![]() ![]() “Candidate” must inevitably come up for a bundle of Oscar nominations next spring. This film could not have been made anywhere but in the U.S. “The Manchurian Candidate” thus restores a topical excitement to American films which has been almost totally lacking since Hollywoodites starting taking up residence abroad. Joseph McCarthy, played with farsical but devastating gusto by James Gregory. A major character in the proceedings is a thinly disguised takeoff on the late Sen. In character and incidental comment, it displays irreverence towards hallowed cliches, be they (all-consuming) mother love, the commercialization of Christmas (“‘The 12 Days of Christmas’?–one day is quite loathsome enough”), Iron Curtain spies (here the Russ agent is an apprehensive boor and the Chinese a whimsical, literate mind from outer Manchuria, if not space), to say nothing of homegrown political frauds who hide behind portraits of Abe Lincoln. ![]() Like all the best films, there probably has never been anything quite like “The Manchurian Candidate” before, though in sheer bravado of narrative and photographic styles it shares the tradition of Hitchcock, Capra, Welles and Hawks. The captain’s subsequent pursuit of the truth comprises the bizarre plot which ranges from the halls of Congress, New York publishing circles and an extremely unlikely Communist hideout in mid-Manhattan, to a literally stunning climax at a Madison Square Garden political convention. Harvey himself admits to being the least likely of heroes, and Sinatra, though he testifies that the sergeant is ‘the bravest, most honorable, most loyal’ man he knows, realizes this is completely untrue. Shortly thereafter, the sergeant of the group, Laurence Harvey, is seen being welcomed home in Washington as a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, having been recommended for that award by his captain, Frank Sinatra, who led the illfated patrol. Koch, “Manchurian Candidate” gets off to an early start (before the credits) as a dilemma wrapped in an enigma: a small American patrol in Korea is captured by the Chinese Communists. ![]() But the fascinating thing is that, from uncertain premise to shattering conclusion, one does not question plausibility: the events being rooted in their own cinematic reality.Īs scripted by Axelrod and directed by Frankenheimer, who also double as coproducers under exec producer Howard W. government, is, on the surface, one of the wildest fabrications any author has ever tried to palm off on a gullible public. Its story of the tracking down of a brainwashed Korean war “hero,” being used as the key figure in an elaborate Communist plot to take over the U.S. But stealing the show is Oscar-nominated Angela Lansbury as Harvey's mother (though she was just 37 to Harvey's 34) - monstrous, manipulative and completely power-crazed, she is an unforgettable creation.The exact nature of “Manchurian Candidate” may be hard to define, but perhaps “suspense melodrama” is the best term. Harvey is perfectly cast, while Sinatra has one of his very best roles as the tormented officer. Why, then, is his former commanding officer (Frank Sinatra) plagued by nightmares in which the repressed Harvey coolly kills one of his comrades under the orders of a Chinese general? Exploiting contemporary fears about Communist brainwashing while cleverly exposing the hysterical anti-Communist lobby (the McCarthyist Senator Iselin makes for a superb stooge), this is a dazzling critique of its times that functions first and foremost as a superbly constructed and almost unbearably tense thriller. Laurence Harvey has returned from the Korean War a hero, recipient of the Medal of Honor and saviour of his platoon. ![]() More than 50 years on, it has lost none of its ability to thrill and provoke. Director John Frankenheimer's masterpiece of Cold War paranoia was withdrawn from circulation in the wake of the death of JFK, its assassination plot a chilling mirror to contemporary events. ![]()
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