A young woman manipulates a military officer and her expert swordsman boyfriend into fighting a duel over her honor.

This short has a fair amount of physical comedy and situational humor, but it's really a character piece. The officer is confident, but feels that the situation is a bit silly. The swordsman is confident about his skill, but has never been in a duel and is more than a bit uncertain and nervous. As for the woman, well, we are left to wonder why she would arrange for such a deadly competition for some time, but in the end, she doesn't seem to anyone's best interests at heart except her own.

As a period piece, and a long nineteen minutes for a short, a lot of effort went into making this film. As a product of USC film students, perhaps they already had the period costumes on hand, and had pointers for possible locations handy. But what a school can't simply hand over to you is the skill for making each moment work individually and flow together, one to the next, as well. The fact that this one works so well is a testament not only to the filmmakers' imaginations, but also USC as a film school.