patty duke was not a supporting role ...her and anne bancroft were the two main character's in the movie and shouldn't had been nominated in this category. ...that's why Angela loss
Apparently Angela Lansbury thought it was a crime as well. Rumor has it that nearly 40 year old Angela became unhinged at the Oscar ceremony when she heard that a 16 year old upstart named Patty Duke was walking away with the Oscar. It was said that after the ceremony Lansbury verbally attacked Duke backstage, calling her an "upstart" who got lucky. After all, Angela had been in pictures for over 20 years and was certainly more deserving of the Oscar. Angela looked like she wanted to wrestle the Oscar from Duke's hands as Duke embraced the Oscar even tighter as Angela seemed to want to grab it out of Duke's hands. Angela then went on to her own private post Oscar party where she continually made fun of Duke's Oscar winning performance in The Miracle Worker by flailing her arms around as Duke did in the film in her portrayal of Helen Keller's movements. Lansbury then imitated Duke's facial and vocal imitations of Helen Keller. Lansbury even maliciously imitated Duke's very poignant "thank you" speech from the Oscar ceremony as well as poking fun of Duke's bargain basement dress that she wore to the ceremony. Needless to say Lansbury had everyone in stitches at the post Oscar party. Those at the post Oscar party said that Lansbury should have won an award just for her cruel imitations of Duke at the party.
I can't imagine anyone else playing this role including Meryl Streep. Don't get me wrong I love Meryl Streep. However, there are roles designed especially for certain actresses and this one belongs solely to Angela Lansbury!
There is a reason why "Lansbury makes most of the current lot from Hollywood seem like rank amateurs" -- because, compared to Lansbury. they are!. She came from a time when, while there were some overrated and even untalented performers who managed to thrive, talent was pretty much essential for an acting career, if not film stardom.
The potent and malevolent mixture of Lady Macbeth, Goneril, Regan and Jocasta. Lansbury was never better, given this gift of a role. She manages to deliver almost the entire monologue without once blinking, creating the exact impression of obsession, mania and psychotic self-belief. Frankenheimer was very wise to recognise the virtuosity of this consummate actor (not to get in the way) and allows the camera simply to follow her in one final, quiet, low shot, brilliant take. Two of the most riveting minutes in all film.
"Lady Macbeth, Goneril, Regan and Jocasta" -- interesting but Lansbury's character, unnamed but Mrs. Iselin, makes those old gals seem like pikers. A more apt comparison would be Hillary Clinton.
An outstanding performance. This really gives me chills. Angela Lansbury is one of the finest actresses. She should have one the Academy Award for this.
It was the role of a lifetime and she hit it over the fence. What a grip she has on this character: the fierceness, the ambition, the utter determination. But not only imaginatively, but technically, the way she delivers this speech: the pacing, the spacing of the phrases, and the inflections.
This casting wouldn't be allowed today, because it isn't diverse enough. And white men would have to be behind it, not women or the Chinese. (Maybe the Russians - they still get blamed for everything!)
Angela Lansbury's range was incredible. She played an innocent young woman in THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY, she played hilarious scenes with Danny Kaye in THE COURT JESTER, she played this quietly monstrous mother in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE--and then, on the stage, she played Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET! She played many other roles, but those I remember as examples of her great range as an actress.
She could be movingly sympathetic ("The Picture of Dorian Grey") but her imposing height (although she mopped the floor even with actresses who were as tall or taller, such as Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight") and ability to play older and/or ruthless women (look up the films "Kind Lady" and "All Fall Down") made her prone to being cast as bitches and villainesses, as she herself noted. She wasn't crazy about many of the roles but as she pointed out, in Hollywood you are either a working actor or not.
Angela Lansbury is one of the greatest actresses of our times. She's an incredible talent and there is nothing average about her whatsoever. As for Vanessa Redgrave's comparison (who is also a great actress) Ms. Lansbury is currently touring in Australia in the same production of Driving Miss Daisy that Redgrave did on Broadway and West End and Lansbury's reviews are practically love letters from critics while Redgrave got a few negative ones.
