Mike Basil Almost unbelievable that 20 years later she was playing the adorable mystery writer Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. Yes she really was the same actor.
@@ralphficker167 And 20 years earlier (or thereabouts) this lady was a smoldering siren. Check out some of her early films when she was in the full bloom of her youth. I very much love when a talented actress can span a career across several decades. There are not many.
I agree Mrs. Iselin is right up there with Darth Vader. I think it speaks volumes that she and Meryl Streep played Eleanor Iselin it two separate adaptations of The Manchurian Candidate, and it was Lansbury and not Meryl who did it better!
Agreed Elizabeth Taylor,Rosalind Russell,Susan Hayward also come to mind.Far out would be Anna Mangania and Marie Dressler. (?).Anne Bancroft All could have put their spin on it.What about Margaret Hamilton or a humorous choice like Majorie Main?Etc.
Yes. Hollywood never appreciated Miss Lansbury. She MADE “Mame” on Broadway and then they snubbed her for Lucy when the movie was made. It was a bomb at the box office and deserved to be. SHE saw to it that Murder, She Wrote was the top notch quality production top to bottom that it was. In Hollywood, there is a lot of politics and “being in their club” governs a heck of a lot.
@@steveweinstein3222 I would have to agree. Though Pati should have been nominated as Best Actress, not supporting, as her role was more crucial to the overall film, not that Anne Bancroft was not wonderful as well.
The last surviving stars of The Manchurian Candidate recently passed away less than a month apart. Henry Silva passed away on September 14, 2022, nine days before his 96th birthday. And Angela Lansbury passed away on October 11, 2022, at age 96.
Angela Lansbury has played everything, from a tea pot, to a retirement age detective, to a princess, to an upper echelon Russian agent, and then some. She always did an outstanding job.
@@mariaeddycesario3067 Which, despite Kelly being much too old to play a naive young guy from the sticks, is still far and away the best version. But that's mostly because Richelieu is the role that Vincent Price was born to play.
Beat out of an Academy Award winning by Patty Duke, she certainly is equal to any of the greatest performers of all time. This movie was an exceptional film and none of the actors and actresses were weak. It was a well written, performed and produced project.
Duke may have won the award, but this film likely did more for Lansbury's career than any award could recommend. Duke was good, but her career is essentially forgotten.
@@dttruman Frank Sinatra had rights to the movie. Apparently, he funded and produced it with John Frankenheimer as the Director. The movie had no problems being replayed, it was just that after the slaying of JFK, the situation regarding Oswald's role was so akin to the movie's premise, that he reserved his right to withdraw it from further showings. After Sinatra died, his daughter decided to release it. She was also the producer of the newly created and written re-do of the "Manchurian Candidate" later in the mid-2000s.
@@dttruman In 1962, Patty Duke won the Academy Award edging out Angela Lansbury. This was the film, "The Miracle Worker," which I will admit was a great performance. I've heard conflicting stories, but to the best of my knowledge, since Sinatra had helped produce and finance the film, he had the screen distribution rights. After his hero JFK was killed, he felt the story line was too close to Oswald's alleged role in the assassination, so he withdrew the film from further distribution for many decades. This was information from John Frankenheimer's explanation on why the film suddenly disappeared and wasn't seen for decades.
I for long and very much wanted to know what Angela thought of all this. I can place on a very short list indeed the movies that made me collect myself after my first viewing. This one earned its place on the list.
I saw this when it came out and it terrified me. The performances all around are memorable, powerful and credible. It's impact is nearly the same today as it was when it was released.
@Captain Bunwarmer I had the pleasure of meeting her backstage in 2015 after her performance in Noel Coward's "Blithe Sprit" in L.A. She couldn't have been nicer.
@Captain Bunwarmer What a great and correct comment. I remembered saying "Wow, never have seen that in her before..." after seeing Lansbury's performance. And had the same reaction after watching MTM in Ordinary People.
This is the most excellent commentary of one of the most brilliant films about American paranoia and philistinism. It is the most effective thriller which satirizes its own genre AS it thrills you. The comic touches give the audience a chance to catch its collective breath before the next sensational scene slaps up back into your seat. The camerawork rivals Greg Toland's efforts in Citizen Kane. The Manchurian Candidate is more contemporary now than when it was first released--and Miss Lansbury's performance is one of the best even on film.
The scene where she's kissing her son goes into more detail in the book. (She took him to "bed")!! But, they didn't do it in the movie, just the kiss! And she should have won the Oscar for that movie. She got it right when she said she played one of the most evil women in film. I love this movie as much as I love Angela Lansbury!! What a classy lady she was! Thank you for the upload and sharing!!
