Wednesday, July 10, 2013

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

Frank Sinatra: "I've been having this dream--and it's a swinger of a dream, too"--The Manchurian Candidate

We were lucky last night when our blackout lasted only two hours. (In some places it went on past midnight!) But this afternoon it returned and lasted about five hours!  But when that happens I can still have a bath or a nap like before.

This evening I saw John Frankenheimer's The Manchurian Candidate (for the third time, I think), at the Event Screen, presented by Murray Pomerance.  It's pretty chilling, and its box-office success must have surprised the industry. (The last line is "Hell, hell!") 

Frank Sinatra is at his best:  I liked his scene telling Laurence Harvey that all the links had been cut.  The Janet Leigh character seemed a bit superfluous.  The Harvey character of course brings to mind Damien Lewis on Homeland, though the latter is more of a conscious defector.  Pomerance told us that Sinatra initially wanted Lucille Ball cast in Angela Lansbury's sinister mother role! (She might have pulled it off.)  I'll have to check the Internet Movie Database, because there were several actors I think I recognized.

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