Cinema: Down South in North Korea

The Manchurian Candidate. On a dais in a shabby-genteel parlor down in Dixie, an exquisite little old lady stands and twitters to the Garden Club on a subject dear to her heart: "Fun with Hydrangeas." But gracious, what is the little old lady saying!

"Raymond," she coos, "have you ever murdered anyone?"

The camera turns abruptly to look at Raymond (Laurence Harvey), a U.S. Army sergeant who is sitting stolidly on the dais with a U.S. officer (Frank Sinatra) and eight other soldiers.

"No, sir," says Raymond. But did he really say sir? Must be some...