God bless you for this enlightening interview with the great Angela Lansbury - and the whole history of this film. I had not realized that it was withdrawn because of JFK's assignation, and had to wait until another almost 20 years to be released. Robert Ebert's review says it all - you have to read that. My first viewing put me into shock, and really, I never connected it with JFK. It is a horror story of the first magnitude. ALL the actors were totally brilliant, each in their own roles. As for Angela - well, what she did can never be duplicated; Meryl Streep (?) should never have even tried. In fact, nobody should have ever tried. It is a unique period piece.
My theory is the remake hopefuls want to prove they are just as good or better. They only prove the contrary. Some performances reach such a pinnacle that the role is forever owned by the actor. Nobody else can knock them off that pedestal without appearing lesser.
@@valkyriesardo278 the remakes almost always fail to top or even match the originals. They don't realize that at the end of the day you can't catch lightening in a bottle twice. Look at the remake of The In Laws: Disaster. Ghostbusters: Bigger disaster. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three: Not bad but pales in comparison. And The Manchurian Candidate: Nobody even remembers that remake.
Angela Lansbury was an extraordinary artist. She played every role to perfection. Nuanced, authentic, realistic portrayals of all types of characters. A joy to watch and admire. Her place on Broadway is legendary adding singing and dancing to her repertoire.
The film is more relevant now nearly 60 years on. Excellent performance by Angela Lansbury. Not sure if this is the only time she has played villain but it was top draw.
Miss Lansbury was a baddie in the film noir "Please Murder Me" w/Raymond Burr and wasn't very nice in her debut film, "Gaslight", as the duplicitous maid, along side Charles Boyer & Ingrid Bergman.
I think I do understand Leigh's approach to the scene when her character meets Sinatra's. She was attracted to him and astute enough to assess him as a highly competent man who was extremely troubled. She was confident and decisive enough to take the initiative so she followed when he rushed out of the car. She struck a tone that would intrigue him and gently jolt him out of his downward spiral with her absurd remarks about the railroad. All of it conveyed to him that she was very much in his league and on his level. In fact, she was so comfortable with herself that I worried she might be working with the enemy. The only thing that struck me as complete non sequitur is when he asked her if she was an Arab. I have no idea where that came from.
I think Roger Ebert was onto something when he wondered if Rosie was Ben's controller in New York. The seemingly-bizarre conversation (taken almost ver batim by George Axelrod from Richard Condon's book, by the way) would make sense as a loopy imprinting routine for Ben, a victim of "brainwashing" primed to be unlocked by the dialog. (Think of the imprinting scene in Spielber's "AI," where the mother "adopts" the android boy with a series of specific, pre-programmed words; or the Wildfire introduction scene in Wise's "The Andromeda Strain," where the physicist and ag station/Wildfire Lab security agent trade a secret, canned dialog to identify themselves to one another.) The dialog would form a subconscious "handshake" between Rosie and Ben, controller and asset, affixing his psyche to her hypnotic suggestions. I remember that, later in the film, Ben asks Rosie to marry him, but unless I'm mis-remembering, she never gets around to giving him a direct "yes" or "no." If this theory about Ben's "brainwashing" is correct, even though Ben and Rosie are together in the final scene, he only thinks he's been freed and that he's in love: he's not safe at all, and Rosie, his controller is still very much "into" him. It's all in a day's work: the battle plan has had to be altered, but Dr. Yen is not finished.
I never could figure out what Rosie was doing or why. The character seemed superfluous to the plot except as a device for Marko to express out loud what he was thinking. Making her an operative would have made more sense, but she could have easily been just a person the Govt sent to keep an eye on the man. To make her a Commie operative would have complicated the plot much too much and it was already complicated enough.
not sure if anyone mentioned this, but i was disapointed that they cut the last sentence in the famous scene (10:30 in the above). Without that last thought, it made her sound like a loving caring mother....no, she was narcissi tic.....turning everything around to focus on her and her thoughts of how she was "contemptionately under estimated"..... that was her driving thought....
shes such a great lady and professional ,,i think she must still have a great way about her and strength bc she is almost 97 this yr coming..wow,,,!!i would have loved to have seen her, if i were born earlier,on broadway,,she was/ is so pretty and songbird like in early movie,,,was it gaslight or dorian gray?,,,,latter i think,,,love u angela i was just speaking of you spontaneously tonight when i was looking for something to watch....manchurian came to mind!!
