With the exception of “Little Big Man” and “GoodFellas,” I’ve watched the 1962 original version of “The Manchurian Candidate” more than any other movie in my life—roughly four dozen times.
In every instance, I notice something I hadn’t seen or noticed before and am more entertained and enlightened with each subsequent viewing. It is as close to perfect as a film can get.
Based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Richard Condon, the screenplay was written by George Axelrod (“The Seven Year Itch,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) and directed by John Frankenheimer (“Seven Days in May,” “Birdman of Alcatraz”), a guy who cut his teeth during television’s “Golden Age” (1953–1960).
Deep Focus Photography
It was Frankenheimer’s work in TV that lent “The Manchurian Candidate” its immediacy and appropriately claustrophobic air. In tandem with cinematographer Lionel Lindon (whom Frankenheimer collaborated with five times), the director employed the “deep focus” method of photography pioneered by Gregg Toland, most notably in “Citizen Kane.”
This technique enlarges the depth of field where the fore, middle, and background imagery are all presented in crisp, crystal-clear focus. It is simultaneously hyper-realistic and dreamlike which goes far in describing the scrambled mental state of lead character Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey).
Shaw is the commanding officer of a platoon during the Korean War. A stickler for rules, Shaw is a tightly wound type that today would be referred to as a “buzz-kill.” He bursts into a local bar or bordello, ordering his men to vamoose ASAP, which they do, while laughing and mocking him.
The subsequent scene shows Shaw, his second-in-command Bennett Marco (co-producer Frank Sinatra), and the remainder of the unit being surreptitiously led into an ambush by Chunjin (Henry Silva), a supposed friendly who is actually an agent working for both the Soviets and the Communist Chinese Party (CCP).
The filmmakers show great respect for the audience’s intelligence by jumping forward to Marco waking from a fever dream where he remembers an emotionless Shaw being instructed to murder two members of his company, which he does nonchalantly as if clearing a breakfast table. Another former company member has the same vision, and both he and Marco use the same exact glowing verbiage when describing Shaw, whom neither can stand.
The Book’s Satire Remains
This is just one example of the filmmakers’ choice not to shy away from Condon’s biting satire. Another includes the baffling word salad exchange on a train between a disoriented Marco and Rosey (Janet Leigh), a mystery woman who flirts with him, while simultaneously sizing him up.Once prompted by seeing a red queen while playing solitaire, Shaw becomes a blank slate, programmed to do whatever he’s told. While doing this in a bar with Marco watching, someone within earshot says “go jump in a lake” and that is exactly what Shaw does.
One of the urban legends associated with the original theatrical release was that Sinatra pulled the film from theaters over the misplaced guilt he felt after the perceived connection the film had to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy a year later. This was not the case.
Timeless
With our country lurching ever closer to joining the “New World Order” mentality, a possible cold war, and many American voters embracing communist and socialist ideals and platforms, “The Manchurian Candidate” has never been more vital and relevant.Eleanor and Iselin vehemently rail against the “communists” in their midst while secretly being complicit with multiple enemy governments doing everything possible to bring down the United States.
