The really big question, though, was what contemporary audiences made of the charge that people like Iselin-and by extension, McCarthy-were really puppets of the very people they were pledged to destroy? Or that-thriller or not-the film is as much a satire as anything? See it now and see for yourself that this was probably the damndest movie of its time to come out of Hollywood. Joe McCarthy? It seems impossible to miss. Iselin (James Gregory) was a thinly-veiled caricature of witch-hunting Sen. (I saw it back then, but I was too young to have understood much, other than the fact that my parents didn’t like it.) For that matter, did audiences realize that the ineffectual, drunken Sen. I can only wonder what audiences made of the film’s startling early sequence where the American prisoners envision their captors as a gathering of a ladies’ garden club. Even with those reservations, this story about communist brainwashing of Korean War soldiers going hand-in-hand with homegrown U.S. 12, 1962.If it weren’t for some tepid and not very believable action scenes with Frank Sinatra, John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate (1962) might just be the best political thriller ever made. James Powers, originally published on Oct.
Ferris Webster’s editing helps the story’s many moods and its unusual tempo. David Amram’s music is creative in supplementary vein to the visual. Richard Sylbert’s production design gives backing and some insight to the narrative. Lionel Lindon’s black-and-white photography uses lighting adroitly, mixing styles without diffusing cohesion. Others of special interest include Khigh Dhiegh, James Edwards, Douglas Henderson, Albert Paulsen, Madame Spivy, Barry Kelly, Joe Adams, Lloyd Corrigan, Whit Bissell and Robert Riordan. James Gregory and John McGiver are consistently interesting, both playing against their usual typing. Henry Silva has a good character portrayal. Angela Lansbury gives another strong performance as Harvey’s mother. Janet Leigh gives evidence of considerable enlargement of her screen personality, with more depth and legitimate sex than she has hitherto shown. Harvey is competent but never seems completely convincing as an American GI. Sinatra gives a reasoned and in many ways more mature performance than he has ever done before. In the more realistic portions, there is terse character exposition and propulsion. With one phone call, the Reds can transform Shaw into a deadly assassin - unless fellow veteran Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra. The direction and acting are good, so interest is maintained. Frankeheimer’s handling of the early sequences, in which he attempts and succeeds in creating on film the corruption of the mind, is imaginative filmmaking. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is a Korean War hero with a lethal secret: Hes been brainwashed by the communist Chinese. Phillips Oppenheim and Somerset Maugham (the Ashenden Stories), it is perhaps defensible. It is too bad, too, because not all this detail is essential to the story. senator - is disclosed as a top Soviet agent, when killing is piled on killing - four murders and one suicide - it will be for many stretching credulity to the breaking point. In the final stretch, when Harvey’s mother - wife of a U.S. The Soviet spy apparatus, no doubt, as any espionage machinery, would be amazing to most simple citizens, so a broad scope of speculation is legitimate. Axelrod’s screenplay, however, uses more than is really necessary. The story gets into murky areas in its development. His final rebellion provides the climax to the story. with other squad members, he has become, under certain conditions, an automaton responding slavishly to orders from Soviet agents. Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey are two such servicemen, members of a squad forced to undergo the involuntary psychological indoctrination. Smith Goes to Washington': THR's 1939 Reviewīased on a book by Richard Condon, The Manchurian Candidate is taken from reports of brainwashing by Chinese communists of U.S. production is being released by United Artists. George Axelrod and John Frankenheimer produced, with Frankenheimer directing Axelrod’s screenplay. The premise is somewhat far-fetched, and its development strains belief in the final sequences, but accepting it on its own terms it sustains interest. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below:Ī suspense melodrama with political background, exploring and exploiting some dramatic projections of communist brainwashing, The Manchurian Candidate is tautly made, with strong box office potential.
24, 1962, political thriller The Manchurian Candidate hit theaters, eventually earning two Oscar noms at the 35th Academy Awards, hosted by the film’s star Frank Sinatra.