I saw this in high school around the same time I read CATCH-22. In the same theater in Homestead, Florida where I had seen miles of celluloid fluff. I had read all sorts of weird stuff, but this was about stuff I thought I had some sort of handle on, in my teenage way. Ahead of me, of course were the Cuban Missile Crisis and the snuffing out of a President I admired very much, since we both came from the same state.And the Sixties began. R.I.P. to the amazing Angela Lansbury.
She certainly gaves us a foretaste of Mrs. Iselin with her role as an icy newspaper magnate manipulating a presidential campaign in Frank Capra’s 1948 “State of the Union”. A really cool customer in her role of Kay Thorndyke, she costarred with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Lansbury was only 22/23 when she made the movie! That film is also just as timely now as is The Manchurian Candidate.
Such an intelligent interview. She had so much insight to the director and the direction she wanted to go. A true professional actress. Eloquently spoken words, she's so poised and classy. I totally agree with her about playing evil ppl. It doesn't fit her as an actress. I loved her character in the film, Death on the Nile, who she also worked along side Bette Davis. It's Agatha Christy novel to screen.
Angela Lansbury was so reliably good in so many fields- stage as much as screen, musicals or straight stories or fables- that she was taken for granted. She had the further drawback of looking young for her age when she started out; but like others she had her revenge in aging beautifully, with the sort of open face and frank manner that is endearing beyond what she says. Just as she seemed to be on the cusp of proper revaluation, like Barbara Stanwyck, she got into a TV series which made her seem like a coasting, cashing-in former semi-star of movies. But during and after 'Murder, She Wrote' she continued to score new triumphs on stage and emerged as a grande dame like Helen Hayes, Lilian Gish or Lynne Fontanne. Anyone who can go from Elvis's mother in 'Blue Hawaii' to the dragon of 'The Manchurian Candidate' without turning a hair has to be a formidable talent. And anyone who can elicit an ounce of sympathy for Laurence Harvey in anything confirms it.
True Angela Lansbury magnificent as the manipulative mother (was Oscar nominated), Sinatra (not nominated), endearing as the fallible hero Major Marco...but it was Laurence Harvey's portrayal as the tragically flawed Raymond Shaw, that stole the show. Oddly enough, he was not even nominated for his amazing performance as the brainwashed political pawn.
A silencer on a revolver is useless. I saw Angela Lansbury in Los Angeles in the early 70's in the play Gypsy.She was fantastic. I sat front row stage right.
I'm sure I saw this movie on network TV in the late 60's, when I was a teenager. I don't think it was completely out of circulation, it was just put forward very much or very often. Just looked it up on Wikipedia: "It was televised nationwide on CBS Thursday Night at the Movies on September 16, 1965."
Angela Lansbury was only about 3 years older than Laurence Harvey, but they play their roles so perfectly and are so entirely credible that this fact doesn't detract in the slightest.
You gave me an instant visualization. Crowded elevator with Jessie, Cary, and Vandamm's henchmen. "You gentlemen aren't really going to kill my son, are you?" Everyone in the elevator laughs, except Cary.
It's how Angela Lansbury carried herself, her dress, the hairstyle, the demeanor, She presents as many years older the Lawrence Harvey. But, that kiss upon mouth heavily implies incestuous relationship.
Yes! This was and still is a classic amongst classics. What I’m not sure of is this: Was the movie shown after completion and if so how long before it was shelved until ‘88. Also, what did she mean when she referred to crushing her handlers into dust for what they did to her son? Was she going to be in a position of power after taking over the U.S to exact revenge? Thx
It was withdrawn from theaters shortly after JFK's assassination. If the dialogue is meant to be prophetic, she was going to be in a power of position, and, therefore, in a position to punish them for brainwashing her son. I'd be pissed too.
I really loved the idea that she was reluctant and intimidated by the role at the start, but that Frankenheimer's enthusiasm challenged her to just do it.
Among the principal actors in The Manchurian Candidate only Angela Lansbury as Eleanor Iselin and Henry Silva as Korean assassin Chunjin are still living, both in their 90's.
So sad that we lost Henry Silva today. What an amazing actor and what a legacy he leaves. Fantastic in the heavy rolls, but also fun as the mama's boy in Jerry Lewis's Cinderfella!
The character of Eleanor Iselin is very similar to the character that Evan Peters played in the Cult season of American Horror Story. I found the parallels between the two characters to be so striking. It was uncanny how similar the two characters were.
