Politics and Hypnosis in "The Manchurian Candidate"
There are some truly wicked scenes. The hypnosis nightmare is well-staged, as the camera slowly circles around a gathering of old ladies discussing flowers, with the soldiers as guests, only to reveal, as the camera returns to the podium, that in fact, we are in a room filled with Communists, demonstrating the effectiveness of hypnosis. The soldiers are made to believe they are at a silly garden show. The scenes involving Angela Lansbury are pretty bizarre as well, as her political aspirations are more extreme than we could imagine. While these scenes are biting, I would hesitate, unlike other critics, to call this comedy. While this film does contain elements of satire, and humour, all of the political variety (I really liked how Lansbury and husband finally decide on the number of Communists the husband will claim exist in the Defence Department), the film as a whole is very unpleasantly chilling, especially for an early 1960`s picture, especially in the second half of the film, in which two important people from Harvey`s past resurface. As well, the hypnosis nightmare is bizarre and surreal, and chillingly presented, and so is the final sequence, crucial in Sinatra`s decision to ban the film, in which Harvey goes on one last mission.
Old Blue Eyes is alright acting-wise, but certainly not the main focus of this picture. He is needed in order to begin the investigation, and to move the plot forward. But Janet Leigh, unfortunately, is useless. She begins a romance with him halfway through the picture, and that`s it. I guess Sinatra needed someone to talk to, so she was created. The real forces in this picture are Laurance Harvey and Angela Lansbury. I`ve seen Harvey in Butterfeld 8, with Elizabeth Taylor, and wasn`t too impressed by his stiff, stuffy Brit mannerisms, but he is right-on in this movie. His character is repressed (watch him at the beginning of the movie, when he sees his subordinates frolicking in a Korean whorehouse) and generally pompous, which makes his situation all the more convincing. It is obvious that even without his being trained against his will to be an assassin, Harvey has had little choice in his life. For one, he has had a long lost girlfriend whose father was one of his mother`s bitter political enemies, and, of course, he had his wonderful situation with these two people ruined by his mother, which creates much
Latest Articles