Manchurian Candidate, The (DVD)

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None of the film makes the least bit of logical sense, of course. It's not meant to. But while it's happening, it seems rational enough. One of the beauties of the script is that no matter how high it's piled, we go along with it. But, really, a whole patrol is completely brainwashed in only a few days? Shaw is programmed to obey any command he's given to murder at any time? The mother is Lady Macbeth? The stepfather senator is an idiot? Within the same political party there is an ultraconservative right-winger and an ultraliberal left-winger?

Yet as a symbolic fable and lampoon, it all works. Frankenheimer and company actually have us believing that Shaw is not only ready to murder on command, but as the movie moves forward that he is able to do so in brutally efficient fashion. Yes, there are events that are perhaps a tad too easy to see coming. Yes, there is perhaps too much given away at the beginning that might have served to build the suspense a bit more if saved for later. And, yes, there is a subplot concerning Major Marco's meeting and falling in love with a beautiful young woman (Janet Leigh) that seems almost wholly extraneous. But, overall, the film has as much impact today as it had when it was made. Probably more impact today, since much of the film's hyperbole has turned out to be at least in part intriguingly possible. Let us not forget Lee Harvey Oswald and company.

Video:
Here's a good sign: MGM announce on the keep case that the widescreen aspect ratio of this movie is 1.75:1, and that's exactly what it measures across my TV screen. Truth in advertising! The movie was supposedly released to theaters in a 1.85:1 ratio, but perhaps the studio was taking into account a normal television's overscanning when they printed the dimensions on the box. Or maybe somebody at the studio simply took a tape measure to his own monitor screen and said, well, let's tell it like it is. I don't know, but it's a refreshing bit of candor.

Moving on, the picture displays some good black-and-white contrasts, at least most of the time. Occasionally, the video goes soft, and in at least one scene where Shaw jumps into a lake, the picture begins to flicker noticeably. There is little or no serious grain present, though, just a fine residue that is faint enough to give the image a realistic texture, and there is hardly an age speck in sight.

Audio:
The movie's original, theatrical-release monaural soundtrack is available, as is a new Dolby Digital 5.1 remix. The multichannel sound makes its presence known early on in the rear channels when we hear machine-gun fire from the back or sides of the room. There is a solid front-channel stereo spread, too, with the inevitable helicopter flyover making an impressive sonic picture. However, not all is perfect. When the engineers decide to change the location of a speaker's voice--for instance, from the center to one side or another--the voice suddenly appears to be in an entirely different aural environment; it's somewhat disconcerting. Voices can also sound a little hard and metallic, and there is a low-level background noise that intrudes upon the quieter moments.

Extras:
A small but useful assortment of bonus items accompany the film on this Special Edition disc. The first item is an audio commentary with the director, the late John Frankenheimer. Next, there's a 1988 conversation with Frank Sinatra, George Axelrod, and John Frankenheimer, lasting about seven minutes; followed by two new featurettes. "Queen of Diamonds" is a fourteen-minute featurette with Angela Lansbury explaining her role in the movie; and "A Little Solitaire" is a thirteen-minute featurette with writer/director William Friedkin explaining why the film is to him a bone fide classic. Lastly, there are thirty-six scene selections, a photo gallery, a booklet insert of trivia and production notes, a widescreen theatrical trailer, and some looks at other MGM releases. English and Spanish are the spoken language choices, with English, French, and Spanish for subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
Agreed, "The Manchurian Candidate" is pretty far out there in terms of plot and character, and neither the book's author nor the filmmakers expect us to believe any of it for a minute. Yet while it's happening, it all seems reasonable enough, just as Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" a few years later seems reasonable enough as it's unfolding, if more comic. It is only when one stops and thinks about what's happening that the two movies unravel into hilarious exaggeration and spoof.

Still, a year on from this film, President Kennedy was shot by an assassin or assassins whom many believe may have been trained in ways not entirely dissimilar to what is portrayed in this film. So who's to say what is reality and what is not. "The Manchurian Candidate" remains a great mystery, a thought-provoking suspense story, and a good bit of fun.

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