The lady could act Angela will be remembered for this movie and her stage work and playing a teapot and many incredible characters including Murder She, Wrote the series that always delivers a interesting plot for murder and Jessica always solves it I along wish Angela would of done one more JB Fletcher mystery I believe she wanted to do one more series even in her 90s as a tribute to this series and her they should setup a new channel called JB Fletcher Channel? RIP Angela you were the best and a sweet smile especially as Jessica Fletcher will miss you but never forget your talent
Such a lovely lady playing such a despicable person. Of course, her career in musicals, Disney films and her long-running series " Murder, She Wrote, " were all well-received.
"They will be pulled down and ground into dirt for what they did to you and what they did in so contemptuously underestimating me." Great line, which I have used, with some modifications, to make a point many times since this great movie was released.
fkng adore this movie I wish there was a little more closure for the black vet with the nightmares he could have gotten killed off or whatever for getting too close, but something I did love the humor "Every place we've been in Korea, this joker was born two miles from it."
The scene with Janet Leigh and Sinatra on the train was unsettling - what were they talking about ? Was she in on it ? Was she nuts ? Was he ? It doesn't matter sometimes - just enjoy it!
Angela Lansbury probably created the most haunting movie villainess of all time. 👏🏻
Absolutely!
Mike Basil Almost unbelievable that 20 years later she was playing the adorable mystery writer Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote. Yes she really was the same actor.
@@ralphficker167
And 20 years earlier (or thereabouts) this lady was a smoldering siren. Check out some of her early films when she was in the full bloom of her youth. I very much love when a talented actress can span a career across several decades. There are not many.
I agree Mrs. Iselin is right up there with Darth Vader. I think it speaks volumes that she and Meryl Streep played Eleanor Iselin it two separate adaptations of The Manchurian Candidate, and it was Lansbury and not Meryl who did it better!
We will not see the likes of this magnificent woman every again!❤
Totally brilliant movie, and unbelievable performance by Lansbury.
@Spam Houston She was, lost out to Patty Duke.
It's also a totally relevant movie. It sprang to mind as I watched the coverage of the 2016 and 2020 Presidential elections.
Agreed
Elizabeth Taylor,Rosalind Russell,Susan Hayward also come to mind.Far out would be Anna Mangania and Marie Dressler. (?).Anne Bancroft
All could have put their spin on it.What about Margaret Hamilton or a humorous choice like Majorie Main?Etc.
Angela Lansbury was outstanding in this film and should have won the Oscar.
Lansbury created one of the great screen villainesses. A great performance.
She was utterly excellent in this, the role of a lifetime and she knocked it out of the park.
She should have won the Academy Award for her unbelievable performance. RIP Angela.
At the very least she should have been Tied with Patty Duke ...
Yes. Hollywood never appreciated Miss Lansbury. She MADE “Mame” on Broadway and then they snubbed her for Lucy when the movie was made. It was a bomb at the box office and deserved to be. SHE saw to it that Murder, She Wrote was the top notch quality production top to bottom that it was.
In Hollywood, there is a lot of politics and “being in their club” governs a heck of a lot.
Her performance was titanic, but Patty Duke had the more difficult role.
@@steveweinstein3222 I would have to agree. Though Pati should have been nominated as Best Actress, not supporting, as her role was more crucial to the overall film, not that Anne Bancroft was not wonderful as well.
@@TerryComo2010 That's a legitimate point.
The last surviving stars of The Manchurian Candidate recently passed away less than a month apart. Henry Silva passed away on September 14, 2022, nine days before his 96th birthday. And Angela Lansbury passed away on October 11, 2022, at age 96.
Leslie Parrish is still alive.
Angela Lansbury has played everything, from a tea pot, to a retirement age detective, to a princess, to an upper echelon Russian agent, and then some. She always did an outstanding job.
Pushed the 👍 but then took it back to keep the number at "57" !
She was Queen of France in The three Musketeers, with Lana Turner & Gene Kelly.
@@mariaeddycesario3067 Which, despite Kelly being much too old to play a naive young guy from the sticks, is still far and away the best version. But that's mostly because Richelieu is the role that Vincent Price was born to play.
@@balok63a40 - Yess!! But I liked Charlton Heston's Richelieu, too.
Beat out of an Academy Award winning by Patty Duke, she certainly is equal to any of the greatest performers of all time. This movie was an exceptional film and none of the actors and actresses were weak. It was a well written, performed and produced project.
Duke may have won the award, but this film likely did more for Lansbury's career than any award could recommend. Duke was good, but her career is essentially forgotten.
Didn't she say the movie was pulled because Kennedy had just been assassinated and that's why it wasn't considered for an Academy Award.
