The Manchurian Candidate

Lansbury is brilliant as the Lady Macbeth-like character at the centre of this terrific Cold War thriller.

  • Director

    John Frankenheimer

  • With

    Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury

  • USA 1962. 126min

  • Digital

  • Certificate

    12A

Lansbury was usually associated with decent characters. But here she proved she could convince in something much darker, earning an Oscar© nomination for her portrayal as the power-hungry and manipulative Eleanor Iselin. Her Machiavellian political schemer dominates this acclaimed adaptation of Richard Condon’s twisty Cold War thriller. Famously, she was cast as Harvey’s mother, despite being just three years older than him.