Starring: Frank Sinatra,  Laurence Harvey,  Janet Leigh,  Angela Lansbury,  Henry Silva, 
Directed By: John Frankenheimer, 
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 1962-10-24
Format: Anamorphic,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

Amazon.com essential video
You will never find a more chillingly suspenseful, perversely funny, or viciously satirical political thriller than The Manchurian Candidate, based on the novel by Richard Condon (author of Winter Kills). The film, withheld from distribution by star Frank Sinatra for almost a quarter century after President Kennedy's assassination, has lost none of its potency over time. Former infantryman Bennet Marco (Sinatra) is haunted by nightmares about his platoon having been captured and brainwashed in Korea. The indecipherable dreams seem to center on Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey), a decorated war hero but a cold fish of a man whose own mother (Angela Lansbury, in one of the all-time great dragon-lady roles) describes him as looking like his head is "always about to come to a point." Mrs. Bates has nothing on Lansbury's character, the manipulative queen behind her second husband, Senator John Iselin (James Gregory), a notoriously McCarthyesque demagogue. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews for The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

The Manchurian Candidate (special edition)
I bought this film because I couldn't find it at Blockbuster. I had rented the new version with Denzel Washington and really didn't feel that it's story was ever fleshed out or fully developed.

Well, after watching the original, the story really jelled and all of the characters were fully developed. And the acting was superb! It has a bit of a feel for the paranoid in all of us who believe the government is up to something -- and not in a good way.The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

Before It's Time
I love this film. Besides great acting, I think the way it was shot is way ahead of its time. The brainwashing sequence is fascinating. Forget the remake and see one of the best films ever!!!!!!!!!!The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

A Great Cold War Thriller
Based on the Richard Condon novel, written by George Axelrod, directed by John Frankenheimer and starring a terrific cast: Frank Sinatra as Maj Marco,tortured by nightmares of an incident he can't remember except as a strange ladies garden party, Lawrence Harvey as a supposed war hero who has been brainwashed to be an assasin when the trigger is used (a little game of solitare) and Angela Lansbury as the most evil mother in the history of movies. One of the first martial arts fights in American cinema takes place between Sinatra and Henry Silva. James Gregory plays a McCarthy-like senator who is being manipulated behind the scenes. A film from another time but still a real tense thriller. Highly recommended to one and all.The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

This is the one!
Don't bother with the Denzel version - this is the one! You will really enjoy this one, and bits of it still ring true today!The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

I love this movie. It is the finest, most awe-inspiring film I've ever seen
Oh yeah, very well done. If you love a good conspiracy thriller, this like War of the Worlds, really freaked people out b/c it made them think it was possible. Bottom line: must see.The Manchurian Candidate [Region 2]

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