Strange little film and perhaps not the sort I would normally be drawn to but it drew my attention when my Clint Eastwood box set arrived because of the recent remake with Nicole Kidman. I had got the impression that the new film, although many seem to have liked it, was a whole lot of nothing and yet from the storyline the film before seemed to have some promise. Director Don Siegel had a thing going with Eastwood at the time, having just made three together including Coogan's Bluff and with Dirty Harry being the next film. Eastwood is very good in this as are all the cast and it is not easy because some of the girls are quite young and there is a mixture of emotions required as the ladies of the school run the gamut of hostility, hospitality, romantic attachment, then lust, jealousy and vengeance. Eastwood is indeed beguiling but he has to survive in a building full of females vying for his favours one way or another. There is sex and considerable violence, which I understand there is not in the remake and there are some sexual taboos missing from the new one as well and crucial references to race, slavery and religion. Hard to see why Coppola bothered really, but this original is worth a look, particularly if you are an Eastwood fan and may easily have missed this one..

The original film about intrigue at a ladies school during the end of the Civil War provides a more complex look at the war between the North and the South and the relationship between men and women. Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin) finds the wounded Union soldier John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) and helps him return to the school run by Miss Martha (Geraldine Page). Teaching at the school is Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) who finds the mysterious soldier attractive. The women take the man indoors and board up the windows to keep him inside. The slave Hallie (Mae Mercer) doesn't like the newcomer much either though he tries to work his charm on her and point out that he is fighting for her freedom. She comments that she sees white people as all the same. Carol (Jo Ann Harris) also takes a liking to McBurney, though she still considers him a traitor, kissing him when the others aren't looking.McBurney charms each of the women as they think about turning him over to the Confederate soldiers. While McBurney flirts with Carol, he calms a jealous Edwina by kissing her. Carol becomes jealous and ties the blue rag symbol for a Union soldier. Martha, who didn't turn her in before, steps up when Confederates nearly shoot McBurney and lie that he is her cousin from Texas. This allows him to stay unharmed though the Confederate soldiers want to stay around with the women as well. Martha also becomes enamored with McBurney reflecting back on the relationship she had with her brother and imagining a threesome with Edwina. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

"The Beguiled" is certainly unusual - but rewarding - Clint Eastwood fare. It's an extremely sordid melodrama that dips its toes a little into the horror genre. It's extremely well acted, stylishly made - with Clints' frequent collaborator Don Siegel in the directors' chair - and often sexy and sinister in equal measure. It's nice to see Clint take chances like this with his projects, but then he's always been a very interesting leading man. (Another Clint vehicle that's somewhat in this vein is 1984s' "Tightrope".) The period recreation is sound, and there are also doses of sex and gore in this film that earns its R rating.Clint plays Yankee officer John McBurney, severely wounded during the latter days of the Civil War. He's discovered by Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin), a child who escorts him back to her girls' school. The staff, led by Martha (Geraldine Page), agree to keep him there basically for the purpose of nursing him back to health before he can be surrendered to Rebel troops and taken to prison. However, Johns' arrival in this female setting is the trigger for an escalating series of ugly incidents as the male stranger cons his way into the hearts of some of the ladies.Clint is impressive as he puts a smarmy and self-serving spin on his screen charisma. Page and Elizabeth Hartman likewise impressed this viewer with their takes on these vulnerable characters. The child actresses are all good without being overly cutesy. Jo Ann Harris is the sexpot teenager Carol, and Darleen Carr the rigid Doris. Mae Mercer is able to play her slave character of Hallie with dignity, and she really holds her own in confrontations with Clint. Ferdin is appealing in the role of the girl who gets the ball rolling in terms of plot. Melody Thomas Scott (of 'The Young and the Restless' fame) is another of the girls; character actor Matt Clark has a small role.Highly memorable stuff, with very quick flashback cuts that add to the somber quality of this tale by Thomas Cullinan.Eight out of 10.

No need to recap the plot. What a departure for Eastwood. No Dirty Harry or unbeatable tough guy here. His Union soldier McBurney is really pretty dislikable. Worse, it's hard to even respect his utter opportunism. He lies about his service and ruthlessly exploits his manly charms. In turn, the cloistered southern belles are vulnerable, especially to a handsome hunk like McBurney. At times, it's almost painful seeing how he seduces his way through their school girl ranks. But wait, are they really as gentle as their refined bearing suggests. And catch the filmy photography that suggests perhaps a dream within a dream. There's a lesson here about victimization and mistaking appearance for reality. Eastwood and company make good ironical use of that lesson. And how aptly Freudian when McBurney gets his leg amputated after humiliating the wrong woman. That's something Dirty Harry would never stand for, or even lie down for. All in all, it's a dependency role that Eastwood would never again repeat, but it's still one heckuva an offbeat 100-minutes. Kudoes to Siegel and Eastwood for putting story values above celebrity image. Besides, now I know where Scarlett O'Hara got her moxie.