Kind of like when Judy Garland didn't win for A Star Is Born. Louis Mayer had an ax to grind with her and her husband for not going to MGM to have them finance the film. I don't blame her due to the crappy treatment she received from him and how he pretty much destroyed her life. So, he heard she was up for an Oscar and told the voting members not to vote for her. I can't even watch The Wizard of Oz due to everything bad that happened during the making of it and how it is said that TWOO killed her. I guess having a monster stage mom didn't help, either.
Crikey! Now that is what I call a scene stealer! Stellar performance still gives me the whillies after all these years. Ms. Lansbury, God rest her soul;was one of the best. Cheers Ms. L.
Not only is she still alive, but Dame Angela is currently headlining North American tour of Blithe Spirit and already has plans to celebrate her 90th Birthday on a Broadway stage.
Sorry about that. I could have sworn saw a headline saying she was deceased. I am so glad she is still with us, and hope she will be for a long time to come.
and, don't forget, that she is playing Lawrence Harveys mother who in fact were in reality practically the same age. The only other actor I remember who was able to pull off playing a much older individual so realistically that today, many think he was actually an old man when he created his character for The Godfather, Marlon Brando.
Angela Lansbury and Meryl Streep are the two greatest Female Actor of the last two generations. Angela was never given the range of roles that Meryl was afforded. Here is the moment that she proved herself to be the greatest Female Actor of her generation. Too bad she did not have more roles to play.
Angela had and is still having an amazing life , that´s much more that any of her more successfully awarded collegues would ever have , if they would still be allive and working at her age.
Benjamin - that is true. However, one has to take whatever comes her way. Despite this performance, I hope the Academy will honor her soon. She deserves just like Glenn Close who had many nominations but no wins.
I love this scene. It came as a surprise to me since I thought she was all on board with the communist plot until this moment. Then you realize just how badly they screwed up by using her son and now she's likely planning to start WWIII to wipe them all out. Don't screw with a mothers baby. Hell hath no wrath....
She's a power-hungry maniac. I doubt she was ever a loyal communist. She's too desperate to be top-dog herself, even if she may not have realised it earlier.
Angela Lansbury's talent can only be described as gigantic. Possibly the most versatile actress who ever lived, in addition to this performance she was the toast of Broadway some twelve years later in the title role of the musical MAME, which she brought back to Broadway in 1983 and I was privileged to see it. She also had a huge success as the pie-baking Mrs Lovett in SWEENEY TODD, and then spent 12 seasons as Jessica Fletcher on the hit TV series "Murder, She Wrote." Quite a résumé.
Naaah, Patty Duke did a great job in "The Miracle Worker". But the mistake was that she was actually a co-star with Anne Bancroft and should have been nominated for actress in a leading role, not in a supporting role, and Angela Lansbury should DEFINITELY have won the Oscar for the best actress in a supporting role.
The only other scene that is comparable was Stephen Boyd's death bed scene (as Messala) in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur. That was incredible acting and worthy of at least a best supporting actor nomination (which he never got).
The Best supporting actor nod went to another actor in that movie, Hugh Griffith who played the Arab sheikh. He later got another Oscar as Squire Western in Tom Jones.
During her big close-up in this scene she does not blink once. Adding a certain amount of menace. Not sure if it was done with intent or just came about during filming, but Anthony Hopkins once stated that for his part of Hannibal Lecter he purposely minimised blinking and made every blink in the movie one with very specific intent, to add a certain amount of control and evil to the character!
Streep was a bust in the role. She can't play everything and she doesn't have the capacity to scare the you know what out of people, as Lansbury evidently did, when she needed to. Later came Jessica Fletcher, LOL.
@@LeenaStark literally all of you are wrong 🤦♂️ Streep has specifically said she didn’t base her role on Hillary whatsoever, and it’s not surprising since she’s a bleeding heart liberal 🙄 Also, Streep’s performance wasn’t meant to be in your face terrifying, like Lansbury, it was very much more purposely subdued, which IMO makes her even more monstrous than Lansburys
John Frankenheimer directed Angela Lansbury one year earlier in All Fall Down”. Co- starring Warren Beatty,Eva Marie Saint,Karl Malden,Brandon De Wilde. One morning Frankenheimer gave Angela a book he wanted her to read as he was hoping to direct a film adaptation. The book was The Manchurian Candidate and after much soul searching and lobbying from JF she agreed. Thankfully for cinema goers all over the world Angela said yes. And yes Angela kissed Warren Beatty on the lips in All Fall Down like she did Laurence Harvey. Angela said late in her life “John was obsessed about( relationships) between mothers and sons”
@@robsieger1886 That wasn't French kissing, but it was Oedipal enough. (French kissing, by the way, originated as a mothers way of passing chewed up food to an infant in primitive societies. Strange but true. In some societies within recorded histories, sexual partners did not kiss either.)
