The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Country: US
Technical: bw 126m
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Synopsis:
American prisoners in Korea are guinea pigs in a brainwashing experiment, and their most impressionable becomes a pawn in a political assassination plot.
Review:
One of the first of the modern political thrillers, and perhaps the best, Frankenheimer's third feature shows a director fast learning his métier: tautly controlled dramas with imaginative use of mise en scène elements, in this case the opening garden party, the use of playing card motifs and assassination iconography. The editing and framing are from TV, but the gain is in economical storytelling and innovative camerawork. Thematically speaking, the film was of course a year ahead of Dallas and JFK.
Country: US
Technical: bw 126m
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Synopsis:
American prisoners in Korea are guinea pigs in a brainwashing experiment, and their most impressionable becomes a pawn in a political assassination plot.
Review:
One of the first of the modern political thrillers, and perhaps the best, Frankenheimer's third feature shows a director fast learning his métier: tautly controlled dramas with imaginative use of mise en scène elements, in this case the opening garden party, the use of playing card motifs and assassination iconography. The editing and framing are from TV, but the gain is in economical storytelling and innovative camerawork. Thematically speaking, the film was of course a year ahead of Dallas and JFK.
Country: US
Technical: bw 126m
Director: John Frankenheimer
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Synopsis:
American prisoners in Korea are guinea pigs in a brainwashing experiment, and their most impressionable becomes a pawn in a political assassination plot.
Review:
One of the first of the modern political thrillers, and perhaps the best, Frankenheimer's third feature shows a director fast learning his métier: tautly controlled dramas with imaginative use of mise en scène elements, in this case the opening garden party, the use of playing card motifs and assassination iconography. The editing and framing are from TV, but the gain is in economical storytelling and innovative camerawork. Thematically speaking, the film was of course a year ahead of Dallas and JFK.