The Manchurian Candidate

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

Criterion’s new release of the 4-K restoration of “The Manchurian Candidate” goes to the top of this year’s blu-ray releases!! Picture quality is just superb—- in the line of Criterion’s “Anatomy of a Murder” and “La Dolce Vita.” The “old” R-1A blu-ray release looks like a VHS tape in comparison.
Extras include a 2015 interview with Angela Lansbury, whose legendary performance in this important film gained her an Oscar nomination…that SHOULD have been the award and the ported-over John Frankenheimer commentary and more.
This release should be on every film-buff’s shelf.- JHB-4

There are works of fiction whose very name can conjure up images and meaning for people who have never even experienced them. The Manchurian Candidate, the 1962 film based on Richard Condon’s 1959 novel, is one such example. The film’s title has entered into the public consciousness, a term for brainwashing and seemingly incomprehensible betrayal in common use. Yet how many of those who use the term have seen the film and experienced what is likely to be one of the best thrillers of its era or any other?

Part of what makes the film so successful is, perhaps paradoxically, the fact its based on a novel. Having read Condon’s original novel a couple of years ago and then coming back to the film a couple of times subsequently, it is amazing to see how much of it makes its way into the film. It’s not just brushstrokes that make their way in but entire scenes with large portions of dialogue presented with little edits made to them (the much discussed first scene between Marco and Rosie is a prime example). Even some of the costuming choices are drawn straight from Condon’s novel. Scriptwriter George Axelrod is able to take the dark comedy of Condon’s novel and put it into what is essentially a thriller that satirizes the McCarthyism of the previous decade and makes it all work together. Not everything makes it into the film of course but much of what makes the film memorable (the plot and dialogue especially) is owed to its source material and the wise decision of Axelrod in keeping as much of it as possible.-Matthew Kresal

This is an excellent well-made and well-acted psycho-thriller. It’s deliberately in black and white to add to the effect, but at least Janet Leigh in her prime is the beautiful blonde who seduces and is seduced by Frank Sinatra instead of getting stabbed multiple times. Angela Lansbury, the only star still living, does a great interview in the excellent special features section common to these fine Criterion Collection Blu-ray restorations. Lansbury plays a downright scary and ruthlessly ambitious character, but is noticeably just as young as Lawrence Harvey, who plays her frighteningly “brainwashed” son. Accepting the degree of psychological manipulation depicted for him and Sinatra requires suspension of some disbelief, but if one can get past that, this is an excellent film of its genre. I figured out the supposedly surprise ending as soon as I had the relevant information, as most other mystery-watchers will, but I didn’t find it detracting. The repeated dream sequences were especially imaginative and well done.
Read less- Irreverent

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Directors: John Frankenheimer
Format: DVD, Restored, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Number of discs: 1
Rated: NR – Not Rated
Studio: Criterion Collection (Direct)
DVD Release Date: March 15, 2016
Run Time: 126 minutes
Genre: Dramas