THE BEGUILDED

Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page

Universal; Directed by Donald Siegel

Rated R; 105 minutes; 1970

In this Civil War film, a young student from a crumbling Louisiana girls' school discovers a wounded Union soldier. The academy takes their prize in and cares for him, and the cunning, mysterious soldier uses the all-female situation to coolly play off each of his captors to his own advantage. This carefully maneuvered sexual powderkeg finally blows up in his face, and the film spirals downward into a pit of released repression and psychological horror, including an amputation that stands as one of the most nerve-shattering experiences ever put on the screen. This painstakingly fashioned film from director Don Siegel is as much a definitive masterpiece of Gothic horrors as his earlier Invasion of the Body Snatchers was of sci-fi horror. Siegel was given more of a free hand and complete control over THE BEGUILED than in his previous films: not surprisingly, the director considers this his best film.