@@anonb4632 LOL. I was just using the term "French kissing" loosely. Thanks for the info re how that term came into being. Clearly the kiss between Lansbury and Harvey is unhealthy and you only need a moment to realize that thanks to the superb acting and direction.
To please the film censors, the writers omitted Mrs. Iselin's incestuous romance with her father and the sexual intercourse she had with the brainwashed Raymond after this briefing.
Yeah, I know that Eleanor Iselin had an incestuous relationship with her own father in Richard Condon's original novel on which the screenplay is based. The screenplay is tighter and scarier than the source material.
There was a silent and purely psychological antecedent to this fictional scenario, documented sufficiently within the annals of history. That was the campaign by Livia to guarantee the succession of her first-born son, Tiberius, to Augustus, her second husband (and she his second wife-no children from the marriage, by the way, though they married about age twenty-GET THE PICTURE). She was calculating, having herself arranged divorce from Tib. C. Nero, father of her two sons, who sd GO FOR IT!
Angela Lansbury, playing Laurence Harvey's mother, is only 2 years older than him. One of my 4 favorite political movies of all time -- an absolute masterpiece.
If she nominated in a different year, there's no doubt in my mind that she will win the Oscar. I love the intensity in her eyes and voice. Unfortunately, it was the year of The Miracle Worker. The virtuous characters played by Patty Dukes and Anne Bancroft triumphed the performance of two legendary villains (this role by Lansbury and Baby Jane by Bette Davis). The young Patty Dukes displayed phenomenal acting in an uplifting film ultimately won.
@@kdohertygizbur She was brilliant in The Manchurian Candidate, no doubt. But I feel that the young age and exceptional performance of Patty Dukes surpassed other nominees. The Miracle Worker was phenomenal because the lead and supporting actress relied on each other to carry the film. Not many film sees lead and supporting actors win together, TMW triumphed. Oscar or no Oscar, the late Angela is still a good actress.
She definitely should have won this Oscar for this performance...losing to Patty Duke in "The Miracle Worker" was stupid...Patty Duke should not even been in supporting actress category...she and anne bancroft were the two major actresses in that movie and should have been nominated for best actress...what a pity..
There is a wonderful radio interview with Ms Lansbury on Australian radio program titled ABC Conversations conducted by Richard Fidler in which this scene is discussed. Do yourself a favour and check it out.
Poor Raymond, being forced to be a mama's boy just like Norman Bates from "Psycho." Anyhow, just a great performance from one of the best actresses of all time, 😲 wow!
Mrs. Iselin may have been a fictional character, but there have been any number of all-too-real monster mothers like her in history. Empress Livia, the mother of Tiberius (soon followed by Agrippina, the mother of Nero); Fredegund, the homicidally ambitious Queen of the Franks; Constance of Provence, a Queen of France whose lust for power led her to blind the Archbishop of Paris with a pointed staff in broad daylight in front of Notre Dame; and Catherine de Medicis, whose determination to see her sons kings led her to orchestrate the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which killed 20,000 innocent people. It's precisely because we know that horrors like those in "The Manchurian Candidate" COULD happen that makes them ten times more frightening than anything dreamt up by Stephen King or Bram Stoker.
Cinema is clearly still in transition from stage-acting to its own suited format of simulating/recreating realism. So sure, it's a great scene in its time and it is artfully done, but I wouldn't compare it to the 2004 film, which, in its own right, is powerful and well done. I think it gets a bad rap, but I like it better than what I've seen of the old one because the material is better suited to the newer film style and Demme's use of audio and visual for the disorienting effect was brilliant. I don't think they could have digested the new film back then - viewers would have gotten lost. People who want to say the old film was far better are probably biased on cinematic styles and attached to the particulars of the original story.
