christopher-underwood 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..

jovana-13676 Male/female sex fantasies paint a Spanish baroque painting. And a fine one! More drama and it becomes the Spanish Inquisition terror. The darker it gets, the more I enjoy it. This film was made by a man who understood the dark nature of sex where both sexes played equally powerful roles. The Gothic mansion in which the 'phallocentric' drama turns into a castration tragedy so to speak, the women in slightly dirty white dresses, the candlelight and the handsome stranger, make a picture untypical of Eastwood, so they say. But I say it's very typical as his directorial and acting oeuvre is full of Gothic elements: strangers, scars and ghostly towns. And - religious imagery. Both Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel have a penchant for the occult. Clint Eastwood is the embodiment of a lonely, Gothic figure of cinema, just as much as Bela Lugosi is. That's what makes him perfectly fit into this all- girl boarding school. Just like in many of his films, he comes from nowhere and vanishes again. His subtle acting style works well with the female members of the cast as his character manipulates them and all of them, Geraldine Page as Martha Farnsworth, Elizabeth Hartman as Edwina Dabney, Jo Ann Harris as Carol, Mae Mercer as Hallie, Pamelyn Ferdin as Amy give excellent performances. The film is significant as a product of an era that welcomed breaking sexual taboos. I liked it when Clint kissed the little girl - back then, scumbags were not portrayed in a PC manner, nor were little girls necessarily portrayed as their victims. He kissed her and - nothing happened, but the real trauma followed when she realized she was manipulated. When I finished watching this film, I thought, "Well, that was perfect." I can't imagine what a remake could add to it, but we'll see.

LeonLouisRicci Back Before Clint Eastwood succumbed to Over-Adulation and Unwarranted Praise He did His Best Work under the Tutelage of Good Director's like Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. Here between the Spaghetti Westerns and Dirty Harry came this Underseen and Under-appreciated Oddball Film. A Sexy, Gothic, Horror Story set in the Civil War about a Wounded Soldier taken In by an All Girl's School who becomes the Center of Attention and the Outlet for Repressed Sexual Desires. Eastwood Plays the Villainous Viper for all its worth and Manipulates the Females Stroking Libido after Libido until All are Under His Spell. Or is it the Other Way Around?This is a Disturbing and Daring Film that still Resonates and Repulses Today. A Forgotten Film that was a Flop among the more Categorical Output from Clint at the Time. It's an Art Film and has a Distinctive European Flavor. The Movie Plays on the Edge from the very Beginning and it is an Ensemble of Effective Acting from All involved. Even Eastwood Stretching His ability to the limit Succeeds as His Lack of Talent is always Pulling Him back. That's a Testament to the Power of the Story and His Co-Stars.Overall, a Very Distinctive One of a Kind for Eastwood, and even Director Don Siegel Stretches to make this a Unique Experience. Siegel says its His Favorite Directorial Effort. One can See why. It is so Demanding and Off Beat and Everyone involved Came Together to make this a Cunning and Crafty Picture. It is an Unsung and Obscure Gem.

Jackson Booth-Millard I had no idea what this film was about before I started watching, or the definition of the title (to influence by trickery, flattery, etc.; mislead; delude), only the leading actor and a recommendation to watch it, so I did, directed by Don Siegel (Riot in Cell Block 11, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dirty Harry, The Shootist, Escape from Alcatraz). Basically during the American Civil War, a twelve year old girl from an all-girl boarding school in Louisiana discovers wounded Yankee soldier Union Corporal John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) in the woods, he was on the verge of death before he is rescued. McBurney is taken the boarding school where his broken leg can heal, he is nursed back to health by school owner Martha Farnsworth (The Rescuers' Geraldine Page) who allows him to stay, the rest of the girls are scared at first, but they soon tend to him, fascinated by a full grown man in close proximity, and he charms them all one by one. The young women are all sexually repressed, and an atmosphere of jealousy and deceit forms, with a few of the girls going after McBurney, including teacher Edwina Dabney (Elizabeth Hartman) who falls in love with him, he manipulates her into thinking he loves her, Martha who he seduces, she misses her brother who helped run the school with her, and older student Carol (Jo Ann Harris) who shows him her affections, she convinces him to make love to her. McBurney is discovered in Carol's room by the headmistress, she wants to make sure he will not return to the Union troops, he falls down the stairs and badly injures his leg, it looks to be potential to develop gangrene, so in a way of comeuppance she takes the drastic decision to amputate his leg, waking and discovering this he goes into a rampage and scares the women. McBurney reforms and announces he wants to marry one of the teachers, but he has already alienated everyone, including the youngest girl who found him, he kills her pet turtle while in a drunken rage, in response the young girl goes to pick mushrooms and the headmistress and girls use these as a way to poison McBurney in the end. Also starring Darleen Carr as Doris, Mae Mercer as Hallie, Pamelyn Ferdin as Amy, Melody Thomas Scott as Abigail, Peggy Drier as Lizzie and Patricia Mattick as Janie. Eastwood gives a different performance to what I am used to, he is gritty and it is closest thing I have seen to him playing a villain, it is a dark story of an injured man tricking many young and vulnerable women into developing feelings towards him for his own gain and in turn creating melodramatic bitchiness, with the war going on in the background, I agree it is a bit misogynistic, and it is rather slow in a few moments, but it is an interesting enough western drama. Worth watching!