The Cat O'Nine Tails
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Movie Reviews of The Cat O'Nine Tails
Movie Review: Cookies Are Sweet And So Is This Giallo Masterpiece From Dario Argento
Summary: 4 Stars
"The Cat O' Nine Tails" is one of my favorite gialli directed by Dario Argento. It is pure giallo - a great example of the Italian Giallo genre. A psychotic steals secret documents from a research lab. Soon everyone connected with the lab is stalked and killed because they may know too much. This highly suspenseful, highly emotional giallo combines mystery with technology. Experiments are being conducted involving the XYY chromosome; anyone born with it may possess a disposition for murder.
I thought the relationship between the blind puzzle maker Franco Aldo (Karl Malden of "The Streets of San Francisco") and his daughter Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) was very touching and warmhearted. Lori has nicknamed Franco "Cookie" because cookies are sweet. They share a close relationship in which they look closely after each other. It was fun watching them help the reporter Carlo Giordano (James Franciscus of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes") solve the murders.
Blue Underground has provided a great DVD of "The Cat O' Nine Tails." The video has been perfectly restored and is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. The audio is loud and clear. I've never seen the Anchor Bay presentation. However, beware of the one from Miracle Productions because it is presented in a fuzzy, full screen edited version with an extremely important murder deleted. In fact, be wary of all DVDs made my Miracle Productions; you don't know what you may be getting.
Ennio Morricone has provided a great musical score for "The Cat O` Nine Tails." It consists of several great jazz pieces with numerous flute solos. Great sets and beautiful Italian scenery also highlight this film. "The Cat O' Nine Tails" is a must have for any fan of Italian gialli and/or a fan of Dario Argento who also directed the giallo megahits "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage," "Deep Red," and "Tenebre."
Movie Review: Glimpses of brilliance..and of things to come.
Summary: 4 Stars
Wow, after so many years I've just revisited this very fine film. It's so funny how things have changed. The last time that I saw this was probably on VHS or BETA, required an exorbatant deposit, and probably played in French with Greek subtitles. The story is rather convoluted with quite a few implausabilities but it's nice to see where Argento's seed was planted with his emphasis on visuals and well executed murder sequences. The twists and red herrings are entirely welcome and the suspense is adequate and builds nicely to a very satisfiying finale that would do Hitchcock proud. Some complain of the film's lack of direction and pacing issues. I agree the pacing occasionally lags. However, the gorgeous cinematography, Karl Malden playing a blind man (!), and a hip and hot jazz score by the genius Ennio Morricone elevate this into a much better Giallo than I remember! A good follow up to the flawless The Bird With the Crystal Plumage (2-Disc Special Edition) and Blue Underground's version is quite good!Movie Review: Good example of early Argento
Summary: 4 Stars
Cat O'Nine Tails is one of the "animal" trilogy, preceeded by Bird With The Crystal Plumage (also available).
The script and acting are great, as are the typical Argento set pieces. Blue Underground have produced another great package and I hope that someday they will be able to release the final part of the trilogy, Four Flies On Grey Velvet.
Movie Review: Cat O'Nine Tails
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is bizarre! It is well-cast and beautifully filmed, but the storyline is absoltely insane. Karl Malden is terrific.Movie Review: Decent film from the master
Summary: 3 Stars
The Cat o' Nine Tails was the 2nd feature film made by Dario Argento and in my opinion it was a bit of a letdown compared to his brilliant debut The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. Sometimes I hear people say The Cat o' Nine Tails is a pretty good film, but not for Argento. I have to disagree with that. Looking back now The Cat o' Nine Tails may not be one of Argento's strongest flicks, but he was still learning his craft.
I'm as big of an Argento fan that you'll find, but quite honestly I wasn't all that into this flick. While by no means is The Cat o' Nine Tails a bad movie, it just wasn't able to hold my interest through out the picture.
Dario Argento also wrote the script and while the concept wasn't bad nor was the execution of the script it just sort of lacks in some areas. Despite what some people say, Argento can write a good screenplay and here it wasn't so much bad as it was just not all that interesting in my opinion.
There was also a lot of good in The Cat o' Nine Tails; this is an Argento movie so one thing is clear you know visually it's gonna look really good. From a visual side this isn't Tenebre or Suspiria, but The Cat o' Nine Tails still looks good.
The POV shots are quite impressive and personally I would rate them as some of the best I have ever seen. The murder scenes aren't all that violent, but they do have a great creepy feel, which is made even better by the score done by Ennio Morricone.
Argento and Morricone made for a good team in the movies they have done together; the two together are just as good as Argento is with Goblin. With Argento's visual style and Morricone's music it adds to the tension on the kill scenes.
About 52-minutes into the picture features one of my favorite Argento kill scenes, while the F/X aren't all that great it's still a well-done and excellent creepy scene. You'll be hard pressed to find a filmmaker who can film a murder scene better than Dario Argento. They are so amazingly shot.
But the problem for me is just that the investigation just isn't that interesting at times, while it does have it's moments I just felt there weren't enough. The 112-minute running time didn't help matters as well. Simply put in my opinion The Cat o' Nine Tails just drags in some areas. For what it's worth though The Cat o' Nine Tails is still a pretty good film, but a major letdown after his brilliant debut, but Argento was still learning his craft and after this would go on a great run of some of the very best horror movies ever made.
The thing with Dario Argento is a lot of his movies you must see more than once. Anybody who knows me can tell you how much I idolize Dario Argento. But to be quite honest upon my first viewings of a lot of his work I found it average or below average. But after going back and watching them I became a die hard Argento fan. Maybe The Cat o' Nine Tails will be one of those films I come to like more with another viewing.
In closing, The Cat o' Nine Tails is a good film in the career of Dario Argento, but not everything works and we have a good film, nothing less, nothing more.
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