It is absolutely a crime that she didn't win the Oscar for this. This is one of those scenes that you'll remember for the rest of your life.
patty duke was not a supporting role ...her and anne bancroft were the two main character's in the movie and shouldn't had been nominated in this category. ...that's why Angela loss
Apparently Angela Lansbury thought it was a crime as well. Rumor has it that nearly 40 year old Angela became unhinged at the Oscar ceremony when she heard that a 16 year old upstart named Patty Duke was walking away with the Oscar. It was said that after the ceremony Lansbury verbally attacked Duke backstage, calling her an "upstart" who got lucky. After all, Angela had been in pictures for over 20 years and was certainly more deserving of the Oscar. Angela looked like she wanted to wrestle the Oscar from Duke's hands as Duke embraced the Oscar even tighter as Angela seemed to want to grab it out of Duke's hands. Angela then went on to her own private post Oscar party where she continually made fun of Duke's Oscar winning performance in The Miracle Worker by flailing her arms around as Duke did in the film in her portrayal of Helen Keller's movements. Lansbury then imitated Duke's facial and vocal imitations of Helen Keller. Lansbury even maliciously imitated Duke's very poignant "thank you" speech from the Oscar ceremony as well as poking fun of Duke's bargain basement dress that she wore to the ceremony. Needless to say Lansbury had everyone in stitches at the post Oscar party. Those at the post Oscar party said that Lansbury should have won an award just for her cruel imitations of Duke at the party.
I saw it when it was released a quarter century later in 1987 in a theatre in Manhattan. That scene left me shaking.
@@jackanthony976 I don't know where you get your info, but Angela Lansbury wasn't even at the Oscars that year
@@kdohertygizbur check youtube
The most monstrous movie mom of all time, and one of the greatest performances in cinema history. She was pure genius in the role.
I can't imagine anyone else playing this role including Meryl Streep. Don't get me wrong I love Meryl Streep. However, there are roles designed especially for certain actresses and this one belongs solely to Angela Lansbury!
There is a reason why "Lansbury makes most of the current lot from Hollywood seem like rank amateurs" -- because, compared to Lansbury. they are!. She came from a time when, while there were some overrated and even untalented performers who managed to thrive, talent was pretty much essential for an acting career, if not film stardom.
Absolute Perfection. I have watched this scene dozens of times and it is Absolute Perfection
I love introducing people who only know her from Murder She Wrote and Bedknobs and Broomsticks to this film. Their minds are blown.
She’s not that bad. She’s looking forward to her revenge for what they did to him. And of Course what they did by under estimating her
Lansbury gives me chills in this scene. She should have won the Oscar for this performance. What a grant actress!
she and nurse ratchet
Angela Lansbury gives in this picture what is generally regarded as one of the finest performances ever on screen.
Brilliant performance, which stays in the memory. Angela Lansbury should have won the Oscar® for this role.
She was only three years older than Laurence Harvey but the woman could act so who knew? Outstanding performance. What a Dame!!
The potent and malevolent mixture of Lady Macbeth, Goneril, Regan and Jocasta. Lansbury was never better, given this gift of a role. She manages to deliver almost the entire monologue without once blinking, creating the exact impression of obsession, mania and psychotic self-belief. Frankenheimer was very wise to recognise the virtuosity of this consummate actor (not to get in the way) and allows the camera simply to follow her in one final, quiet, low shot, brilliant take. Two of the most riveting minutes in all film.
You are so right. Beautifully written. It truly is a magnificent performance.
Thanks, Mark! You made my day!
And to think, Sinatra wanted Lucille Ball for the role.
Lucille Ball wouldn't have been good
"Lady Macbeth, Goneril, Regan and Jocasta" -- interesting but Lansbury's character, unnamed but Mrs. Iselin, makes those old gals seem like pikers. A more apt comparison would be Hillary Clinton.
Angela Lansbury should have won the Oscar® for her unforgettable performance. One of the finest in film history.
As a Director, I can't believe that she didn't win the Oscar for this role. Her performance was the most perfect actin that I have ever seen!
I love Patty Duke, but this should have been Angela's Oscar.
An outstanding performance. This really gives me chills. Angela Lansbury is one of the finest actresses. She should have one the Academy Award for this.
one or won?
Was the remake film patterned after Hillary Clinton?
It was the role of a lifetime and she hit it over the fence. What a grip she has on this character: the fierceness, the ambition, the utter determination. But not only imaginatively, but technically, the way she delivers this speech: the pacing, the spacing of the phrases, and the inflections.
