THE BEGUILED

The American Civil War was a very bad time in US history. People died, cities were ruined, and the public education system simply collapsed. To see what I mean, please check out the following 105-minute film released in 1971. It was directed by Don Siegel and stars Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, and Elizabeth Hartman.


The Beguiled: The Film - The Book

THE STORY:

Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page) is the headmistress of an all-girls school who has a very difficult decision to make. Should she shield the wounded enemy soldier loitering in her school's grounds? Or should she just let him fade away? After all, John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) is a Yankee corporal, and by rights, she should report him to the Confederate soldiers who protect her domain!

But for reasons of her own, Martha instructs the members of her staff to take him in and take care of him, even though she hardly has the resources to maintain her own educational establishment.

Over time, everyone in the school starts to get to know John, and some of them even try to figure out why Martha is doing this. Her housekeeper, Hallie (Mae Mercer), suspects that Martha is missing her long-lost brother and needs another male presence in the house. While her schoolmarm, Edwina Dabney (Elizabeth Hartman), is too busy getting to know John to even think about Martha's real motives! As for the pupils in her school? Some love him, others hate him, and one pupil in particular, Carol-Anne (Jo Ann Harris), just wants to get into his pants.

But then again, that's most probably why what next transpires commences when a badly wounded Yankee corporal makes a very bad move. As legs have no kick - a headmistress loses her wick - a schoolmarm shies at a scoff - and please be careful, I think the mushrooms might have gone off.

THE REVIEW:

When I first watched 'The Beguiled' many moons ago, I must confess, I wasn't too sure if I liked it or not. To me, this old-school yarn felt like 'The Man with No Name Verses a Girls School', plus it didn't have that rhythmical spark most of Clint's other movies had at the time.

However, now that I am a bit older and can disassociate Mister Eastwood from his roles in the Sergio Leone films, I can categorically state for the record that this film is a masterpiece. Yeah. Straight up. It's like a Grimm's fairy tale mixed with a civil war melodrama, an amalgamation of two concepts with a heavy dose of temptation, suspense, and love.

Well, one of the most intriguing factors about this adventure is how it manages to prompt us - the viewer - to think about who's in the right and who's in the wrong. Is it Clint's character? Due to his underhanded ways! Is it Geraldine Page's character? Since she's such a control freak! Is it Elizabeth and Joe's characters? Two females with very emotional temperaments! Or are all of them to blame? Every single one, guilty or innocent, one way or another!

Anyway, that's enough of that for the time being, here, check out these filmic facts: (1) Universal Pictures released this wartime melodrama on the 31st of March, 1971. (2) The screenplay was co-written by Albert Maltz, who penned the previous Eastwood/Siegel collaboration, 'Two Mules for Sister Sarah', basing it on the Gothic novel devised by Thomas P. Cullinan, 'A Painted Devil'. (3) The director of this film, Don Siegel, has publicly stated that it was the best film he's made. (4) Did you know that Clint Eastwood directed his first feature while making this movie? It was called 'The Storyteller', and it was about how Don Siegel directed this movie. (5) It's a little-known fact that Clint held the camera up, towards the girls, while they carried his character into the house for his introductory scene. (6) Before Universal decided upon the name they eventually chose for this film, they previously considered calling it 'Pussy-footing Down at the Old Plantation' and 'On One I Walked'. (7) Without giving too much away, Eastwood and Siegel fought Universal to keep the ending of this adventure because the bigwigs didn't like its somewhat bleak and baroque tone. (8) If you listen very closely to the whispered song sung at the beginning and the end of this movie, you'll notice that it's Clint singing this haunting lullaby. (9) Elizabeth Hartman, who played Edwina Dabney in this film, committed suicide in 1987 by jumping out of a fifth-floor window. This article is dedicated to her memory.

Another thing I enjoyed about 'The Beguiled' was how the motives of each of the characters were highlighted in different ways. In the case of Clint and Geraldine's characters, flashbacks were utilized to juxtapose what they were saying compared with what was really happening. And as for the rest of the girls? There was a brief echo-like voice-over narration that emphasized what they couldn't say out loud to other people.

I also enjoyed following the montage sequences. Not only were they very artistically composed, but they complemented the overall story as well.

Honestly, this film is a really great film. If you like your melodramas, gothic, timely, sexually-driven, and tinged with death, 'The Beguiled' is definitely for you. 

Nuff said.

THE RATING: A