Director: Dario Argento
Producer: Salvatore Argento
Music: Ennio Morricone
Screenplay: Dario Argento
Starring: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank, Rada Rassimov, Aldo Reggiani, Cinzia De Carolis, and Wener Pochath
The Cat O’ Nine Tails (Il Gatto A Nove Code) is the second feature film from cult director Dario Argento. Release in 1971 it came hot on the heels of his hugely successful debut feature, Bird with the Crystal Plumage (L’Uccello Dalle Piume Di Cristallo – 1970).
Cat O’ Nine Tails is also the second feature in what would come to be known as the Argento”s “animal trilogy”, a series of films with, quite simply, animals in the title. Cat O’ Nine Tails sits between Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (4 Mosche di Velluto Grigio, 1972). Not only did each film have an animal in its title, a trend that would spread pretty fast throughout the giallo genre in Italy, but also a very modern and scientific angle to their proceedings.
In Bird With the Crystal Plumage they used modern (for the times) technology to isolate sounds in a telephone recording to help solve the case, as well as using a big computer to calculate a list of potential suspects in the initial stages of the investigation. In Four Flies on Grey Velvet they used a method of capturing the last image that was burnt on the eyes retina at the time of the murder victims death. And in Cat O’ Nine Tails, technology once again plays it part, this time with genetics.
This use of technology as a subject matter to form the main basis of a film would later be employed by Canadian director, David Cronenberg, who in certain aspects of his works shows some stark similarities to Argento’s earlier output. Both directors used the technology aspect to create truly modern and ground breaking cinema, a good example of their cutting edge counter culture sensibilities leaking onto the celluloid. And at the same time they both managed to create cinema that was truly unique for it”s time, something that we see happening less and less.
A blind ex-journalist, Franco Arno (Karl Malden) is walking home one night with his granddaughter Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) when he over hears a conversation between two men in a car parked at the side of the road. Arno hears mention of information and blackmail, and having once been a journalist his interest is sparked by what he hears. He stops, pretending to tie his shoe, and asks his granddaughter to see if she can make out the men in the car, but she is only able to see one of the men.
Back at home, after Lori has gone to bed and Arno is left doing a crossword, he hears something outside, we are shown a head hitting concrete, but he is unable to locate or figure out the noise. The next morning he finds, after being almost knocked over by reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus), that a guard was knock out and there was an attempted robbery of the Terzi Institute.
The Terzi Institute carry out genetic testing and those working for the Institute don”t notice anything missing and don’t appear too concerned about the matter. But one employee, Dr. Calabresi, (Carlo Alighiero) tells his fiance, Bianca Merusi (Rada Rassimov), that he knows who broke in to the institute and what was taken. He goes on to explaining that he is bound and determined to make the most of that knowledge.
When Calabresi goes to the train station to meet the person he suspects broke in to the Institute, he ends up being pushed in front of a train. He is hit head on by the train, and then his head is caught between the platform and the train, his body being spun by the train as it mangles his head. The murders that take place in Cat O’ Nine Tails aren’t very graphic, but are extremely well executed; this one in particular is a highlight. If I”m honest though, we’ve come to expect this from Argento, and he rarely fails to deliver.
The next day Lori notices the man from the car in the newspaper. The newspaper is reporting his death and has a photo of him falling in front of the train. The man that was in the car was Calabresi, and Arno quickly become suspicious. He goes to the reporter he bumped into the day before and asks if the image in the newspaper was cropped. When they call the photographer asking him to look closely at the negatives the photographer can see a hand which appears to be pushing Calabresi. But as Arno and Giordani drive over to pick up copies of the photo the murderer is already one step ahead of them. He kills the photographer and takes the photos.
As with many of Argento’s giallo films, the main characters are drawn into the plot and often in the path of the murderer by a moment when their paths cross, no matter how brief of a moment it is. Once their paths have crossed their lives suddenly become entwined and neither can shake the other. And this is the case with Arno in Cat O’ Nine Tails. His accidental overhearing of the conversation in the car, has now thrown him into the investigation as Arno and reporter, Giordani, begin an investigation into the crime.
