The Manchurian Candidate (film)

• Release Date: 1962
• Director(s): John Frankenheimer
• Writer(s): George Axelrod
• Principal Actors and Roles: Laurence Harvey (Raymond Shaw); Angela Lansbury (Mrs. Eleanor Shaw Iselin); Janet Leigh (Eugenie Rose Chaney); Frank Sinatra (Major Bennett Marco); Khigh Dhiegh (Dr. Yen Lo); James Edwards (Corporal Allen Melvin); James Gregory (Senator John Yerkes Iselin); Leslie Parrish (Jocelyn Jordan); Henry Silva (Chunjin)

The Manchurian Candidate is a Cold War suspense thriller that takes place in 1952 during the Korean War, when the fight between preserving democracy and preventing the spread of communism was first and foremost on the political and diplomatic agenda of the United States. The 126-minute film premiered during the Cuban missile crisis, when the United States was on the brink of war with the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Bennett Marco is a US army major who is captured with his platoon by communists during the Korean War. The platoon is brainwashed to believe that Raymond Shaw, a sergeant in their platoon, is a hero. It seems the communists try to achieve their political objectives by also brainwashing Shaw to be an assassin—a role he fulfills at the request of his mother so she can install her husband as president of the United States.

The response to The Manchurian Candidate was controversial because of its content. Not long after its release, the similarities it shared with the real assassination of President John F. Kennedy created more controversy. The tension and dark humor employed by director John Frankenheimer produced a tragic film that horrified some Americans and was politically intriguing to others, earning it a cult following.

Plot

The film is set in the early 1950s when the United States is fighting on the side of the South Koreans against North Korea to stop the spread of communism. An infantry unit is ambushed by the enemy and taken to Manchuria. After this event, the film flashes forward to soldiers of the ambushed platoon at home, after the war. Sergeant Raymond Shaw, who was brainwashed while in captivity, receives military honors for his bravery. Based solely on the accounts given by other members of the platoon, Shaw is awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Shaw’s mother uses the event and a snapshot of Shaw with his stepfather, senator John Iselin, for political gain. Shaw’s mother calls him a communist when he refuses to return home with them. Senator Iselin later accuses a number of people in the Defense Department as "card-carrying communists."

The film moves on to show how another member of the platoon, Major Bennett Marco, is coping after returning from the war. He is struggling because he has recurring nightmares from being brainwashed while in captivity in Manchuria. He sees visions of being at a garden party meeting with elderly women and the doctor who brainwashed him, Yen Lo. Marco is traumatized by what he sees in these sequences: Shaw kills two soldiers in the platoon (the only ones who did not return home after the war because they were killed in action), as commanded by Yen Lo. Marco struggles with these episodes because they conflict with his feelings of admiration toward Shaw, which are the result of brainwashing. In reality and before the brainwashing occurred, Marco and Shaw had antagonistic feelings toward one another. Other members of the platoon who were also brainwashed have similar recurring nightmares and flashbacks. Yet they, too, awaken from these bad dreams saying that Shaw is a kind and wonderful man.

Marco’s constant nightmares lead him to believe that he and the other soldiers in the platoon may have been brainwashed when they were held in captivity. He initiates a military investigation, which concludes that Shaw was programmed to be an assassin, and not just for the communists. Shaw’s mother orders him to kill the presidential candidate to clear the way for her husband’s road to power. Then she plans to not only hold the power herself but also turn on the communists who programmed her son as the assassin. In the meantime, Marco tries to stop Shaw from carrying out the assassination but fails. In the end, Shaw is successful but also turns the gun on his stepfather, mother, and himself.

Significance

The historical events that were transpiring in the early 1960s helped set the context for The Manchurian Candidate. The film illustrated the gripping fear that many Americans had toward communism, at home and abroad. At the time, the "Red Scare" under Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee were causing paranoia, distrust, and vulnerability in the United States. The national broadcast of the Army-McCarthy hearings showed the prominent place television was taking in America and its influence on public opinion. The film uses references to the hearings, as well as to McCarthyism, and television is shown as being able to shape popular and political opinions.

The Manchurian Candidate also showed the communists could use psychological warfare to meet their objectives in the Cold War. About a year after its release the assassination of John F. Kennedy made many people wonder if there was a connection to the film. With several conspiracy theories circulating, some Americans believed that Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President Kennedy, watched the film before he killed him. Others believed that the film was pulled from circulation for decades because of its alleged link to the assassination of Kennedy, but this is inaccurate. Frank Sinatra did purchase the rights to the film but the reason for it being out of circulation was due to a disagreement with the film studio, United Artists. Because of its anti-communist content, however, the film was banned in Eastern Europe.

Director Frankenheimer and cinematographer Lionel London used a variety of film techniques, from out-of-focus shots (e.g., when Marco’s efforts to de-program Raymond fail), to bizarre angles, tilts, and deep focus shots—to create this film noir thriller. Frankenheimer’s use of flashback to not only establish the story but also to cause suspense made The Manchurian Candidate a stand-out film in Hollywood. It brought to light the reality of conspiracy theories during the Cold War. Even though the film did not receive any Academy Awards, Angela Lansbury’s performance earned a nomination for best supporting actress. The coincidences between the film’s plot and the assassination of President Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald were unsettling for many Americans.

Awards and nominations

Nominated

• Academy Award (1962) Best Supporting Actress: Angela Lansbury
• Academy Award (1962) Best Film Editing
• Golden Globe (1962) Best Director: John Frankenheimer
• Golden Globe (1962) Best Supporting Actress: Angela Lansbury

Bibliography

Aquila, Marie L. Movies as History: Scenes of America, 1930–1970. Jefferson: McFarland, 2014. Print.

Auger, Emily E. Tech-noir Film: A Theory of the Development of Popular Genres. Bristol: Intellect, 2011. Print.

Barsam, Richard. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film, 4th edition. New York: Norton, 2013. Print.

Climent, James, ed. Postwar America: An Encyclopedia of Social, Political, Cultural, and Economic History. Oxford: Routledge, 2015. Print.

Grant, Barry Keith, ed. American Cinema of the 1960s: Themes and Variations. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2008. Print.

Jackson, Matthew Frye and Gaspar Gonzalez. What Have They Built You to Do?: The Manchurian Candidate and War America. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 2006.

Packer, Sharon. Cinema’s Sinister Psychiatrists: From Caligari to Hannibal. Jefferson: McFarland, 2012. Print.

Schwartz, Ronald. Neo-noir: The New Film Noir Style from Psycho to Collateral. Oxford: Scarecrow, 2005. Print.