"John Frankenheimer's direction [is]...exciting in the style of Orson Welles when he was making Citizen Kane [1941]." - Bosley Crowther, New York Times, October 25, 1962.

"Many loud hurrahs for The Manchurian Candidate, a thriller guaranteed to raise all but the limpest hair. ... The acting is all of a high order, and Sinatra, in his usual uncanny fashion, is simply terrific." - The New Yorker, 1962.

"The picture is really fascinating despite its rather far-fetched premise and wholesale slaughter during later passages, and if you're looking for a wild-and-woolly horror film fare - with psychological sidelights and political background - this is it." - John L. Scott, Los Angeles Times, 1962.

"Sinatra gives a seasoned and in many ways more mature performance than he has ever done before." - James Powers, The Hollywood Reporter, 1962.

"Every once in a rare while a film comes along that works in all departments, with story, production and performance so well blended that the end effect is one of nearly complete satisfaction." - Vincent Canby, Variety, October 17, 1962.

"A daring, funny, and far-out political thriller about political extremists. ... This picture plays some wonderful, crazy games about the Right and the Left; although it's a thriller, it may be the most sophisticated political satire ever made in Hollywood." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies (Henry Holt and Co., 1984).

"A wonderful piece of Cold War kitsch." - Film journalist Peter Biskind on the film's 1988 re-release.

"One of the most emotionally disorienting movies ever made; other directors are still trying to match its split-second ability to turn shrieks of delight into gasps of horror." - Sol Louis Siegel, 1988.

"Words are puny to describe Angela Lansbury's acting. ... Lansbury creates a modern-age Lady Macbeth with the skill of a sorceress. It's an astonishing, engulfing performance." - Peter Travers, 1988.

Awards & Honors

Despite rave critical reviews, The Manchurian Candidate was not a huge box office hit on its initial release due largely to poor marketing by United Artists. Many have said the studio simply did not know what kind of picture they had on their hands.

The Manchurian Candidate got two Academy Award nominations, for Best Supporting Actress (Angela Lansbury) and Editing (Ferris Webster).

For her supporting role, Lansbury also received a Golden Globe, the National Board of Review Award (also in recognition of her work in Frankenheimer's All Fall Down, 1962), and a Laurel award nomination from the Motion Picture Exhibitors magazine.

A second-place Laurel Award went to Frank Sinatra (Top Action Performance) and a third place to the picture for Top Action Drama.

John Frankenheimer was nominated by the Directors Guild of America.

The Manchurian Candidate was also nominated for a British Academy Award.

In 1999, the film was chosen by the National Film Preservation Board to be one of the motion pictures preserved on the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress. It was also inducted into the Producers Guild of America Hall of Fame in 2002.

Compiled by Rob Nixon