Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
Buy New
$15.39
Qty:1
  • List Price: $18.95
  • Save: $3.56 (19%)
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
Only 9 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
The Manchurian Candidate ... has been added to your Cart
Want it Saturday, April 23? Order within and choose Saturday Delivery at checkout. Details
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics) Paperback – January 22, 2008

by Greil Marcus (Author)
2.5 out of 5 stars 11 customer reviews
See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Paperback, January 22, 2008
"Please retry"
$15.39
$11.23 $7.30
$15.39 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. Only 9 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently Bought Together

  • The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics)
  • +
  • What Have They Built You to Do?: The Manchurian Candidate and Cold War America
Total price: $33.86
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Sweet Smell of Success (BFI Film Classics)
    James Naremore
    3.5 out of 5 stars 2
    Paperback
    $18.95 Prime
  2. What Have They Built You to Do?: The Manchurian Candidate and Cold War America
    Matthew Frye Jacobson
    5.0 out of 5 stars 2
    Paperback
    $18.47 Prime
  3. The Third Man (BFI Film Classics)
    Rob White
    4.8 out of 5 stars 4
    Paperback
    $18.95 Prime
  4. Dr. Strangelove or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (BFI Film Classics)
    Peter Kramer
    5.0 out of 5 stars 3
    Paperback
    $18.95 Prime
  5. In a Lonely Place (BFI Film Classics)
    Dana Polan
    3.0 out of 5 stars 2
    Paperback
  6. Detour (BFI Film Classics)
    Noah Isenberg
    5.0 out of 5 stars 1
    Paperback
    $18.95 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

  • Series: BFI Film Classics
  • Paperback: 79 pages
  • Publisher: British Film Institute (September 26, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0851709311
  • ISBN-13: 978-0851709314
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.2 x 7.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested In These Sponsored Links

  (What's this?)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars"A Little Solitaire And Then Some!"
By Tony Rome on April 20, 2007
I'm not too sure what to make of some of these negative reviews of Griel Marcus' brilliant analysis of "The Manchurian Candidate"...maybe these folks were reading another tome or turned over over the Queen of Diamonds in mid page...

Marcus' contribution to the BFI film series contains one of the most insightful looks at a classic motion picture I've ever read.........

Marcus begins by explaining how John Frankenheimer's 1962 masterpiece has become part of American folklore...

His examination of the performances, Frankenheimer's direction, Axelrod's screenplay, Dick Sylbert's set decoration and David Amram's amazing musical score is right on the money...

Of course he felt obligated to discuss the "Candidate" in the context of the American history that both surrounded and followed it (ie: McCarthy, the assassinations of the 60's; coupled with the fact that for a number of reasons the film was taken out of circulation for many years).

Marcus concludes that in the case of this amazing Cold War relic, everyone involved was 'working over their heads'...propelled by the material that was given them............

A conclusion that's impossible to argue with since Sinatra, Harvey, Lansbury, Frankenheimer et al subsequently never did another project that equalled what they did in the remarkable film.
Comment 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
1.0 out of 5 starsPossibly the Worst Entry in an Excellent Series
By George Hatch on February 6, 2003
Griel Marcus is so out-of-sync with "The Manchurian Candidate" that he has absolutely nothing interesting or informative to say but manages to make his fifty-five page essay sound like one long run-on sentence. Each chapter is further padded with desperate introductory quotes -anything vaguely referencing the film- as Marcus belaboredly tries to build a case for - What? He has no point of view other than "The Manchurian Candidate" is the single best film between "Citizen Kane" and "The Godfather"; though is knowledge of film is questionable. He wildly overpraises the casting of a black actor as a psychiatrist, a professional, and asks, "How many other American movies use a black actor to play what audiences expect to be a white character without patting themselves on the back to congratulate themselves?" I guess he never saw Sam Fuller's 1951 film "The Steel Helmet".
This book isn't so much a commentary as it is a rant. Rob White, the series editor, seems to have let this slip into print with no concern for it's complete lack of content and deleriously circuitous writing "style". It's a shame because, as usual, the book is generously illustrated with stunning B&W stills from the film.
I have over two dozen commentaries from the BFI Modern Classics Series, each filed along side the DVD or VHS of the film itself. This book has no place in anyone's library. The definitive analysis of this classic has yet to be written, and but Marcus and BFI have misfired with this one.
Comment 12 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
1.0 out of 5 starsA surprising ... in the classy BFI Film Classics series
By Douglas Payne on February 11, 2003
What a waste. Whoever thought Griel Marcus had anything of value or merit to add to the lexicon of film artistry - much less one of the great works of film artistry - completely missed the boat - or doesn't care to see this film get the passionate discussion it deserves. BFI Film Classics have issued an incredible set of books devoted to individually worthy films - such as this one. But this must be the worst book in a truly great series. Honestly, this must be a joke. It's got to be. I don't care if Griel Marcus is a professor, esteemed or respected, outré-hip or passé-hip. This guy has no business talking about, reflecting on or wasting anybody's time with his useless commentary on film. He was the wrong man for the job. This is a book about film as cultural signifier - and little else. Kennedy and Oswald. Columbine and George Bush. Kennedy and Sinatra. Who cares. The book, the film, and ultimately, the meaning of "The Manchurian Candidate" has nothing whatsoever to do with Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin or any of the endless quotes Marcus pulls from a library trip's worth of newspaper articles that refer back to the film. If you had no other point of reference other than this book, Marcus may convince you that this film is more symbolic than meaningful - and even hollowly symbolic. This is not a book about film, the art of film, the art of this particularly magnificent film or the artists who had anything to do with this film. It's about Marcus and the way he views the world - or the way he views the world through the lens of this film. Again, who the hell cares? This film is far too important to be left to someone whose trite aphorisms are as meaningless as those of Griel Marcus - an alleged writer who seems awfully damned confident to write his subject off so easily. Proof that you just can't hide behind other people's quotes - or your own cleverly-worded turns of phrase that have little to do with the subject at hand.
Comment 15 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
2.0 out of 5 starsNot Great, But Not Quite as Painful as Other Reviewers Make It Out To Be
By Dash Manchette VINE VOICE on December 10, 2013
Reading the reviews, I could not help but wonder: Why all the hate? I have read about 45 of these BFI books and have never encountered so many one-star ratings. But I will admit, although the negative reviews overstate the case, this is one of the weaker entries in this series (though hardly the worst, a distinction still held by The Matrix).