@@dttruman Frank Sinatra had rights to the movie. Apparently, he funded and produced it with John Frankenheimer as the Director. The movie had no problems being replayed, it was just that after the slaying of JFK, the situation regarding Oswald's role was so akin to the movie's premise, that he reserved his right to withdraw it from further showings. After Sinatra died, his daughter decided to release it. She was also the producer of the newly created and written re-do of the "Manchurian Candidate" later in the mid-2000s.
@@dttruman In 1962, Patty Duke won the Academy Award edging out Angela Lansbury. This was the film, "The Miracle Worker," which I will admit was a great performance. I've heard conflicting stories, but to the best of my knowledge, since Sinatra had helped produce and finance the film, he had the screen distribution rights. After his hero JFK was killed, he felt the story line was too close to Oswald's alleged role in the assassination, so he withdrew the film from further distribution for many decades. This was information from John Frankenheimer's explanation on why the film suddenly disappeared and wasn't seen for decades.
Patty was absolutely deserving and I do think if Angela had not been up against her, she would have won.
I for long and very much wanted to know what Angela thought of all this. I can place on a very short list indeed the movies that made me collect myself after my first viewing. This one earned its place on the list.
Angela Lansbury was a great beauty, a great actress and a great mother. An amazing woman
Rest in peace ma'am. One of the best actresses to ever breathe.
I saw this when it came out and it terrified me. The performances all around are memorable, powerful and credible. It's impact is nearly the same today as it was when it was released.
Looks much better than the remake, I will go back and watch this one.
Angela Lansbury's character is reminiscent of Lady Macbeth. She plays the role to perfection.
There was a hint of Ma Jarrett in 'White Heat' in Angela's role also...
@@philiphalpenny3783
Of course! How could I have forgotten? Thanks for mentioning.
Angela Lansbury can play any character! Movies and stage. She's just great.
Absolutely one of the best films ever and people today have probably never seen it. Such acting, tension, story line and directing.
RIP. This was her greatest role in my opinion.
She was perfect in this role.
@Captain Bunwarmer I had the pleasure of meeting her backstage in 2015 after her performance in Noel Coward's "Blithe Sprit" in L.A. She couldn't have been nicer.
@Captain Bunwarmer What a great and correct comment. I remembered saying "Wow, never have seen that in her before..." after seeing Lansbury's performance. And had the same reaction after watching MTM in Ordinary People.
Magnificent, One of a Kind actress. RIP Dame Angela. 1925 - 2022.
She scared the shit outta me in this.
No joke. In Boopeep costume throwing down her staff...shit I'd been scared too
Rest in Peace Ms Lansbury!
queen 💎
I've always liked Angelia Lansbury and I really like this film
This is the most excellent commentary of one of the most brilliant films about American paranoia and philistinism. It is the most effective thriller which satirizes its own genre AS it thrills you. The comic touches give the audience a chance to catch its collective breath before the next sensational scene slaps up back into your seat. The camerawork rivals Greg Toland's efforts in Citizen Kane. The Manchurian Candidate is more contemporary now than when it was first released--and Miss Lansbury's performance is one of the best even on film.
The scene where she's kissing her son goes into more detail in the book. (She took him to "bed")!! But, they didn't do it in the movie, just the kiss! And she should have won the Oscar for that movie. She got it right when she said she played one of the most evil women in film. I love this movie as much as I love Angela Lansbury!! What a classy lady she was! Thank you for the upload and sharing!!
God bless you for this enlightening interview with the great Angela Lansbury - and the whole history of this film. I had not realized that it was withdrawn because of JFK's assignation, and had to wait until another almost 20 years to be released. Robert Ebert's review says it all - you have to read that. My first viewing put me into shock, and really, I never connected it with JFK. It is a horror story of the first magnitude. ALL the actors were totally brilliant, each in their own roles. As for Angela - well, what she did can never be duplicated; Meryl Streep (?) should never have even tried. In fact, nobody should have ever tried. It is a unique period piece.
My theory is the remake hopefuls want to prove they are just as good or better. They only prove the contrary. Some performances reach such a pinnacle that the role is forever owned by the actor. Nobody else can knock them off that pedestal without appearing lesser.
@@valkyriesardo278 the remakes almost always fail to top or even match the originals. They don't realize that at the end of the day you can't catch lightening in a bottle twice. Look at the remake of The In Laws: Disaster. Ghostbusters: Bigger disaster. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three: Not bad but pales in comparison. And The Manchurian Candidate: Nobody even remembers that remake.
It was Sinatra who had the film withdrawn. That’s the kind of power he had.