It quickly becomes apparent that if Arno and Giordani weren’t part of the investigation nothing would get solved, as one of the detectives on the case is more intent on telling people about his wife’s cooking than he is about solving the case. In Argento’s early films he always seems to find moments to lighten the darkness that surrounds the characters with some moments of pure comedy, but without overdoing it. In another scene Giordani goes to a barber who scares the bejezus out of him by telling Giordani that he thinks it’s a barber that’s the killer, and just how a barber would go about committing the murderers, all the while he”s running a very sharp cutthroat razor against Giordani’s throat. Moments likes these are what make Argento films such a joy to watch.
While Giordani goes to visit the Terzi’s and gets to know Anna Terzi, Arno and his granddaughter visit Bianci Merusi. Each come away with not a lot of information, but Anna explains to Giordani what the Institute is researching. The XYY pattern of chromosomes has been found to be a common trait of those inmates tested in prison. It is believed that this trait is the sole cause of violent behavior, and so their research is somewhat controversial because it means people could be test at birth for the trait.
After Arno leaves Bianco she begins to search the house for some clue of who Calabresi was meeting, when it occurs to her to try his car which is still at the station. So she leaves the house and goes to his car where she finds a note with the name of the person he was meeting (we of course don’t see the name). She folds up the note and hides it in the watch on a chain around her neck, which she had been fiddling with when Arno was talking to her earlier that day. When she gets back home she phones Arno to tell him she knows who the murder is and they arrange to meet, but of course the killer is on the ball and kills her. The killer is unable to find the note that she hid though.
It isn”t until sometime later, after Arno has sent away his granddaughter in the fear of her life after he receives death threats from the killer that he realizes that there might be a clue inside that necklace. They are forced to go to the cemetery in the darkness of night to find out if his suspicions are right. “Talk about taking secrets to the grave” Arno comments as they are making their way through the cemetery to find Bianca’s tomb. Once inside they locate the watch and manage to get it open, finding the note with the killer’s identity. But while Giordani goes back to seal up the grave the door suddenly closes and he’s locked inside.
After a while Arno suddenly opens the door wielding his cane, from which a knife has emerged, and approaches Giordani. Giordani suddenly suspects that Arno is the killer and begins to back away, but Arno explains that he was attacked and that the killer has Lori. He had to give the note to the killer or he would murder Lori like the others. They would be back to square one if it wasn’t for the fact that Arno happened to stab the killer, and he thinks he got him pretty good. Now the hunt is on to find the injured killer before Arno’s beloved Lori is killed at the hands of a maniac!
Cat O’ Nine Tails is not a prefect movie, but it comes pretty close. While it is often the case that giallo films can get a little boring unless there’s a murder or two happening, Dario never fails to deliver an entertaining product. Even the moments between the horror are truly delightful in Cat O’ Nine Tails, which isn’t the case with all of Argento’s work. They can all too often be hindered slightly with poor dialogue and band characterization. Cat O’ Nine Tails suffers none of these flaws. The dialogue is superb and at times very funny. Once again Argento managed to secure a great cast. Karl Malden (A Streetcar Named Desire) plays a very believable blind man, and his relationship with his granddaughter in the film is actually a very affectionate relationship for an Argento film. James Franciscus also does a good job in the role of reporter Giordani. The only real flaw to Cat O’ Nine Tails is that parts of the plot are a little forced, but that”s a flaw of the giallo genre rather than the this film as a whole.
Luckily, Blue Underground recently re-released this classic of the giallo genre, along with a bunch of other genre films which had previously been released by Anchor Bay while they were a decent releaser of obscure and cult horror films. The DVD comes packed with quite a number of extras which makes it’s purchase worthwhile: Interviews with Dario, co-writer Dardano Sacchetti, and legendary composer Ennio Morricone;Theatrical trailers; TV spots; Radio spots; Radio interviews with James Franciscus and Karl Malden and the usually Photo gallery and talent bios. Well worth $12!’