Hard to believe this is the same actress that gave us Jessica Fletcher and Mame. A stunning performance.
"To swep up us Into the white House with powers that will make Martial Law seems like Anarchy"... That line give me goosebumps.
Yeah, almost 2020 Elections
@@kdohertygizbur Yes, with the puppet now in the WH being told what to do by... well, we know who.
A prophetic book in more ways than one. The author must have had insider trade secrets.
RIP Dame Angela! Elegant talented lady whose career lasted over 70 years, she was still acting til this year.
Lansbury makes most of the current lot from Hollywood seem like rank amateurs.
I wouldn't go that far. There is some excellent talent in Hollywood today but I can't say the material they work with is any good.
In one scene, too!
This casting wouldn't be allowed today, because it isn't diverse enough. And white men would have to be behind it, not women or the Chinese. (Maybe the Russians - they still get blamed for everything!)
@@ricardocantoral7672 Naw, Hollywood has lost its grip, at least to me.
Bottomless, even.
This is Chilling!!
I only wonder could hillary pull it off?
Fuck you Mr. Stinko. Go take a bath.
I wonder if you have a brain. Pissant!
Angela Lansbury's range was incredible. She played an innocent young woman in THE PORTRAIT OF DORIAN GRAY, she played hilarious scenes with Danny Kaye in THE COURT JESTER, she played this quietly monstrous mother in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE--and then, on the stage, she played Mrs. Lovett in SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET! She played many other roles, but those I remember as examples of her great range as an actress.
And she is 92 now and she can still play . If that isn´t quite a lot more than the average mortal can do, I don´t know what it is.
She could be movingly sympathetic ("The Picture of Dorian Grey") but her imposing height (although she mopped the floor even with actresses who were as tall or taller, such as Ingrid Bergman in "Gaslight") and ability to play older and/or ruthless women (look up the films "Kind Lady" and "All Fall Down") made her prone to being cast as bitches and villainesses, as she herself noted. She wasn't crazy about many of the roles but as she pointed out, in Hollywood you are either a working actor or not.
Angela Lansbury is one of the greatest actresses of our times. She's an incredible talent and there is nothing average about her whatsoever. As for Vanessa Redgrave's comparison (who is also a great actress) Ms. Lansbury is currently touring in Australia in the same production of Driving Miss Daisy that Redgrave did on Broadway and West End and Lansbury's reviews are practically love letters from critics while Redgrave got a few negative ones.
I had new respect for Lansbury in her performance in this great film. Powerful. Versatile is the word!
She was fabulous in this role - and what a magnificent movie. The remake isn't even close.
IPerhaps one of Oscars biggest mistakes was not awarding Angela Lansbury for this brilliant performance.
And 22 years later...
Kind of like when Judy Garland didn't win for A Star Is Born. Louis Mayer had an ax to grind with her and her husband for not going to MGM to have them finance the film. I don't blame her due to the crappy treatment she received from him and how he pretty much destroyed her life. So, he heard she was up for an Oscar and told the voting members not to vote for her. I can't even watch The Wizard of Oz due to everything bad that happened during the making of it and how it is said that TWOO killed her. I guess having a monster stage mom didn't help, either.
RIP to the wonderful Angela.. you lived an extraordinary life and such class is rare. We will miss you!!
One of the most chilling scenes of the movie. Thanks for posting, picturefan2009.
Crikey! Now that is what I call a scene stealer! Stellar performance still gives me the whillies after all these years. Ms. Lansbury, God rest her soul;was one of the best. Cheers Ms. L.
Not only is she still alive, but Dame Angela is currently headlining North American tour of Blithe Spirit and already has plans to celebrate her 90th Birthday on a Broadway stage.
Sorry about that. I could have sworn saw a headline saying she was deceased. I am so glad she is still with us, and hope she will be for a long time to come.
+mark prescott right on! lovely actress! watch "bedknobs and broomsticks" if you're up/down for a fantastic kid flick! :D
Today is her 91st Birthday. She's very much alive and doing great!