Watching this movie for over 20 years, and I never picked up on the 57, (finally understood the line "are you Arabic?")
R.I.P., Angela. 💓
Amen.
Dame Angela Lansbury’s performance was so brilliant, haunting and memorable….not even the amazing Meryl Streep could surpass and replace it.
Angela Lansbury was an extraordinary artist. She played every role to perfection. Nuanced, authentic, realistic portrayals of all types of characters. A joy to watch and admire. Her place on Broadway is legendary adding singing and dancing to her repertoire.
what a great lady
The Academy should right the wrong done back in the day and award Dame Angela a posthumous Oscar. 💐
Remains one of the greatest film performances ever.
loooooved her and that film !!!!!
ONE OF THE ALLTIME GREAT MOVIES INDEED
The film is more relevant now nearly 60 years on. Excellent performance by Angela Lansbury. Not sure if this is the only time she has played villain but it was top draw.
Miss Lansbury was a baddie in the film noir "Please Murder Me" w/Raymond Burr and wasn't very nice in her debut film, "Gaslight", as the duplicitous maid, along side Charles Boyer & Ingrid Bergman.
@@goodowner5000 Ah, yes *"Gaslight."* Seen that a couple of years back. She was proper conniving in that.
@@goodowner5000
She wasn't a very likeable character, either, as the wife of Walter Pidgeon in "If Winter Comes".
Yes good insight, no doubt this is going on RIGHT NOW
Mrs Lovett, in the Broadway stage premiere of Sweeney Todd.
One of the most intelligent and provocative masterpiece ever made.
I think I do understand Leigh's approach to the scene when her character meets Sinatra's. She was attracted to him and astute enough to assess him as a highly competent man who was extremely troubled. She was confident and decisive enough to take the initiative so she followed when he rushed out of the car. She struck a tone that would intrigue him and gently jolt him out of his downward spiral with her absurd remarks about the railroad. All of it conveyed to him that she was very much in his league and on his level. In fact, she was so comfortable with herself that I worried she might be working with the enemy. The only thing that struck me as complete non sequitur is when he asked her if she was an Arab. I have no idea where that came from.
I think Roger Ebert was onto something when he wondered if Rosie was Ben's controller in New York. The seemingly-bizarre conversation (taken almost ver batim by George Axelrod from Richard Condon's book, by the way) would make sense as a loopy imprinting routine for Ben, a victim of "brainwashing" primed to be unlocked by the dialog. (Think of the imprinting scene in Spielber's "AI," where the mother "adopts" the android boy with a series of specific, pre-programmed words; or the Wildfire introduction scene in Wise's "The Andromeda Strain," where the physicist and ag station/Wildfire Lab security agent trade a secret, canned dialog to identify themselves to one another.) The dialog would form a subconscious "handshake" between Rosie and Ben, controller and asset, affixing his psyche to her hypnotic suggestions.
I remember that, later in the film, Ben asks Rosie to marry him, but unless I'm mis-remembering, she never gets around to giving him a direct "yes" or "no." If this theory about Ben's "brainwashing" is correct, even though Ben and Rosie are together in the final scene, he only thinks he's been freed and that he's in love: he's not safe at all, and Rosie, his controller is still very much "into" him. It's all in a day's work: the battle plan has had to be altered, but Dr. Yen is not finished.
I never could figure out what Rosie was doing or why. The character seemed superfluous to the plot except as a device for Marko to express out loud what he was thinking. Making her an operative would have made more sense, but she could have easily been just a person the Govt sent to keep an eye on the man. To make her a Commie operative would have complicated the plot much too much and it was already complicated enough.
Interesting thread here...
I never caught that. The senator is putting Heinz catsup on all his food and his wife picks the number 57 communists.... as in 'Heinz 57'.
Rest well, Angela. God bless you.
What a movie! One of my all time favourites. Angela Lansbury is AMAZING in it.
Ms Lansbury could read the phone directory
and be brilliant. One of a kind.
One of the best political thrillers ever made.
not sure if anyone mentioned this, but i was disapointed that they cut the last sentence in the famous scene (10:30 in the above). Without that last thought, it made her sound like a loving caring mother....no, she was narcissi tic.....turning everything around to focus on her and her thoughts of how she was "contemptionately under estimated"..... that was her driving thought....
shes such a great lady and professional ,,i think she must still have a great way about her and strength bc she is almost 97 this yr coming..wow,,,!!i would have loved to have seen her, if i were born earlier,on broadway,,she was/ is so pretty and songbird like in early movie,,,was it gaslight or dorian gray?,,,,latter i think,,,love u angela i was just speaking of you spontaneously tonight when i was looking for something to watch....manchurian came to mind!!
