An oddly charming and sedate giallo.
What They Say:
Following the success of his debut feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, distributor Titanus tasked writer/director Dario Argento with delivering a follow-up in short order. The resulting film, granted a greatly enhanced budget and heralded in its US marketing campaign as “nine times more suspenseful” than its predecessor, was The Cat O’ Nine Tails.
When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò (Karl Malden, Patton, One-Eyed Jacks), who overheard an attempt to blackmail on of the institute’s scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus, Beneath the Planet of the Apes) to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperiled in their search for the truth. And worse still, Lori (Cinzia De Carolis, Cannibal Apocalypse), Franco’s young niece, may also be in killer’s sights…
The second entry in the so-called “Animal Trilogy” found Argento further refining his distinctive style and cementing his reputation as the master of the giallo thriller. Co-starring Catherine Spaak (Il Sorpasso) and Rada Rassimov (Baron Blood), and featuring another nerve-jangling score by the great Ennio Morricone (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly), The Cat O’ Nine Tails remains one of Argento’s most suspenseful and underrated films.
The Review
Audio:
Both original, lossless mono soundtracks, Italian and English, are present and sound as good as mono can sound.
Video:
The film received a new 4K restoration based off of the original camera negative. The picture’s pretty stunning.
Menu:
The menu is typical of Arrow’s releases: clean and user-friendly. Of note is the track from Morricone’s score that’s looped over the menu. That particular track is likely the best segment of the score, and sets the mood for the movie perfectly.
Packaging:
The limited edition of this release is housed in a thick cardboard slipcase. The color on the slipcover is a bit more washed out than that of the actual Blu-Ray cover, but that lends it an old pulp novel look that’s appropriate for the movie. The booklet and poster are housed in the slipcase rather than the Blu-Ray case, and have a nice matte finish to them. The case itself is Arrow’s standard larger-than-usual case, and the cover is reversible. Overall, the movie’s presented in a beautiful package worthy of self space.
Extras:
New audio commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
New interviews with co-writer/director Dario Argento, co-writer Dardani Sacchetti, actress Cinza De Carolis and production manager Angelo Iacono
Script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English for the first time
Original Italian and international theatrical trailers
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp
Double-sided fold-out poster
4 lobby card reproductions
Limited edition booklet illustrated by Matt Griffin, featuring an essay on the film by Dario Argento, and new writing by Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth and Howard Hughes.
Dario Argento’s second directorial outing has all the trappings of your standard giallo– the POV shots from the killer’s perspective, the hands cloaked in black gloves, the way suspects are eliminated by means of death until only one logical suspect remains– but the meat and bones of the story feels more like an “odd couple” detective TV series than anything.
The story begins with a break-in at a genetics lab, and two men find themselves wrapped up in the investigation and subsequent string of murders. Giordani is a newspaper reporter, and he gets the bulk of the ground-level investigative work– trawling bars, breaking into crypts, and seducing the daughter of the head of the lab. His counterpart, Arnò, is an older blind man who creates crossword puzzles and loves puzzles in general, and uses this knowledge to act as the brains to Giordani’s relative brawn. Add in Lori, Arnò’s young, adorable, orphaned niece, who also gets wrapped up in the mystery, and you have the makings of something more akin to a sitcom or dramady than a giallo.
Couple this with a mystery hinged on some antiquated, almost sci-fi-like assumptions about genetics, and you get what’s easily the “lightest” movie in Argento’s oeuvre. The genetics lab is investigating the presence of excess Y-chromosomes and linking this to a propensity to criminal behavior. Argento’s movies rarely take on a high concept that’s as concrete as this, as even most of his pre-Suspiria giallo output is more interested in the psychological ramifications of murder than giving such a definitive driving force. The meat of the movie comes more from the interaction between the main characters, which is often funny and charming.
There’s also an interesting aside addressing some aspects of homosexual subculture, as one of the suspects, Dr. Braun, is a gay man who frequents a bar catering to that crowd. “Interesting” is the best way to put it, as Giordani’s entrance into the bar is presented in such a way to emphasize the “otherness” of the situation, but the conversation (and subsequent flirting) between Giordani and Braun is presented in a very matter of fact way. This leads to a brief sideplot involving jealousy between two of Braun’s lovers that could have easily been a major aspect of the story, but gets crammed into a couple of brief scenes towards the end of the movie. The overall portrayal is a bit of a mixed bag, so I’ll leave judgement to those with a better understanding of such matters, but it’s worth noting as Argento will deal with similar themes with more emphasis in later films (such as Tenebrae and Deep Red).
All that said, if nothing else about the movie strikes one’s fancy, Ennio Morricone’s score may make the whole thing worth a watch. It’s a jazzy, discordant thing that really elevates the relative grounded plot and “kills,” and the violent percussion is the closest we ever get to really seeing into the killer’s mind.
In Summary:
It feels strange to call a giallo “charming,” but that may be the best way to positively describe The Cat o’ Nine Tails. It may lack the surreal, dream-like nature that comes with many of Argento’s other movies, and the mystery itself is a bit pedestrian, but the likable leads and beautiful score make it worth a watch.
Content Grade: C+
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A+
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: A-
Released By: Arrow Video
Release Date: March 6th, 2018
MSRP: $49.95
Running Time: 112 minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Review Equipment:
Toshiba 55L711U18 55” 4K UHD TV, Playstation 4