I wаtсhed Тhе Маnсhuriааan Cаndidаtе full mоviе hеееrе twitter.com/2a0c81a489ba9087d/status/796185768288874496 Аngelа Lаnsburу s iсооооniс Оsсаr nоminаtеd реrfоrmаnсе in Тhе Маnсhuriаn Cаndidаtе 1962
and, don't forget, that she is playing Lawrence Harveys mother who in fact were in reality practically the same age. The only other actor I remember who was able to pull off playing a much older individual so realistically that today, many think he was actually an old man when he created his character for The Godfather, Marlon Brando.
Harvey was a mere three years younger.
She arrived at the "top" of all the performances that an actress and able to perform, no doubt ... The "highest attainable "!
Angela Lansbury and Meryl Streep are the two greatest Female Actor of the last two generations. Angela was never given the range of roles that Meryl was afforded. Here is the moment that she proved herself to be the greatest Female Actor of her generation. Too bad she did not have more roles to play.
Angela had and is still having an amazing life , that´s much more that any of her more successfully awarded collegues would ever have , if they would still be allive and working at her age.
Streep was a bust in the remake. She sent no chills up my spine.
Benjamin - that is true. However, one has to take whatever comes her way. Despite this performance, I hope the Academy will honor her soon. She deserves just like Glenn Close who had many nominations but no wins.
Was she playing Clinton?
The way she accents every syllable of "contemptuously" is chilling.
"[T]hat will make make martial law seem like anarchy" is the truly chilling part.
Rob Sieger True , especially now
This scene gives me chills.
The modulations are chilling in their controlled intensity.
I love this scene. It came as a surprise to me since I thought she was all on board with the communist plot until this moment. Then you realize just how badly they screwed up by using her son and now she's likely planning to start WWIII to wipe them all out. Don't screw with a mothers baby. Hell hath no wrath....
She's a power-hungry maniac. I doubt she was ever a loyal communist. She's too desperate to be top-dog herself, even if she may not have realised it earlier.
Mrs. Potts being an absolute badass. I love this movie and she's one of the reasons for it.
Look at her eyes. She does not blink in over two minutes.
Lansbury was robbed. She earned that Oscar for this performance. For an actress who has consistently played roles brilliantly, this was a step beyond.
Angela Lansbury's talent can only be described as gigantic. Possibly the most versatile actress who ever lived, in addition to this performance she was the toast of Broadway some twelve years later in the title role of the musical MAME, which she brought back to Broadway in 1983 and I was privileged to see it. She also had a huge success as the pie-baking Mrs Lovett in SWEENEY TODD, and then spent 12 seasons as Jessica Fletcher on the hit TV series "Murder, She Wrote." Quite a résumé.
The producers didn't want her at all for Mame but she won over Jerry Herman. She had to audition three times.
I'd rather forget Murder She Wrote. My mother watched that crap (yes I know a maternal reference is ironic here.)
(16 Oct. 2015) Happy 90th, AL!
It's a shame she didn't win an Oscar - she deserved it for this performance!
Well Hitchcock NEVER won one.
@Randy White Kubrick didn't make many films, which reduced his chances. Hitchcock made tonnes.
Her greatest motivation is her anger at being underestimated. You always know a person's main motivation because it is always announced last.
My all time favorite movie scene...a different Lansbury and definite extraordinary performance
brilliant thrilling acting
Angela Landsbury is brilliant in this film. She should have won the Oscar that year.
Magnificent! Should have won an Oscar over Patty Duke stumbling around.
Naaah, Patty Duke did a great job in "The Miracle Worker". But the mistake was that she was actually a co-star with Anne Bancroft and should have been nominated for actress in a leading role, not in a supporting role, and Angela Lansbury should DEFINITELY have won the Oscar for the best actress in a supporting role.
She was great in Blue Hawaii as Elvis' mother also.😎🎸🎶
I have long considered this to be the greatest acting scene ever filmed. Sheer genius....
The only other scene that is comparable was Stephen Boyd's death bed scene (as Messala) in the 1959 version of Ben-Hur. That was incredible acting and worthy of at least a best supporting actor nomination (which he never got).
Don't forget Agnes Moorehead's nervous breakdown in the boiler room in The Magnificent Ambersons.
The Best supporting actor nod went to another actor in that movie, Hugh Griffith who played the Arab sheikh. He later got another Oscar as Squire Western in Tom Jones.
