The Manchurian Candidate (1959, Novel Created, Written by Richard Condon)

1962

2004

A political thriller novel, about a family, that brainwashes their son so that in future life he can be controlled when high up in Government, such as president, as a personal slave of his mother and becomes a brainwashed unwitting assassin for a communist party, as communism is unfavoured, and not to become high in government rolls.

The first version of this film we watched was in 1962 as the original version of the novel of what was created. This was in black and white and was made over 50 years ago.

Directed by John Frankenheimer

Actors: F. Sinatra, L. Harvey, J.Leigh

In 2004 a new version was released.

Directed by Johnathan Demme

Actors: Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber, Meryl Streep and Kimberly Elise

One main man, which I believe to be the resourceful hero, it attempting to regain and unravel his sanity.

Between both filmsyou can realise how civil life has changed upon the world as in the 1962 version, not a black man was in sight, but in the remake of it(2004) you can see that there are a mix of races involved, as well as the main character being black. This was opposed to the civil rights act.

In this one thriller alone you could class it under many different types of thrillers; Psycho, Political or Paranoid. These are three types of thriller that I would cast it under.

It shows communism, ‘Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, stateless and revolutionary socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production’  (definition from Wikipedia) this was where the people of ‘riches’ were in control and calling the shots, as these are the people with power. In the film this is where they placed the mind control upon him, going against all ethic’s in life, and people right and defying him, just because the other person had money.

You could ask the question, ‘What was the real purpose of the film?’ some might say it was just to entertain, as so are other films. Other may think that it is to make a serious point in life, to show us what real life is like in a communism world, and the power of some organisation withhold. However this is just all judgemental and is what you decide to believe.

Throughout the film, there was much use of non-diegetic sound, this build up a lot of tension in the film. The simplicity in editing but also cleverness with the use of close ups, this was the representation of when someone was in a hypnotic state.

Both film differed from the novels that was written, as in the novel the consisted of explicit scenes, however these could not be acted out.

I preferred the newer version as I was able to understand it unlike the 1962 version, I was able to tell what was going on, and as it was more modern I like this one a lot better.