10 Mistakes Directors Hoped You'd Forget By The End Of The Movie

The Manchurian Candidate is superbly directed by John Frankenheimer, and proves that you can deliver an incredible scene even while getting a basic filmmaking fundamental wrong - keeping the damn subject in focus.

Roughly 20 minutes before the end of the movie, Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra) attempts to deprogram Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) in a hotel room, but if you're paying attention you might notice that actor Sinatra is out of focus for the majority of the scene, as are the cards he's using to deprogram Shaw.

The reason for this is that, despite Sinatra performing a few additional takes of the scene, he was never as effective as this, his first take.

Frankenheimer ultimately decided that having a stronger yet slightly out-of-focus take was more important than a tack-sharp one which played a little flatter.

The director ended up receiving extensive praise for the scene, with some critics hilariously ascribing the wonky focus to Shaw's dysfunctional, brainwashed perspective.