The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon

The Manchurian Candidate (1959)

The Manchurian Candidate is a 1959 novel by Richard Condon about the son of a powerful political family of the US who is chemically brainwashed by Communists into being their own personal assassin.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate is a 1962 black-and-white movie based on the 1959 novel by Richard Condon.

Cast and Crew

John Frankenheimer:- The director of the 1962 "The Manchurian Candidate" film. He is known for his work in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Ronin, Reindeer Games, The Island of Dr. Moreau, etc.

Frank Sinatra:- A widely famous actor who is known for his work in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), From Here to Eternity, A Hole in the Head, Silver Linings Playbook (2012), etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (1962), he plays the main protagonist, Major Bennet (Ben) Shaw.

Laurence Harvey:- A famous actor who is known for his work in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Alamo, Darling, Room at the Top, etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (1962), he plays the mysterious Raymond Shaw.

Janet Leigh:- A famous actress known for her work in The Manchurian Candidate (1962), Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), Touch of Evil, The Fog, etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (1962), she plays a main protagonist called Eugenie Rose Chaney.

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

The Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 remake of the 1962 movie adaptation of the 1959 novel by Richard Condon.

Cast and Crew

Jonathan Demme:- The director of the 2004 "The Manchurian Candidate" film. He is best known for his work in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Silence of the Lambs, Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, etc.

Denzel Washington:- A world-reknowned famous actor known for his work in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), American Gangster, Training Day, Man on Fire, Inside Man, etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (2004), he plays the main protagonist, a war veteran, Major Bennett "Ben" Marco, who begins to question the truth behind an incident in the battlefield in which he and most of his team was rescued from.

Liev Schreiber:- A famous actor known for his work in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Salt, Scream 3, Defiance, etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (2004), he plays Sergeant First Class, Raymond Shaw, who supposedly single-handedly rescued Ben Marco and his team during the Gulf War.

Meryl Streep:- A world-famous actress known for her work in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), The Devil Wears Prada, The Hours, Doubt, Adaptation, etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (2004), she plays the mother of Raymond Shaw and an extremely powerful political figure in the American government, Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw.

Kimberly Elise:- A famous actress known for her work in The Manchurian Candidate (2004), John Q, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, For Coloured Girls, Close to Home, etc. In The Manchurian Candidate (2004), she plays FBI Agent Eugenie "Rosie" Rose.

Opening Scene

The opening of the 1962 movie is set in the middle of the Korean War in Manchuria in Communist China while the opening of the recent 2004 remake is set during the Gulf War in Kuwait. The reason for the setting change is so to make it more appropriate and up-to-date to the present day audience.

The flashback to the incident during the war was also made more sophisticated to the present day audience in the remake. Instead of using a studio with fake grass, like in the original, the battle is made more realistic with the use of CGI, i.e. the explosions and night-vision.

Due to increases in production values, there have been advances in filmmaking that greatly benefitted movies such as the 2004 remake. During a flashback scene, the screen is flooded with a blood-red colour to symbolise blood and the subconscious mind. When Marco meets one of his comrades from the incident, there is a non-diegetic sound that sounds like blood pumping.

The brain-washing scenes were also changed in the remake. In the original movie, the brain-washing scenes constantly switched between a tea party with old ladies and a meeting between Communist soldiers. One of the higher ranked soldiers would occasionally tell one soldier to kill another, however they order these executions so casually and "out-of-nowhere" that it's unnerving for the audience. The constant change of characters and the events that occur in-between are meant to represent the hypnosis of the main characters.

The remake's version, however, due to increases in production values and advances in filmmaking technology, is much more graphic and horrifying, with scenes depicting "messy" brain transplants and drills.