The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Reviews

I already saw this movie but, the first time, it was on the BBC so I was quite eager to watch it again but with some subtitles this time around. Well, I’m really glad I did because I enjoyed it even more. I guess the first time I watched it, I focused too much on the story which is, to be honest, really far-fetched and even rather ridiculous. However, this time around, I focused more on its weird dark and nightmarish mood and I was actually really swept away by the damned thing. The most interesting thing with this movie is how John Frankenheimer managed to mix a realistic approach with a totally far-fetched story. Indeed, the hypnotism and brainwashing thing was quite preposterous and, on paper, there is no way this story should have worked. However, the fact that it was taking place in a realistic world created this constant mix of realism and surrealism. One of the most striking scenes was probably the ‘meet cute’ involving Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh. Indeed, even though Bennett Marco was at his lowest and looked like a total wreck, Eugenie Rose Chaney still really flirted hard on him. To make this moment even more surreal, they had the weirdest conversation ever. Was Marco dreaming or hallucinating? Was Eugenie actually another spy? Those were really the best moments, when Marco seemed really vulnerable and when the viewers are not really sure what the hell is actually going on. To make the whole thing even more far-out, you had some anti-McCarthyism, the Communist Dr. Yen Lo who kept making jokes, Eleanor Shaw Iselin who might have had some incestuous feelings for her son and who happened to be a spy as well,… Anyway, to conclude, it turned out to be a really weird but still fascinating thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.