BEFORE: Something for Veterans Day - a true classic set after the Korean War (made before that war was a sitcom), and at the height of Cold War communist paranoia.
THE PLOT: A former Korean War POW is brainwashed by Communists into becoming a political assassin. But another former prisoner may know how to save him.
AFTER: I remember this was a semi-common sitcom plot, on everything from "Gilligan's Island" to "Laverne & Shirley" - some character would proclaim to be immune to hypnotism, and of course they were really VERY susceptible, and before long they'd be acting like a programmed assassin. It was about as common as the "locked in the bank vault/freezer" plot, or the "serving on the deadlocked jury" concept.
I've also been reminded that this concept has been parodied in everything from "Naked Gun" to "Zoolander"...
To buy this, you have to believe in brainwashing, to the extent that a man can be programmed to do something immoral, or that betrays his conscious service to his country. The common knowledge is that one won't do anything while hypnotized that is against their moral code. But this film dispenses with that by having the programmers say, "Oh, we found a way around that..." Thanks for clearing that up, and sparing us the details, guys... Have we ever seen this, in the real world? Maybe that American kid from a few years ago that was working for the Taliban - but he seemed pretty sincere about it, and he wasn't committing acts subconsciously.
This film has a very exciting opening, and a thrilling climax, with a LOT of filler material in-between. And we, the audience, know all the specifics of the brainwashing a long time before anyone else figures it out - so it seems like an agonizing wait.
There's a flaw in logic near the end (which I can't fully describe here without spoilers), but if you found out that your Communist overlords had pulled a fast one on you, why on earth would you follow through with the plan? I must be missing something.
Plus, what happens if the queen of diamonds never comes up in the game of solitaire? It could be buried under a few cards, that's all I'm sayin'.
Also, we've got another accent problem tonight. Laurence Harvey plays a decorated American serviceman, but he's got a British accent that seems to come and go. Or did he just go to a prep school or something?
I keep thinking there will be a movie where Angela Lansbury looks young, but nope, I guess she was just born old. This film will be 50 years old soon, so either she was too young to play a mother of an adult male then, or she's wicked old now... EDIT: Lansbury was 37 when this film was released, but didn't look a day over 50. Now, of course, she's 85.
What I find most interesting is the fact that reactionary politics haven't really changed in 50 years. Back in the early 60's, anyone who didn't agree with certain conservative values was a commie, a pinko, a lefty. Today anyone who doesn't watch Fox News and toe the GOP line is called a liberal, socialist nutbag. (or if you are a liberal nutbag, then the people on the other side are Nazi, right-wing scum-suckers. And you wonder why I don't vote?) Either way, the rhetoric always implies that whoever doesn't agree with the speaker is somehow "un-American", ignoring the fact that American politics is all about the free exchange of ideas, not just one set of them. I may not agree with what a pundit is saying, but I'll defend his or her right to be an idiot.
There was a remake version a few years ago with Denzel Washington, I wouldn't mind watching that to see if they improved it any...
Also starring Frank Sinatra (last seen in "From Here to Eternity"), Janet Leigh (mother of Jamie Lee Curtis from "The Tailor of Panama"), James Gregory (who I remember from "M*A*S*H" and "Barney Miller") and John McGiver (another famous sitcom actor, well-known for his "stuffed-shirt" roles)
RATING: 4 out of 10 Congressional Medals
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