She was chilling in this movie.
RIP Angela 🙏
She is beyond brilliant in this movie .. truly stunning
I saw this in high school around the same time I read CATCH-22. In the same theater in Homestead, Florida where I had seen miles of celluloid fluff. I had read all sorts of weird stuff, but this was about stuff I thought I had some sort of handle on, in my teenage way. Ahead of me, of course were the Cuban Missile Crisis and the snuffing out of a President I admired very much, since we both came from the same state.And the Sixties began. R.I.P. to the amazing Angela Lansbury.
That was great. Thank you.
Rest in peace, Angela.
The Academy should follow the Hugo awards for science fiction and give Retro-Oscars for performances that deserved awards.
One of my favorite movies of all time. She was just brilliant.
Excellent performances and movie
best drama role of her entire career Angela Lansbury truly a professional performer
Always thought I'd like to be in the audience when she was talking about this film, and shout out, "What was Raymond doing with his hands?".
Great movie full of questions ans characters. Spellbound classic.
Fine actress (RIP), she was superb in the Manchurian Candidate as the sinister mother.
She was amazing. Spooky mommie dearest type . She was great
Wow! Never seen this before. Angela Lansbury talking about her role as the evil mother in The Manchurian Candidate.
She is fascinating. I love her commentary here. I miss her.
She certainly gaves us a foretaste of Mrs. Iselin with her role as an icy newspaper magnate manipulating a presidential campaign in Frank Capra’s 1948 “State of the Union”. A really cool customer in her role of Kay Thorndyke, she costarred with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. Lansbury was only 22/23 when she made the movie! That film is also just as timely now as is The Manchurian Candidate.
Love State of the Union
True classic. Best screen work from all the principal actors and director.
Gorgeous, brilliant magical actress and woman.
This is one of the greatest screen performances ever.
the acting is universally brilliant.the scenes between sinatra and leigh are simply awesome!
Such an intelligent interview. She had so much insight to the director and the direction she wanted to go. A true professional actress. Eloquently spoken words, she's so poised and classy. I totally agree with her about playing evil ppl. It doesn't fit her as an actress. I loved her character in the film, Death on the Nile, who she also worked along side Bette Davis. It's Agatha Christy novel to screen.
She is amazing.
Funny,,,, I Just Watched The Movie,,, Again,,, Last Night... This Was a Great Movie,,, I Remember The First Time I Saw This Movie,,, Outstanding....
Angela Lansbury was so reliably good in so many fields- stage as much as screen, musicals or straight stories or fables- that she was taken for granted. She had the further drawback of looking young for her age when she started out; but like others she had her revenge in aging beautifully, with the sort of open face and frank manner that is endearing beyond what she says.
Just as she seemed to be on the cusp of proper revaluation, like Barbara Stanwyck, she got into a TV series which made her seem like a coasting, cashing-in former semi-star of movies. But during and after 'Murder, She Wrote' she continued to score new triumphs on stage and emerged as a grande dame like Helen Hayes, Lilian Gish or Lynne Fontanne.
Anyone who can go from Elvis's mother in 'Blue Hawaii' to the dragon of 'The Manchurian Candidate' without turning a hair has to be a formidable talent. And anyone who can elicit an ounce of sympathy for Laurence Harvey in anything confirms it.
True Angela Lansbury magnificent as the manipulative mother (was Oscar nominated), Sinatra (not nominated), endearing as the fallible hero Major Marco...but it was Laurence Harvey's portrayal as the tragically flawed Raymond Shaw, that stole the show. Oddly enough, he was not even nominated for his amazing performance as the brainwashed political pawn.
That is shocking. I thought Laurence was great in this.
The Oscars are rigged (most often). Everyone and his dog know this.
A silencer on a revolver is useless. I saw Angela Lansbury in Los Angeles in the early 70's in the play Gypsy.She was fantastic. I sat front row stage right.
I watch this movie every election day, along with Mr Smith goes to Washington
Where can I watch this movie? Ill pay $ to see it.
Frankenheimer gives excellent commentaries on the DVD's of movies he has directed, including this one.
Hard to believe she is gone. It was not until I looked up this movie when I found out we were both Libra She was the 16th and I was the 17th.
She was glorious!
RIP Dame Angela Lansbury 🌹
dude, this is cool
I'm sure I saw this movie on network TV in the late 60's, when I was a teenager. I don't think it was completely out of circulation, it was just put forward very much or very often. Just looked it up on Wikipedia: "It was televised nationwide on CBS Thursday Night at the Movies on September 16, 1965."
