The Beguiled Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The Beguiled Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 22, 2015

1971 was a pivotal moment in time for Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. It was the year they gave the world “Dirty Harry,” one of the most iconic police films ever made, launching a lucrative franchise that would carry on for the next two decades. However, earlier that year, the pair concocted “The Beguiled,” looking to break away from the actioners and thrillers they were known for, setting out to adapt a 1966 novel that touched on uncomfortable situations of seduction. Playing slightly against type, Eastwood delivers strong work as the main character, pushed to rely on subtle bits of deception instead of pure intimidation. However, “The Beguiled” truly belongs to Siegel, who’s taken a difficult story and transformed it into a fascinatingly bizarre suspense piece, bravely managing a tale where there isn’t a likable character to be found. Exceedingly disturbing and evenly paced, the feature comes together splendidly, challenging viewers with scenes of predatory behavior and wartime anxiety, with Siegel extracting a few genuine ills out of a troubling saga.

During the final year of the Civil War, Union soldier John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) is wounded in Louisiana, trying to protect himself in the deep woods while Confederate soldiers comb the area. Finding a friendly face in a 12-year-old girl, John urges the child to help him. Returning the ailing man to a plantation that also serves as a seminary school for girls, John finds an enemy in owner Martha (Geraldine Page), who only wants to treat the Yankee so he’ll be healthy enough for prison. Settling the stranger into the house, John’s masculine appeal immediately takes hold with the isolated women, finding teacher Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) hoping for longstanding love, student Carol (Jo Ann Harris) interested in sex, and slave Hallie (Mae Mercer) looking for freedom. When Martha’s own troubled past returns to haunt her, she also succumbs to John’s deceptive charms, putting the house at risk as the enemy takes control of the residents.

“The Beguiled” is careful to note behavioral disease in its opening five minutes, where we watch John stumbled out of hiding into his young helper’s arms, pulled to safety by the pre-teen as she considers the enormity of her discovery. John repays her kindness with a kiss, stealing a sexualized moment with an overwhelmed child. It’s an uneasy moment, not the last in Siegel’s film, which works from there to develop John as a tricky character of dubious honor. Although he’s wounded, left with one badly damaged leg, John has the advantage, with his manliness hypnotizing the plantation’s residents, leaving Martha to manage this unusual energy. “The Beguiled” is a story about seduction, watching John work his way through the girls using a forward manner they aren’t used to, but it’s also a tale of deception, observing the Union man feel around for dominance, preying on insecurities and feeding his ego, with plans to use the residents for his own satisfaction.

John is an evil man, but the female characters have their complexities as well. Martha is especially sensitive to the stranger’s influence, with memories of her domineering brother churning a sea of feelings within, displaying repulsion and interest with John’s attention. Carol is the most sexually advanced of the group, but jealousy drives her impulses, happily throwing John into the line of fire with roving Confederate patrollers (feral men who also can’t help themselves around the women) when she spies him making time with others. “The Beguiled” is clouded by desire, and there’s a horrific atmosphere of manipulation summoned by Siegel, who’s unafraid to treat everyone as poisonous, with saints revealed as sinners, and authority figures reduced to raw nerves of need. The claustrophobia of the feature is remarkably constructed at times, especially when the viewer begins to grasp John’s developing comfort with psychological abuse.

More overt acts of defense arrive when John feels threatened by the Confederate presence or even the women themselves, allowing Eastwood to engaged in some physicality in a largely bed-ridden role. However, the true firepower of “The Beguiled” is found in Siegel’s vision, with editorial artistry contrasting John’s stories of combat nobility with his true role as a destructive, murdering Union officer, and inner-monologues are used well, hearing intimate thoughts from hardened women as they melt in the stranger’s presence. “The Beguiled” enjoys consistent technical achievements, strong acting, and evocative main titles, which build a Civil War mood through photographs and song, not recreation. Siegel takes an artful approach to the construction of the effort, capturing insanity with attention to the escalation of unrest, allowing the viewer to grasp the mounting hysteria as simple flirtations turn into puppetry.

The Beguiled Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation isn't refreshed for this HD release, with Universal issuing an older scan that doesn't retain filmic texture. Filtering is present, with waxy details and softness beyond period cinematography. Detail isn't strong, with close-ups the most potent, displaying virginal dewiness and Eastwood's facial creases. Colors are muted but not completely washed away, showing life with plantation greenery and female costuming. Contrast has its challenging moments, losing the integrity of blacks, especially during evening encounters, where redness replaces balance. Print is in adequate condition, with speckling and a few minor scratches.

The Beguiled Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA sound mix handles the limited scope of "The Beguiled" with ease, finding dialogue exchanges capably separated and direct, keeping the group element alive while holding emotional extremes in a comfortable range. Scoring is bright and supportive, with adequate instrumentation and clarity. Plantation atmospherics are welcome, seizing the business of the land, while interiors hold their echo. Civil War footage brings some militaristic punch with gunfire and incidents of violence.

The Beguiled Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Theatrical Trailer (2:31, SD) is included.

The Beguiled Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Perhaps the most fitting comparison for "The Beguiled" is "The Wicker Man," which also disturbed with sexuality and a creeping sense of doom. Siegel's film doesn't share climatic extremity, but there are some bone-sawing developments that mine horror. Sadly, the screenplay loses its perspective in the final act, suggesting that the women are the actual threat, since they deal with isolation by capturing the weak (e.g. animals, slaves), exploiting their helplessness. It feels like an era-specific choice to protect Eastwood's screen authority, but it's a minor dramatic setback in an otherwise disquieting effort that skillfully gets under the skin.