During her big close-up in this scene she does not blink once. Adding a certain amount of menace. Not sure if it was done with intent or just came about during filming, but Anthony Hopkins once stated that for his part of Hannibal Lecter he purposely minimised blinking and made every blink in the movie one with very specific intent, to add a certain amount of control and evil to the character!
About a million ways creepy.....far creepier than Streep's in this role years later.
Streep was a bust in the role. She can't play everything and she doesn't have the capacity to scare the you know what out of people, as Lansbury evidently did, when she needed to. Later came Jessica Fletcher, LOL.
@@robsieger1886 Streep was playing _Hillary_ in that role. Compare them side by side --- theyre one + the same person.
Thats what I call *HORROR* 😑
@@LeenaStark literally all of you are wrong 🤦♂️
Streep has specifically said she didn’t base her role on Hillary whatsoever, and it’s not surprising since she’s a bleeding heart liberal 🙄
Also, Streep’s performance wasn’t meant to be in your face terrifying, like Lansbury, it was very much more purposely subdued, which IMO makes her even more monstrous than Lansburys
@@ACarter87 I thought Hillary was basing her role on Lansbury?
@@ot23234 LMAO
Brilliant.
Such a boss level villain! All time great performance. RIP.
Agreed
I'm beginning to think Jessica Fletcher did all those murders herself.
Just like many people say Edgar Allen Poe murdered people to get inspiration for his writing.
She was only 36/37 here but looks in her 50s already. And lived another 60 years.
Stunning acting!
Best Freudian scene ever written.
Greatest supporting actress performance of all time.
Genuinely brilliant performance. Lansbury superb. RIP I reckon the Chinese watched this movie a lot ...
John Frankenheimer directed Angela Lansbury one year earlier in All Fall Down”. Co- starring Warren Beatty,Eva Marie Saint,Karl Malden,Brandon De Wilde. One morning Frankenheimer gave Angela a book he wanted her to read as he was hoping to direct a film adaptation. The book was The Manchurian Candidate and after much soul searching and lobbying from JF she agreed. Thankfully for cinema goers all over the world Angela said yes. And yes Angela kissed Warren Beatty on the lips in All Fall Down like she did Laurence Harvey. Angela said late in her life “John was obsessed about( relationships) between mothers and sons”
I agree with the comments: Angela should have won the Oscar for this performance.
Brilliant performance, and now in 2018 life imitates art.
RIP another wonderful person from my parents' era.
A truly great performance 👏! Not sure who Angela Lansbury was up against because it was a terrific performance 👏
Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker
For my money, the scariest villain, ever.
She's indeed, simply the best, Couldn't possibly agree more.
Haunting role.......
Ms Lansbury could read the phone directory and she would make it an art
She does show an ounce of love for her son ......when she tries to explain to him how she got him caught up in the plan. She promises revenge....
+Carol Crowley Yes. But just ONE ounce. She was a psychopathic narcissist.
Tyranny is a manifestation of the maternal instinct.
Carol Crowley
--- UMMM. I think the French-kissing showed her true maternal instincts. Love?
@@robsieger1886 That wasn't French kissing, but it was Oedipal enough.
(French kissing, by the way, originated as a mothers way of passing chewed up food to an infant in primitive societies. Strange but true. In some societies within recorded histories, sexual partners did not kiss either.)
@@anonb4632 LOL. I was just using the term "French kissing" loosely. Thanks for the info re how that term came into being. Clearly the kiss between Lansbury and Harvey is unhealthy and you only need a moment to realize that thanks to the superb acting and direction.
RIP Dame Lansbury
People have not stopped talking about this particular scene, since the movie came out.
To please the film censors, the writers omitted Mrs. Iselin's incestuous romance with her father and the sexual intercourse she had with the brainwashed Raymond after this briefing.
Yeah, I know that Eleanor Iselin had an incestuous relationship with her own father in Richard Condon's original novel on which the screenplay is based. The screenplay is tighter and scarier than the source material.
There was a silent and purely psychological antecedent to this fictional scenario, documented sufficiently within the annals of history. That was the campaign by Livia to guarantee the succession of her first-born son, Tiberius, to Augustus, her second husband (and she his second wife-no children from the marriage, by the way, though they married about age twenty-GET THE PICTURE). She was calculating, having herself arranged divorce from Tib. C. Nero, father of her two sons, who sd GO FOR IT!
