Dated view of the cold war era showing an army patrol in 1952 Korea, led by their traitorous local guide into an ambush, overpowered, and subjected to state-of-the-art brainwashing. The brainwashing, over a three-day period, involves North Koreans, Russians, and Chinese who use drugs and hypnotism to fool the nine Americans into thinking they are attending a ladies garden social with speakers discussing horticulture. Actually, they are being programmed to be covert assassins who will be assimilated back into American society, subject to control by use of key words or other symbols. The patrol gets back to base and Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is put in for a Congressional Medal of Honor for saving the patrol, which he gets.

Later, returned to America, the patrol leader Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) begins to have recurring nightmares about the brainwashing. He awakes screaming from the flashbacks. He also can't believe he likes Shaw. As he remembers, he actually hated him like everybody else did. He decides to contact Shaw to compare notes. In the meantime, another member of the patrol has similar nightmares. But Shaw, in civilian life a successful publisher, brushes Marco off.

As Marco pushes to find out the source of his nightmares, he discovers Shaw is dominated by his mother (Angela Lansbury) who happens to be married to an empty-headed right-wing Senator (James Gregory) whom she also dominates. When the film finally plays all its cards, it is revealed that Lansbury is grooming her idiot husband for President of the United States and will stop at nothing to get him there.

I will leave the rest of the story for your viewing pleasure. Suffice it to say that it is a richly layered tale full of symbolism, ambiguity, and paranoia that each viewer can interpret for themselves.

My view of the moral of the story is that the movie demonstrated that the Communists could get a man into the White House who is unknowingly subject to their control - a sleeper president! If you remember the historical context, in 1962 we had just had the Cuban Missile Crisis and were at the height of the Cold War, Vietnam was still in the future. In those days, new houses in America often came complete with bomb shelters…

Tip: Watch for probably the first, most violent, and most unbelievable Karate fight in film as Frank Sinatra squares off with Henry Silva.

Laurence Harvey did a creditable job as the unlikable character Raymond Shaw. Frank Sinatra did a marvelous job as the man who got to the bottom of the whole mess. Kudos for best performance has to go to Angela Lansbury as Shaw's manipulative mother. You will almost certainly turn away when you see her incestuously give her son a deep French kiss! Supporting cast was also very competent and watchable, particularly Janet Leigh at her most deliciously lovely and enigmatic.

Direction by John Frankenheimer was innovative with many unusual camera angles, symbolism, and interesting transitions. Photography by Lionel Lindon captured Frankenheimer's conception of the story. Film editing by Ferris Webster was sharp and incisive. Score by David Amram was unobtrusive and well suited to the action.

In all, I found The Manchurian Candidate to be a dated, but still thought-provoking look at our American political process. I also found it to be a disturbingly bleak tale without any clear answers. But then, maybe that was the whole point?

Trivia point: Who was the Manchurian Candidate? The idiot Senator.

Thanks for reading!


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age