Next scene: He's in front of a mike, thundering, "There are exactly 57 known Communitst in the State Department!" After the patrol is released, with the commander, CPT Ben Marko, brainwashed into believing that Raymond's heroics in saving them merit the Comgressional Medal of Honor, they return home, Raymond to a hero's welcome, and unwelcome PR from Mommy, milking his fame for Stepdad's career. Years pass, with Raymond placed unwittingly into a key position as assistant to a newspaper columnist. The Reds decide to 'test' their weapon: they have him kil his boss, with Raymond then being promoted in his place. The method of control: solitaite. The phone rings. Raymond answers, and a voice tells him to play a game of solitaire. As soon as the hypnotized Raymond sees the Queen of Diamonds, he's on autopilot. Ben Marko is troubled by nightmares for years, in which he sees snippets of the actual dungeon and torture/brainwashing processes. He becomes so distracted that his Commander puts him on sick leave. On the train, he meets Janet, who falls for him. Then, Raymond, whom he goes to see, tells him about his recollections of how he became involved with Stepdad's Senate archenemy's daughter. These two rather idyllic love digrsssions add to, rather than take away from the overall plot. Without giving more away, it can be said that you will not guess the ending until you see it, and that the tension was almost palpable in my body the first time I saw it. Solitaire, anyone? -Lloyd Conway
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Summary: The Manchurian Candidate
Review: This is director John Frankenheimer's classic. The mesmerizing story of a political and psychological subterfuge is devastating. David Amram's score is prophetically apt. This is one of Frank Sinatra's finest performances (he has always been underrated as an actor in my opinion) as is Laurence Harvey's (also underrated and somewhat forgotten).
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Summary: Who Are the Real Patriots?
Review: "The Manchurian Candidate" is equal parts taut thriller and cautionary tale. As a thriller, it kept me engrossed till the shocking conclusion. As a cautionary tale, it said things that needed saying at the time it was released - things that are just as relevant today as there were when the film was originally released.Lawrence Harvey plays decorated Korean war hero Raymond Shaw who is brainwashed by Soviet and Chinese Communists bent on infiltrating and controlling the American presidency. Consciously, Shaw knows nothing about his brainwashing. When triggered, however, he carries out his orders without emotion or remorse. Frank Sinatra, in one of his meatier roles, plays Colonel Bennett Marco, who knew Shaw in Korea, but remembers him differently. In recurring nightmares, Marco recalls his own brainwashing where he witnesses the controlled Shaw killing two men who were members of his own company. Angela Lansbury, in an uncharacteristic role as a villain, plays Shaw's shrew of a mother who may or may not be implicated in the conspiracy to overthrow the American government. Throughout the film, Lansbury plays her character absolutely straight, and quite brilliantly, too. Is she the freedom-loving, anti-communist Republican wife of a Senator she pretends to be or is she in cahoots with the Communists herself? "The Manchurian Candidate" effectively presents the question: who are the real patriots? Further, it presents a much-needed indictment of modern American Republicans, who for decades have professed to be pro-freedom and pro-America. There is a needless subplot involving a love affair between Sinatra and Janet Leigh. It appears to be presented as a red herring, but amounts to very little in the context of the whole movie. It's an unfortunate distraction in an otherwise exciting film. I highly recommend "The Manchurian Candidate." It is a fulfilling thriller and cautionary tale of the totalitarian threat to America.
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Summary: The Manchurian Candidate on DVD
Review: The Manchurian Candidate is probably the best Cold War film next to Dr. Strangelove. It deals with a deranged Communist brainwashing plot used on American soldiers, and the use of this brainwashing for espionage reasons. What makes this film so good is its performances, especially on the part of Angela Lansbury as the deranged, politically ambitious, and sadistic mother. Frank Sinatra is in fine form in this film too. Another reason the film is so good is its somewhat charming disturbing quality. The way the film begins with the close-up of the Korean soldier and the soldiers pressing on through the unpredictable forrest of Korea where an ambush could be around any corner, the dream sequence where old ladies change into powerful Asian Communists and then back into old ladies, the way Angela Lansbury manipulates and controls her Congressman husband with an devilish feminin will, and the acts of deranged violence which give this 1962 film a PG-13 rating, all stack up to give the film its witty, mysterious, feel. The DVD of The Manchurian Candidate has two major extra features. The first is a commentary by the director John Frankenheimer. What he has to say is very interesting, especially when he talks about the editing of the dream sequences and the effects of Sinatra's brief martial arts fight with the Korean, on Hollywood. The problem is that he often leaves long gaps between what he has to say. Gaps up to five minutes or longer! I found myself fast-forwarding the film until he began commenting on the film again. The second major extra feature is an interview with Frank Sinatra, producer George Axelrod and, director John Frankenheimer. This is very interesting, because a lot of the focus of the interview is on the controversy that the film arose after the assassination of JFK, and the discussion of the preproduction of the film which is not covered enough in the commentary by Frankenheimer. The only other extra feature on this DVD worth mentioning is the original theatrical trailer of the film. It is nothing big, but it is still very interesting to have a feel for what trailers were like nearly forty years ago. If you enjoy The Manchurian Candidate, or you are a Sinatra fan this is a must-have for your DVD library. This DVD is well worth the money for how much you get!