_”and CUT... Can we do that again Angie?”_ ... lol
LMAO
Great scene.
Boy this movie is dead on what's going on today and haven help us all. The most monumental movie ever and the best actors ever.
Superb
Magnificent.
Angela Lansbury, playing Laurence Harvey's mother, is only 2 years older than him.
One of my 4 favorite political movies of all time -- an absolute masterpiece.
If she nominated in a different year, there's no doubt in my mind that she will win the Oscar. I love the intensity in her eyes and voice.
Unfortunately, it was the year of The Miracle Worker. The virtuous characters played by Patty Dukes and Anne Bancroft triumphed the performance of two legendary villains (this role by Lansbury and Baby Jane by Bette Davis).
The young Patty Dukes displayed phenomenal acting in an uplifting film ultimately won.
But Mrs. Lansbury won Golden Globe and several critics awards that year
She definitely was the frontrunner
@@kdohertygizbur She was brilliant in The Manchurian Candidate, no doubt. But I feel that the young age and exceptional performance of Patty Dukes surpassed other nominees. The Miracle Worker was phenomenal because the lead and supporting actress relied on each other to carry the film. Not many film sees lead and supporting actors win together, TMW triumphed.
Oscar or no Oscar, the late Angela is still a good actress.
She definitely should have won this Oscar for this performance...losing to Patty Duke in "The Miracle Worker" was stupid...Patty Duke should not even been in supporting actress category...she and anne bancroft were the two major actresses in that movie and should have been nominated for best actress...what a pity..
Rest in Peace Angela Lansbury .
My goodness, it's hard to believe, that she's only 37 here. She looks ancient. Great actress.
You can just imagine what kind of a Lady Macbeth she would have given the world
Excellence
There is a wonderful radio interview with Ms Lansbury on Australian radio program titled ABC Conversations conducted by Richard Fidler in which this scene is discussed. Do yourself a favour and check it out.
Fucking ROBBED of an Academy Award. ❤
Lady Macbeth, indeed.
Her best performance.
It was obvious by the 1950s she was being typecast as a coldblooded wife / mother but she delivered knockout blows in her performances
Try watching Murder, She Wrote after watching this--you WILL not look at her in the same way...
R.I.P Dame Angela
Yes
RIP Angela
I could not care less if she won an oscar or not. Who cares? I will say though, this is a perfect performance.
This is more than acting - it is presence. I can't imagine anyone else in the role. Maybe Vivien Leigh or Katharine Hepburn?
Poor Raymond, being forced to be a mama's boy just like Norman Bates from "Psycho." Anyhow, just a great performance from one of the best actresses of all time, 😲 wow!
RIP ANGELA LANSBURY
For me, the only performance that comes close to this is Ned Beatty in Network.
Atreus21 i agree..those 2 brilliantly acted monologues by 2 brilliant character actors
That kiss
Karen here. Dont overlook Laurence Harvey. Plays someone hypnotized perfectly.
Mrs. Iselin may have been a fictional character, but there have been any number of all-too-real monster mothers like her in history. Empress Livia, the mother of Tiberius (soon followed by Agrippina, the mother of Nero); Fredegund, the homicidally ambitious Queen of the Franks; Constance of Provence, a Queen of France whose lust for power led her to blind the Archbishop of Paris with a pointed staff in broad daylight in front of Notre Dame; and Catherine de Medicis, whose determination to see her sons kings led her to orchestrate the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, which killed 20,000 innocent people. It's precisely because we know that horrors like those in "The Manchurian Candidate" COULD happen that makes them ten times more frightening than anything dreamt up by Stephen King or Bram Stoker.
She was only 3 years older than Harvey!
Cinema is clearly still in transition from stage-acting to its own suited format of simulating/recreating realism. So sure, it's a great scene in its time and it is artfully done, but I wouldn't compare it to the 2004 film, which, in its own right, is powerful and well done. I think it gets a bad rap, but I like it better than what I've seen of the old one because the material is better suited to the newer film style and Demme's use of audio and visual for the disorienting effect was brilliant. I don't think they could have digested the new film back then - viewers would have gotten lost. People who want to say the old film was far better are probably biased on cinematic styles and attached to the particulars of the original story.
Daniel H You should watch the whole film before judging it.
Illuminati confirmed.