the beguile be one of my favorite clint eastwood film and and a departure from his typical early role . direct by don siegel and with whom eastwood collaborate on several film and it be make a year before eastwood directorial debut with play misty for me . an alternate title consider for the film be pussy foot down at the old plantation and which thankfully be not use and otherwise i be sure raunchy joke about the fact that it take place at a girls school would be difficult to avoid . i first saw this movie in one of my college film class in the mid 1970 and and be immediately take with it . i only have an old battered vhs tape of it until i recently purchase the widescreen dvd and which also include the hilarious and awful trailer that make the film come across a a peyton place soap opera and and convey none of the creepiness of the film . interesting note represent eastwood and siegel have to battle with universal picture to keep the original end and and they win out while and and the film be bill a a standard eastwood western and which it certainly be not . it be a gothic tale of deception and horror set in the time of the civil war and with an underlie tone of eroticism and sexual tension run throughout . i be not put any spoiler in this review and and if you want to see the film a it should be see and then be careful of look it up on the internet and a spoiler review of it do abound . clint eastwood portrays john mcburney and a union soldier who be shoot on confederate ground and discover by a young girl from a nearby girls school . she rescue him and take him back to the school and but instead of notify the local patrol of his presence so that he will be take to prison and the headmistress and miss martha ( geraldine page ) and her assistant edwina ( elizabeth hartman ) and their black servant hallie ( mae mercer ) and and the mostly teenage girl take him in and heal him and and fall under his spell . the film set it tone of creepiness and gothic horror right from the title and a it show real battleground shot from the war and while eastwood voice be hear quietly sing a funereal song of the time . the opening scene of his encounter with the little girl who save him set the tone of his character and and the tone of the entire movie . to say any more than that would spoil the surprise in that first scene . to say much more about the film itself might ruin it for anyone who hasn not see it . if you be into creepy and gothic tale and find it and rent it . eastwood be excellent in the film and and it be interest to see him in an early role and or any role and where he portray a character that be for the most part very unsympathetic . geraldine page have a plum role in the film a the headmistress and and i can not imagine another actress of the time be as good in the role while a long shot could have be piper laurie and but i do not think laurie could have embody the role in the same manner a geraldine page . elizabeth hartman ( whose wonderful performance in the film a patch of blue a a blind girl who fall in love with sidney poiter character be another high point in her short career ) be at her prime here and delicate and masterful at the same time . unfortunately and her delicacy on film be also a part of her real life while she commit suicide at age 45. i end this review with this observation represent one manipulative and lie yankee man be no match for a houseful of deceptive and libidinous southern belle .