The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Studio: MGM
Theatrical Release: October 24, 1962
Blu Ray Release: May 10, 2011
Not Rated

Review by James Klein

Believe it or not, I had never seen The Manchurian Candidate until now. The film is considered one of the greatest American thrillers ever made and it has taken me this long to have seen it which is quite embarrassing. However, for those that have not seen the film I will give the advice that the movie does at times move along slowly and I feel you have to be in the right mood to fully enjoy this political satire that was way ahead of its time when it came out in 1962, just a few weeks before President Kennedy was assassinated. This resulted for this film to be pulled from theaters and rarely seen for many years until the 1980's.

The movie begins with the Korean war in 1952 where a few American soldiers are captured by the North Koreans including platoon leader Shaw (Lawrence Harvey) and Captain Marco (Frank Sinatra). These soldiers are soon sent back home when the war was over but we soon find out that these men were tortured and brainwashed while they had been captured by the enemy. Marco still suffers from what had happened to him while Shaw seems to be able to go about his life as he prepares to be married into a political rival family which his own mother (Angela Lansbury) pushes for this to happen, using her son for political gain. As Marco begins to piece what had happened to them in Korea, he soon finds out that Russian and Chinese spy's have turned Shaw into a cold blooded assassin who can turn on anyone when given a proper command.

The film for me does suffer in the first act. The movie jumps around from various characters that was confusing at times. I was unsure who the main protagonist was as it bounces from Shaw's life to Marco's life. Janet Leigh plays Marco's love interest which for me was pretty much pointless and didn't serve much of a purpose at all. But when the second act kicks in, The Manchurian Candidate turns into a dark thriller that had me suddenly riveted and glued to the movie. At times I was shocked with the violence that the film makers got away with for a movie made in the early 60's. Lansbury actually steals the movie from Sinatra as the evil mother of Shaw who only cares about her simple minded husband winning the vice president candidacy. It's no wonder why she was nominated Best Supporting Actress. There is also an incredible fistfight between Sinatra and Henry Silva (playing an Asian!) that goes on for quite awhile that was not only well shot but also much more realistic than films of that era. Director John Frankenheimer, who is no stranger to action thrillers, proves he is one of the genre's best directors, pulling the viewer into the film and holding them at the edge of their seat. And the final climax is still shocking after all these years.

The blu ray looks fine for the most part aside from a few soft shots but the audio is lacking. The film is given only a 5.1 surround sound where it was difficult to hear certain scenes of dialogue. This proved annoying real fast and makes me wonder if this was the cause for my boredom for the beginning of the film. Why wasn't a mono track added? The supplementals are worth a look with an audio commentary by Frankenheimer and an old interview with the writer, the director and Sinatra himself that is interesting.

For a film that is a classic such as The Manchurian Candidate, MGM could have put a little bit more time into this blu ray presentation but given the fact that the film is worthy of its status in cinema history, the blu ray is still worth a purchase.