The Queen of Diamonds is her name, mind controlling is her game. When you play solitaire or walk down the street, guard your mind, for the Queen you might meet. Welcome to the world of SSgt. Raymond Shaw, in the film, The Manchurian Candidate.

Korea, 1952. SSgt. Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) and his entire patrol is ambushed and captured by a group of Chinese and Russian Communists. Raymond and his patrol are brainwashed to believe that he saved the lives of his fellow comrades (with the exception of two casualties) while leading them back to safety. With this great credit to his name, the men are brainwashed into believing that Raymond Shaw is worthy of receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Everything is rather peachy keen until some of the men in his patrol start having the same terrible dreams. In the dreams, the men are at a women's garden club meeting. Yet the room changes to reveal Chinese and Russian Communists in the audience. The men are on the platform, completely relaxed, thinking they are listening to a boring old woman discuss plant life - when in reality they are being brainwashed by the Communists. The leader of the meeting calls upon Raymond Shaw, asking him to pass the time by playing a little game of solitaire. Raymond does so until he comes upon the infamous card - the Queen of Diamonds. The man then asks Raymond to strangle one of the men in his patrol. As psychotic as that sounds, he did just as he was told, never having any clue that he had actually killed anyone.

Capt. Ben Marco (Frank Sinatra) becomes convinced that the dreams he's had are actually what took place in Korea, contrary to what the American public believes. Ben sets out to find Raymond and figure out why the Communists wanted to brainwash the entire patrol and hail Raymond as a hero. Capt. Marco is a very smart man, who knows there is some other ulterior motive to the Communists' plan.

The acting, writing, directing, and casting of this film is superior! Laurence Harvey does an excellent job portraying a crazy man, with an equally crazed and overbearing mother, Mrs. Iselin (Angela Lansbury). It's rather interesting that Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Janet Leigh (who hardly appeared in the film) were all listed as the films official "stars." Whereas Angela Lansbury was only listed as a "co-star" and was the only actor to receive an Oscar for her outstanding performance in the film. Frank Sinatra is equally as excellent in this thrilling flick. In a number of Sinatra films, you see Frank - not the character he is portraying. However, in The Manchurian Candidate, he is completely immersed in the character of Ben Marco.

The Manchurian Candidate had a very, very twisted plot and an even more twisted ending. It is an extraordinary thriller, far ahead of its time back in 1962. If you have only seen the 2004 remake of this film, you have missed out on the suspense and twisted plot line that the original conveys. The plot in the original version is far better then the revised plot featured in the remake.