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Frank Sinatra plays Major Marco a true-blue veteran who can't shake disturbing nightmares about his time in Korea - nightmares that hint at the brainwashing of American troops and hypnotised killers at large in the USA. Increasingly convinced that his dreams represent the suppressed memory of an all too real event he decides to investigate, and piece by chilling piece a terrifying story emerges.
During the war his entire platoon was captured and brainwashed into believing their commanding officer, played by Laurence Harvey was a hero, when in fact he is a programmed killer. Back in civvy street Harvey clicks mechanically into action and begins to kill without mercy. But Major Marco discovers that someone else is in fact pulling the puppet strings and has ordered Harvey to murder a presidential candidate. As the layers of lies and deception are stripped away, the question remains: can Ol' Blue Eyes foil the plot?
This genuinely frightening and daring film blew holes in the political complacency of post-war American cinema - indeed it was considered controversial enough to be withdrawn and suppressed from movie theatres after its first run. A heart-stopping chase through bluff and double bluff, it boasts truly excellent performances from the cast, particularly Angela Lansbury as Harvey's unstable mother.
Janet Leigh, one of the stars of "The Manchurian Candidate", talks to Mark Cousins.