The Manchurian Candidate was more than an entertaining movie. It was one that touched on a number of issues of the day, which is no doubt why it is the subject of a BFI monograph to begin with. No need to analyze the mediocre. The aftermath of the Korean War, political assassinations, brainwashing and the limits to free will, all are explored in the movie through an entertaining film.

Author Greil Marcus, however, grossly overstates the case. It is to be commended that the publisher chooses authors particularly taken with the film about which they write. But with Marcus, they might have picked someone whose enthusiasm clouds his vision. Yes, the movie is good, and timely, and portentous, and all that. Marcus considers it more and, unfortunately, the result is a rather monotonous essay basically repeating over and over again just how wonderful The Manchurian Candidate really is, about how everyone – everyone – is not only wonderful in the movie but taken to new heights by it that they never reached before and never reached again. One expects Jesus, upon his return, to walk on water in order view it.

Marcus also takes the lazy way out by quoting far too extensively from sources, both from the ‘60s and the ‘00s, that seem to place the film into some historical context. A better author would be able to do this himself, through analysis, with a far more sparse use of other sources directly in the text.Read more ›
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsFor Academics only.

I'm a bit of a film scholar myself, but this tract is just too arcane and theoretical for its own good.

Published 11 months ago by Kenneth R. Von Gunden
5.0 out of 5 stars"Marcus on movies"

Few writers can blend American history, politics, pop culture, and "high art" more skillfully than Greil Marcus. Read more

Published on August 31, 2007 by Film Fiend
1.0 out of 5 starsWhat's Marcus' day job?

I rate it as 1 star, because zero (or less) is not listed as a choice. Mr. Marcus has proved, once more, that most film critics are essentially clueless. See the movie. Read more

Published on June 8, 2006 by M. Case
3.0 out of 5 starsCase of the Mad Historian

Well, this is an interesting case. I agree that Marcus has hijacked the BFI Film Classics Series for his own purposes, and that he likely achieved this through some sort of... Read more

Published on January 7, 2006 by Ando Douglas
5.0 out of 5 starsThe other reviewers are Communist dupes

Okay, The Manchurian Cendidate is one of my favorite movies, and Greil Marcus is one of my favorite popular culture writers. So I suppose I have a bit of a blind spot. Read more

Published on August 20, 2005 by M. Morey
1.0 out of 5 starsHopeless entrant in fine series

This book contains bad writing and has absolutely no focus, The Manchurian Candidate is an important film and the BFI film classics should be the highpoint of film criticism. Read more

Published on May 17, 2003 by Kevin Brianton
1.0 out of 5 starsGreil Marcus is the best writer I've ever read

Rarely has a book so slim managed to be so wordy. Then again, the excess verbiage nearly conceals the utter lack of insight, unless the subject of this book was supposed to be how... Read more

Published on November 8, 2002 by MrHonorama

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics)
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
This item: The Manchurian Candidate (BFI Film Classics)
Set up a giveaway

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.



Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: classic movie