The Cat o' Nine Tails is an improvement over Argento's Bird with the Crystal Plumage, but not by much. Similar to TBWTCP, TCONT is a giallo where a civilian is playing detective - maybe a little more plausible this time around, for reasons I will cover in a moment. The movie starts with Franco, a blind man, and his... adopted daughter - I think. A series of crimes lead Franco to seek the assistance of Carlo, a reporter, in solving the mystery. As before, someone who is not involved in law enforcement putting themselves in harm's way to solve a murder case is just ridiculous; though, at least, this time we're dealing with a reporter, and a former reporter, so they may be slightly more accustomed to snooping around to get a story, but that does not make them Batman or Daredevil.
The movie is almost two hours long, and it didn't need to be. It's a very simple story, laden with more characters than necessary - for example, Carlo, and Franco could have just been combined; the only reason Franco was there was because of his "daughter."
[spoiler]So, the killer is Casoni. Okay. By the time that was revealed, I had forgotten who he was. Turns out he has an XYY chromosome, which - according to the scientists in this movie - means he is prone to murder. If this information was found out, he'd lose his job. Solution: murder people. Problem solved. If that sounds dumb as fuck, that's only because it is.[/spoiler]
Don't go into this looking for horror. It's 99% mystery, with limited kills - very tame.

Okay giallo movie from Dario Argento has its moments and fine performances from James Franciscus and Karl Malden, but the end wasn't exactly satisfying. Still some entertaining scenes here and there. **3.5/5**

Despite a couple of good scenes, The Cat o' Nine Tails is easily the weakest of Dario Argento's early giallo & horror movies. Where Argento's other movies tend to make the protagonist involved or even complicit in the murders, in this case we get two characters investigating the case out of professional interest and just plain nosiness. The central mystery itself isn't terribly interesting with the solution being almost arbitrary. There are attempts to spice things up with nature vs nurture arguments (is the killer driven by the genetic MacGuffin or just trying to cover it up?) and an attempt at a running theme around eyes, but these aren't developed, just dropped in.

Usually there'd be a few flashy murder setpieces to drive audience interest, but apart from a bravura scene at a train station, the other murders are too repetitive and almost seem perfunctory. Attempts at sexy banter between James Franciscus and Catherine Spaak make similar scenes in Profondo Rosso seem like Howard Hawks. It's overlong and often drags. The scenes involving gay characters are as retrograde as ever.

A completely gratuitous car chase, on a level with the kind of thing seen in a decent poliziottesco of the same period, was the highlight of the movie for me. I quite enjoyed the climax, which features a decent rooftop chase and a nicely abrupt finish. Ennio Morricone's score helps the movie through some of the dull patches; I miss it in the scenes where it stops.

Argento doesn't play to any of his strengths in The Cat o' Nine Tails. It needs more weird touches, more genuine perversity, more colour, more interesting camera movements, and less talk. It's still better than anything he's directed since about 1996.

Sixth Sense and Nine Avenues.



Il gatto a nove code (The Cat O’ Nine Tails) is written and directed by Dario Argento. It stars Karl Malden, James Franciscus, Catherine Spaak, Horst Frank, Aldo Reggiani, Carlo Alighiero and Rada Rassimov. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Erico Menczer.



Blind puzzle solver Franco Arno (Malden) and newspaper man Carlo Giordani (Franciscus) team up to see if they can solve the mystery of the murders that are terrifying the city. With their own lives becoming increasingly in danger, and the lines of investigation splintered all over the place, the men are drawn to the mysterious Terzi Institute where geneticists are tampering with gene patterns…



Argento doesn’t like it and the fans are very much divided about the worth of it on the Argento curriculum vitae, yet The Cat O’ Nine Tails is a delightfully entertaining oddity.



The plot is labyrinthine with relish on top, spinning the viewers into the same convoluted investigative maze that Messrs Arno and Giordani find themselves in. In fact, it’s near genius that it rarely makes sense under inspection, yet still there’s a fascinating edge to the story, with its characterisations, sexual kinks and cruel murders, there’s a power to the piece that rewards if you can just run with it, buy into Argento’s Giallo singed world.



With Malden turning in a great performance and Franciscus performing to a level nobody thought was in him, the lead characters really come to life. Add to that Morricone’s creepy jazzy-garde fuelled score underlining the skew-whiff nature of the beast, and Menczer’s photography tonally muted, tech credits are at one with the themes ticking away in the narrative, a narrative that has observation, ironically, on vision, sight and minds eye. While there’s a couple of rug-pulls jostling for our attention just to keep things twisty.



Then there is the director himself. The Cat O’ Nine Tails finds him restrained compared to the excess of style over substance films that would dominate his oeuvre post release of The Cat. That’s not to say there isn’t style here, there’s plenty as Argento dallies in POV, iris vision, and a nifty trick that gives the blind Arno “sight”, further ensuring that the supposed handicapped character is the key player and potential saviour of all. A number of scenes are bursting at the seams with suspense, with a cemetery/mausoleum sequence top draw, for sure Argento is firmly getting in his stride here.



It’s not a gore movie, something which I personally think has led to some of Argento’s fans giving the film the cold shoulder, but it’s the tale (or tails of course) and characterisations that hold it up as being under valued. It’s a Giallo whodunit flecked with sexual stings and no little amount style draped all over it. 7/10