Alex Cox introduces the first in another season of cult films.

Tonight: The Beguiled
Starring Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page
In the last days of the American Civil War a wounded Union soldier seeks refuge in a southern girls' school. At first it seems a safe haven, but it will become a cauldron of jealousy and hatred.
Dirty Harry creator Don Siegel, who died recently, directed this highly atmospheric and unusual western.
FILMS: pages 31-35
PICTURE STORY: page 50
TELETEXT SUBTITLES: page 888

MOVIEDROME: THE BEGUILED
9.50pm BBC2 Living up to its title, The Beguiled, directed by the late, great Don Siegel (who died last month), stars Clint Eastwood (below, with Geraldine Page) as a Union deserter who takes refuge in a remote girl's school and is kidnapped by the Confederate belles. The 1970 film launches a fourth season of Moviedrome, which is again introduced by Alex Cox, the director and cult film lover (see feature p38), whose verdict is: 'Not what you would expect from the Dirty Harry partners. A mad, gothic melodrama of sexual frenzy and revenge in a decaying Southern mansion populated entirely by women. Unimaginable mayhem ensues. Very strange.'