Angela Lansbury was only about 3 years older than Laurence Harvey, but they play their roles so perfectly and are so entirely credible that this fact doesn't detract in the slightest.
Like Cary Grant and Jessie Royce Landis in North By Northwest.
You gave me an instant visualization. Crowded elevator with Jessie, Cary, and Vandamm's henchmen. "You gentlemen aren't really going to kill my son, are you?" Everyone in the elevator laughs, except Cary.
It's how Angela Lansbury carried herself, her dress, the hairstyle, the demeanor, She presents as many years older the Lawrence Harvey. But, that kiss upon mouth heavily implies incestuous relationship.
Ms Lansbury was…Brilliant!!
Yes! This was and still is a classic amongst classics. What I’m not sure of is this: Was the movie shown after completion and if so how long before it was shelved until ‘88. Also, what did she mean when she referred to crushing her handlers into dust for what they did to her son? Was she going to be in a position of power after taking over the U.S to exact revenge? Thx
It was withdrawn from theaters shortly after JFK's assassination. If the dialogue is meant to be prophetic, she was going to be in a power of position, and, therefore, in a position to punish them for brainwashing her son. I'd be pissed too.
This aged well.
Great movie and he accomplished his goals bc the final product is as he envisioned and it’s entertaining
I really loved the idea that she was reluctant and intimidated by the role at the start, but that Frankenheimer's enthusiasm challenged her to just do it.
Both this version and the remake are brilliant and so scary
All the actors in this movie deserved Oscar's but seeing the way Hollywood is now oh well
Among the principal actors in The Manchurian Candidate only Angela Lansbury as Eleanor Iselin and Henry Silva as Korean assassin Chunjin are still living, both in their 90's.
So sad that we lost Henry Silva today. What an amazing actor and what a legacy he leaves. Fantastic in the heavy rolls, but also fun as the mama's boy in Jerry Lewis's Cinderfella!
And now we have sadly lost Angela Lansbury. RIP. Incredible acting in this movie; a classic.
@@iainjohnston3814 Oh gosh - I didn't realize that was today! She has left an amazing film legacy. What a remarkable woman!
filmSCHOOLarchive can you upload Love & Basketball Behind The Scenes Please?
The character of Eleanor Iselin is very similar to the character that Evan Peters played in the Cult season of American Horror Story. I found the parallels between the two characters to be so striking. It was uncanny how similar the two characters were.
The lady could act Angela will be remembered for this movie and her stage work and playing a teapot and many incredible characters including Murder She, Wrote the series that always delivers a interesting plot for murder and Jessica always solves it I along wish Angela would of done one more JB Fletcher mystery I believe she wanted to do one more series even in her 90s as a tribute to this series and her they should setup a new channel called JB Fletcher Channel? RIP Angela you were the best and a sweet smile especially as Jessica Fletcher will miss you but never forget your talent
She was also great in Gaslight, one of her first roles. Not a particularly nice character either. She really had a fantastic career.
Such a lovely lady playing such a despicable person. Of course, her career in musicals, Disney films and her long-running series " Murder, She Wrote, " were all well-received.
An amazing actress. Played a character you just loved to hate. And besides she was Mrs. Lovett who made the worst pies in London.
Great movie
"They will be pulled down and ground into dirt for what they did to you and what they did in so contemptuously underestimating me." Great line, which I have used, with some modifications, to make a point many times since this great movie was released.
"All Fall Down" I knew William Inge at UCI. Took Drama 112 with him.
I'm sure I saw it on British TV in the early 1970s.
Here we are; sixty years later under threat from infiltration by the CCP still. This movie feels more relevant than ever.
Seen the movie in the early 60s. I think it was. Later, I read 1984, given the movie and McCarthy, pertty scarry.
She doesn't mention the I-word. Some people thought there was an incestuous relationship there. I love Frankenheimer's work. He chose his cast well.
in the book, it's far more overt
but this was 1961 and no way were the studio censors going to allow incest scenes on screen
Read the book. She takes her son to bed, and not to sleep!
fkng adore this movie
I wish there was a little more closure for the black vet with the nightmares
he could have gotten killed off or whatever for getting too close, but something
I did love the humor "Every place we've been in Korea, this joker was born two miles from it."
The scene with Janet Leigh and Sinatra on the train was unsettling - what were they talking about ? Was she in on it ? Was she nuts ? Was he ? It doesn't matter sometimes - just enjoy it!