THE
CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971)Director: Dario Argento
Anchor Bay Entertainment
THE
CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971)Dario Argento revitalized the Italian thriller in the early 70s with his directorial debut, THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE. The film was a worldwide hit and Argento would soon be known to American moviegoers as "The Italian Hitchcock." He immediately followed the success of BIRD with THE CAT O' NINE TAILS, the second in a loosely strung "animal" trilogy that concluded with FOUR FLIES ON GRAY VELVET. Argento notes THE CAT O' NINE TAILS as his least favorite film, but on viewing this new DVD edition, I find it to be one of his best.
Franco Arno (Karl Malden) is an ex-reporter, blinded by an accident 15 years before. Arno spends most of his time doing puzzles, and he lives with his young niece Lori, a little girl that he adopted. While walking home one evening, Arno overhears a conversation about blackmail between two men sitting in car. Stopping and pretending to fix his shoe, he has Lori look at the men. She can only identify one of them, and Arno can't seem to make out the rest of what they're saying.
A few days later, Lori tells Arno that the man she saw that night is on the cover of the newspaper, apparently killed in a train accident. Arno becomes fascinated with the circumstances and visits the office of Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus), a reporter that he had bumped into earlier. The murder is connected with Terzi Institute, a center conducting advance research concerning the XYY chromosome and its relation to violent behavior. As more related murders occur, Arno and Giordani get completely absorbed in the case and work skillfully as a team. Their lives are now in constant danger as the unknown assailant is fully aware of their involvement, and knows where they are at all times.
In the competent hands of Argento, THE CAT O' NINE TAILS is a well-meaning, entertaining giallo that's not nearly as graphic or overblown as some of his later work. The script is neatly concocted, and the film has a more controlled, Hitchcock-style ambiance to it. Karl Malden and James Franciscus are extremely satisfactory in their roles: Malden has to portray a blind man trying to make himself useful with his heightened awareness, while Franciscus is a ballsy newsman who comes off as very likable, despite the margin for annoyance with his character. These are probably the best lead actors that Argento ever had, and they're instantly gratifying as a crime-solving duo, work extremely nice off each other's character.
Beautifully shot in and around Rome, THE CAT O' NINE TAILS contains an appropriate level of tense episodes (Franciscus is accidentally trapped in a dark crypt not knowing the status of his companion, the delayed consuming of some poisoned milk, etc.) and black comedy (an insulted barber giving a nervous Franciscus a shave, lovely French actress Catherine Spaak maniacally driving through the streets of Rome to dodge the trailing police, etc.), accompanied by a biting, jazzy score by Ennio Morricone.
Never given a proper release in this country, National General's U.S. theatrical version shed the film of some 20 minutes, and gave it a GP rating. Years later, several cheapo video companies put out bad pan and scan, edited renditions of the film, and we had to rely on an imported Japanese laserdisc as the most definitive source. Now Anchor Bay has released the film on DVD, complete and uncut, using the original camera negative as the transfer source. The film now looks terrific, with great colors, nice detail, and no visible grain. It's letterboxed in it's original 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ration, and it's 16x9 enhanced. The disc is encoded with three separate Dolby Surround 2.0 soundtracks: English, Italian, and French.
There are many extras here, including a featurette entitled, "Tales of the Cat." It's made up of interviews with Argento (who claims this is his most rented title, despite it being his least favorite), Morricone, and co-writer Dardano Sacchetti. All three gentlemen are interviewed in Italian, with English subtitles. There are also two trailers, TV spots, a still and poster gallery, talent bios, and most unique of all, two 8-minute radio interviews with Malden and the late Franciscus conducted on the set of the film. Both are surprisingly enthusiastic about the project. (George R. Reis)