HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: The Manchurian Candidate (John Frankenheimer 1962) Based on the same name novel by Richard Condon and not to be mistaken with the 2004 remake by Jonathan Demme, John Frankenheimers The Manchurian Candidate is a fantastic political thriller, which was way ahead of its time and still manages to hold up extremely well to this very day. Upon their return from the Korean war, after having been taken prisoner by the Soviets, Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) is awarded the Medal of Honour upon recommendation of fellow POW Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra). And whilst Shaws mother Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), a communist spy, is trying to get Shaws stepfather John Iselin (James Gregory), a McCarthy-like anti-communist, to win the nomination for the vice-presidency, Captain Marco is constantly having nightmares in which he sees a hypnotized Shaw kill fellow soldiers under command of Russian and Chinese military staff. And when Marco starts to investigate what might be behind these odd reoccurring dreams, he discovers that the heroic act which Shaw was awarded for never actually took place and that he, Shaw and all their fellow soldiers were brainwashed whilst they were prisoners of war. And as those facts come to the surface, the complex communist conspiracy which is taking place all around him also starts to come unraveled. Amazingly, The Manchurian Candidate was actually released during the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis and clearly struck a chord with audiences at the time. But even if this hadnt been the case, chances are that it would have been a hit anyway, seeing that its simply one hell of a conspiracy movie, a genre that was gaining popularity at the time. Confidently directed by John Frankenheimer and with a first-rate script which manages to serve satire and thriller elements in equal measure, the film also benefits from excellent performances from the entire cast, which also features Janet Leigh as Sinatras love interest. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Supporting Actress and one for Best Editing, and even though Angela Lansbury did not win her Oscar, she did go on to take home the Golden Globe in the same category. youtube/watch?v=4fop7Go_csU
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 10:23:17 +0000
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