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Summary: The Definitive Movie of the Cold War Period
Review: The Birkenstock set have perpetuated the dogma that Peter Sellers' "Dr. Strangelove" is the penultimate Cold War movie, embodying in their minds the lunacy of the effort to staunch the spread of communism across the globe. As usual, their vision is obscured by bong smoke. For a much truer (and more visceral) depiction of the nail-biting struggle which took place during the Cold War, you need to see "The Manchurian Candidate," one of the most controversial movies ever made.Why all the fuss? When this movie was made in 1962, America had just endured the Cuban Missile Crisis and narrowly averted nuclear war with the Soviet Union. An anti-communist movie is hard enough to make in Hollywood, but to make one which is at the same time critical of the anti-communist movement itself is to alienate most of the country. Furthermore, the subject matter concerned the brainwashing of Korean War prisoners by colluding Chinese and Soviet forces, hardly a popular topic amongst the thousands of Korean War vets and their families (and a taboo topic even in Madeleine Albright's State Department today). The plot is a knuckle-biter concerning an Army major (brilliantly played by Frank Sinatra in his best cinematic performance) whose recurring nightmares have loosened his grip on reality. He begins to suspect that the man who saved his life in Korea (earning the Congressional Medal of Honor), the son of a noted anti-communist (Angela Lansbury as you've never seen her before) and her senator husband, may in fact be a Chinese-controlled assassin. From the clammy, claustrophobic scenes of a vet struggling against his war-born inner demons, to the gripping, surprising climax, "The Manchurian Candidate" delivers. In addition to being a tightly-plotted, nail-biting thriller, this film stands alone among Cold War films in that it gets its history almost exactly right. With the opening of the Soviet archives, historians have confirmed that Soviet intelligence actively participated in Chinese-led brainwashing experiments against American POWs during and after the Korean War, a reality long denied by the tweed-jacketed American Marxists infesting academia. But why wouldn't they scoff at this? After all, they required no brainwashing at all to do their masters' bidding. Do my bidding instead. Grab a copy of this terrific film today.
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Summary: And you thought Joan Crawford was Bad!
Review: Angela Lansbury is chilling as a true "Mommie Dearest" in this brilliant Cold War flick from the 60's. One of the most unjust travesties of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the fact that an acting award does not sit on the lady's mantle.
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Summary: Very Clean Video Transfer. Good R/L front stereo sound.
Review: The b/w transfer is very clean. The stereo sound is front right/left only, but is good. The director's commentary is very insightful. I recommend this DVD
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Summary: Eerie
Review: One of the greatest films ever made. The little details are especially compelling: the look on Harvey's face after Jocie's death, Christmas carols on a record player, Marco's choice of reading material, the black comedy of some scenes, and the gunfire turning into thunder. I also liked the depiction of Communism as a terrible thing that destroys lives.
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Summary: Laurence Harvey IS Jude Law!
Review: This is an old, black and white film, yes. It stars Frank Sinatra. But this stands alongside any great modern day conspiracy theory film, and betters most. If you have no interest in Sinatras career or music but love a good, intelligent thriller, you will adore this movie. I implore all serious movie buffs to seek this out. The DVD does the film justice, as the picture is so clear the whites hurt my eyes. It also features a round table interview with Sinatra and the film-makers, plus a weird trailer which features music used in Night of the Living Dead. My only complaint is over the director commentary. Theres just not enough of it. Frankenheimer blows in and out at will, making you wonder why he bothered. It seems hes watching the film, as well. Which is understandable. If they ever have the guts to do a remake, Jude Law needs to play Harvey's part. The similarity is bizarre.
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