Review of The Manchurian Candidate (1962) by Augustine H — 14 Nov 2015

For those who think Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy in 2011 is a masterpiece of spy movie, they should watch this true masterpiece made almost 50 years ago. Chaos and puzzlements are all right, and it is the director's talents to sort the things out for the characters, the audience, and make the audience empathetic about it through the suspense created.

John Frankenheimer has achieved all these, while Tomas Alfredson failed. Despite featuring the highly dualistic cold-war ideologies which are no longer seen today, the weird opening sequence, the hideous scene in dreams, the brainwashed yet still charismatic Laurence Harvey and the gruesome Mrs.

Iselin portrayed by Angela Lansbury are what it takes to be a classic spy movie. The gradual revelation with suspense fading away bit by bit maintains the thrills and shocks you till the end. Only films of these levels can be named classics, but not superficial scrape of traces and characters.