The Manchurian Candidate Theory

Captain Bennett Marco, Sergeant Raymond Shaw and the rest of their platoon are captured during the Korean War in 1952. They are all brainwashed into believing Shaw saved their lives in combat, for which he receives the Medal of Honor when they return to the United States. Years after the war is over, Marco, now an intelligence officer, begins to have a recurring nightmare in which Shaw murders two of his comrades while being watched by Chinese and Russian officials. When he learns that another platoon member has been having the same dream, he sets out to uncover the mystery.

The Communists intend to use Shaw as a sleeper agent and, using the queen of diamonds in a deck of playing cards as a subconscious trigger, compel him to follow their orders, which he does not remember afterwards. Shaw is controlled by none other than his own politically ambitious and domineering mother, who is working with the Communists in a plot to overthrow the U.S. government.


The Manchurian Candidate (1962 film)

During the Korean War the Soviets kidnap an American infantry patrol and take them to Manchuria, in Communist China. There, the Communists (Russian, Chinese and North Korean) implant false memories in the soldiers' minds to cover the kidnapping, and to provide a subconscious trigger in the mind of one soldier, Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw. Brainwashed, the soldiers are covertly returned to their lines and, after reintegration into American society, unaware of what they went through.

As part of the process, Captain (later Major) Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra), Sgt. Shaw (Laurence Harvey) and the rest of the platoon believe their lives were saved in combat by Shaw, for which he is awarded the Medal of Honor. Also, when asked to describe him, each of his fellow soldiers automatically says: "Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Privately, however, they know that Shaw is a cold, sad, unsociable loner. As Marco puts it: "It isn't as if Raymond's hard to like. He's impossible to like!"

After the war, Marco suffers a recurring nightmare: a hypnotized Shaw kills two of his platoon before the assembled Soviet, Chinese and North Korean brass while watching a practical demonstration of the Communist brainwashing technique. He wants to investigate, but receives no support from Army Intelligence, for whom he currently works, because he has no proof. This changes when he learns that another soldier from the platoon has been suffering the same nightmare and has identified the same specific Communists.

Shaw is an unwitting assassin whose actions are triggered by a Queen of Diamonds playing card. When he sees it, he will obey the next suggestion or order given to him. His intended role is that of a killer who, while carrying out his assignments, must also kill any witnesses and then forget his actions. The brainwasher, Dr. Yen, explains: "[Shaw's] brain has not just been 'washed', but 'dry-cleaned'." To test the assassin's conditioning, Dr. Yen orders Shaw to kill his newspaper publisher employer.

Raymond's mother, Eleanor Iselin (Angela Lansbury), is the driving force behind her husband Senator John Yerkes Iselin, a bombastic demagogue in the style of Joseph McCarthy who is dismissed by many people as a fool. He is also Raymond's stepfather. Raymond hates them both, especially his domineering mother. Sen. Iselin's political stature is established when (per his wife's orders) he interrupts a televised Congressional briefing of the Secretary of Defense and accuses him of knowing that some 207 Defense Department employees are Communist agents. This provokes a chaotic reaction among journalists and an enraged reaction from the Secretary.

Unknown to everyone, even Raymond, the Iselins have become Communist agents with a plan that could take them to the White House. Mrs. Iselin herself is the American operative for whom Raymond is the instrument with which to effect the operation's final step.

Raymond briefly finds happiness when he rekindles a youthful romance with Jocelyn "Jocey" Jordan, daughter of Senator Thomas Jordan, one of his stepfather's political rivals. Raymond originally courted her in order to get at his parents in a Romeo and Juliet-style romance, but in time the love turned genuine with Jocelyn and her father becoming the nearest he has ever had to having friends.

Raymond and Jocelyn are reeunited as part of a plan by Raymond's mother to get Sen. Jordan on her side. They elope. Although pleased with the match, Sen. Jordan makes it clear to Raymond's mother that he will still block her husband's bid for the vice presidential nomination of their party. She in turn has Raymond assassinate the senator, and in the process he also kills Jocey, who witnessed the event.

Raymond has no recollection of doing this, and is grief-stricken when he hears of Jocey's murder. Mrs. Iselin then primes Raymond to assassinate their party's presidential candidate at the nomination convention. Sen. Iselin, the vice-presidential candidate, will, by default, become the presidential candidate and will give an inflammatory anti-Communist speech (written by Communist agents). The assassination will cause mass hysteria in the U.S. and propel the demagogue Iselin to the White House and justify his presidential emergency powers "... that would make martial law seem like anarchy." Thereby President Iselin, the Manchurian Candidate, will be a Communist puppet.

In a cynically moving scene, Raymond's mother admits to the activated Raymond that she has been a Communist agent for years. She needed an assassin to complete her plan and regrets that he is involved. After all, the world is full of killers who do not require brainwashing to do the job. The International Communist Conspiracy chose Sergeant Raymond Shaw as the assassin because it solidified their hold and control over his mother, and she intends to strike back at them, once in power.

In the course of the investigation, Marco has discovered that the Queen of Diamonds card is what is required to put Raymond in an hypnotic state and make him obey all orders without question. He uses a trick deck composed entirely of Queen of Diamonds cards in order to get the full story and to instruct Raymond not to carry out the final phase of the Iselins' plan.
Marco's attempt appears to fail. Raymond enters the convention hall and takes a position to carry out the assassination. At the last second, though, he regains self-control and takes his revenge by instead killing his stepfather and mother. He then commits suicide while wearing his now truly earned Congressional Medal of Honor.

from: www.wikipedia.com