#THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 1962 CAST PRO#

The actress only has two or three scenes, but they count. A pleasant surprise is Janet Leigh as a sweet, swinging N.Y.

#THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE 1962 CAST PRO#

Less showy, but no less effective, is Sinatra who, after several pix in which he appeared to be sleep-walking, is again a wide-awake pro creating a straight, quietly humorous character of some sensitivity. Equally good is Harvey, who succeeds in making appealing a character correctly described as вЂњcompletely unlovableвЂќвЂ“by far his best role since вЂњRoom at the Top.вЂќ Also ripe for kudos are Frankenheimer, as director, and Axelrod, for best script from another medium. Most likely to succeed is Angela Lansbury, whose performance as HarveyвЂ™s scheming, caustic mother (вЂњRaymond, why do you always have to look as if your head were about to come to a point?вЂќ) is one of the most poignant and diamond-hard of the ear. вЂњCandidateвЂќ 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. вЂњThe Manchurian CandidateвЂќ 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 (вЂњвЂThe 12 Days of ChristmasвЂ™?вЂ“one day is quite loathsome enoughвЂќ), 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 вЂњThe Manchurian CandidateвЂќ before, though in sheer bravado of narrative and photographic styles it shares the tradition of Hitchcock, Capra, Welles and Hawks. The captainвЂ™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 вЂthe bravest, most honorable, most loyalвЂ™ 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, вЂњManchurian CandidateвЂќ 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.ДЄs 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 вЂњhero,вЂќ being used as the key figure in an elaborate Communist plot to take over the U.S. The exact nature of вЂњManchurian CandidateвЂќ may be hard to define, but perhaps вЂњsuspense melodramaвЂќ is the best term.

The manchurian candidate 1962 cast