Marco's and Melvin's "Flashback" Dream Question (UPDATED)
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Manchurian Candidate
dcavalli — 9 years ago(July 24, 2016 01:57 PM)
Both Marco and Melvin have the similar "flashback" dream where the platoon is sitting around while during the "brainwashing" lecture.
We learn the platoon is brainwashed, drugged, hypnotized, etc. into believing that they are attending a women's garden club meeting at some hotel in New Jersey as they wait for a storm to pass. In Marco's dream, we see the women and then the Communist attendees. In fact, they go back and forth. Melvin's dream is similar except the women are black. Later on, Marco and Melvin separately identify two of the attendees, which convinces Marco's superiors that something is up.
My question: in the dreams, do Marco and Melvin see BOTH the women AND the communist attendees or JUST the communist attendees? If they just saw the women, Marco and Melvin couldn't have identified the two Communist attendees.
I'm thinking perhaps only the audience sees the women to clue us in what is going on and how the men were treated while in captivity. Or do the women and the Communists both appear in the dreams, which would increase Marco's and Melvin's confusion?
"The Manchurian Candidate" is a classic, and I am glad that I've seen a couple of times in repertory theaters over the years (decades now!).
UPDATE: A short time after I wrote this, the karate scene came back to me. As Marco is pounding Henry Silva's character, he asks how the women turned into Russian. I think Melvin's letter to Raymond may also mention the change.
So I answered my own question.