Cat O'nine Tails [DVD]

Just to clarify that Arrow Video dvd release with yellow and black cover includes english and italian audio with optional english subtitles. On the back of the dvd it reads that there's only english audio but that's not true.

Dario Argento's early career Giallo is impressive in its set-up. A blind man, Franco, overhears a snippet of conversation from a mysterious man in a car and asks his young niece to describe his features. When later this man, who works for a groundbreaking Genetics company, is murdered, Franco joins up with a local newspaper reporter to investigate.This is a brilliant concept worthy of the great Hollywood B-movies of the 40's and 50's, with fascinating characters, some red herrings and a conspiratorial sub-plot, but somehow the film never really takes off and the final reveal is pretty weak.The look of the film is a step backwards, in comparison to the previous year's Bird With The Crystal Plumage - the cinematography and art design being pretty unremarkable - and the final act feels laboured and mechanical. Once again Ennio Morricone provides the soundtrack for the piece, but the jazzy score would be a better bit fit for a moody film noir than this Hitchcockian thriller, which, I feel, would have been better served by a brash Hermanesque soundtrack. That said, the film is not without merit: it has some nice set-pieces, Argento's trademark dry humour, solid acting performances from the two principals and that strange architectural style that Argento brought to his films, combining a clean and neat modernism with the Italian baroque.Certainly of interest to the film student, but less so to the casual viewer.

This is a very good film I liked it.

Late one night, a blind ex-reporter named Franco Arno and his niece, Lori, are walking home. When Arno hears the word blackmail said between two men in a parked car, he stops to tie his shoe lace and asks Lori to look at who's in the car. A little while later a man knocks out a security guard and breaks into a medical facility, the facility is next to Arno's apartment and it was in front of the facility that he heard the men in the car. The day after whilst walking home, a reporter called Carlo Giordani bumps into Arno, he apologises and the two men talk briefly about what's going on at the medical facility. Some time later a doctor tells his fiancée that he knows what was stolen and has agreed to meet with them at the train station. As he's waiting, he's pushed on to the track as the train pulls in. The day after, Lori starts reading the newspaper to Arno and recognises the doctor as one of the men she saw in the car a few nights before. Suddenly Arno feels that the doctor may have been murdered and goes to see Carlo, he asks Carlo to find out whether the picture in the paper showing the supposed accidental death of the doctor was cropped. After a phone call to the photographer that took the photo, he checks the negative and realises that a hand is in the corner of the frame and almost definitely had pushed the man on to the track. As Carlo and Arno set off to see the photographer, a killer sneaks in and brutally murders him and takes the evidence. With the two now absolutely convinced that the murders are linked, they set out to solve the case. Just as they seem to be getting somewhere, more bodies appear and evidence disappears. The closer to solving the case they get, the closer the killer gets to them.Karl Malden gives a good performance as Franco Arno, he played the role of a blind man excellently. He appeared in The Cat o' Nine Tails the year before he had huge success with the popular TV show, The Streets Of San Francisco, a show which also gave Michael Douglas his big break as Malden's partner. James Franciscus stole the show as smooth talking reporter, Carlo Giordani, it's through his character that we start to solve the case. He himself had a bit of success the year before with the first Planet Of The Apes sequel, in which he was the main star until the last ten minutes when he and Charlton Heston have to work together. Catherine Spaak does okay as the daughter of the man in charge at the medical complex, and later becomes the love interest for Franciscus' character. Some of the supporting characters do a good job, Rada Rassimov, sister of the well known Italian actor, Ivan Rassimov, shines in her short time in the film, she probably also has the most violent death. Ugo Fangareggi was quite memorable as a character called Gigi the Loser, he looks like a cross between Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy and Jaws from the Bond films, he gives the film a bit of humour which was very welcome.It's stylishly directed by Dario Argento, it was his second film after The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. He also made a film called Four Flies on Grey Velvet quickly after Cat o' Nine Tails, the three films make up Argento's Animal trilogy. Argento has commented several times that he believes this film to be the worst of the trilogy, something I think I would agree with. I believe he's also said that this is his least favourite of all his films, I really couldn't disagree more. The Cat o' Nine Tails is better than everything else he made after Terror at the Opera in 1987, but of course that's just my opinion. He made The Cat o' Nine Tails for an American company who wanted to build on the success of his first film, it was far more successful than The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and made him a househould name and a director to keep an eye on, something he would emphatically reinforce with the outstanding Deep Red a few years later. I really like the plot of the film despite the fact it's a little convoluted at times, it's a classic murder mystery. It does drag at times, and the outlandish use of music, colour and blood that he's famous for wasn't really on show here, that would later start to show in Deep Red and then brilliantly in Suspiria which is a fantastic assault on the eyes and ears. The music is very well done by Ennio Morricone, but it does lack the excitement and creepiness of the Goblin soundtracks in some of his later films. There's a very brief scene of nudity, and it's very light in the blood and gore department.The Blu-ray is very good. The picture quality easily surpasses the worn out, tired DVD I previously had. There's a thin layer of grain, it's never intrusive and seems very natural. The colour and detail behind the grain is a phenomenal upgrade, blacks are excellent, on my DVD the black was more of a pixelated grey. The night time scenes are very good, some of the scenes outside in the sunlight are stunning. Everything is crisp and clean, and there's always great detail in clothing or furniture. Arrow have been heavily criticised for some of their Blu-ray releases, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this one. I can also confirm that Argento's Inferno and Phenomena also look excellent on Blu-ray from Arrow. The extras aren't as good as on some of their other Blu-ray discs, there's basically just a trailer and three interviews. There's a 10 minute interview with Dario Argento where he briefly discusses the film, a 16 minute interview with Luigi Cozzi and a 23 minute interview with one of the few Italian directors who made as many great gialli as Argento, if not more, Sergio Martino, the director of The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh, The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key, All the Colors of the Dark and Torso talks about his own gialli and Argento's. There's the usual choice of 4 different front covers, a double sided poster, a Cat o' Nine Tails booklet and another booklet showing Arrow's other available DVDs and Blu-rays. The option to watch the film in Italian with subtitles or in English is available, my old DVD just had the English soundtrack. The main menu page on the Blu-ray looks brilliant as well.The Cat o' Nine Tails is probably Argento's worst giallo or horror film of the '70s and early '80s, but it's still a very good film which I think says quite a lot about Argento's early career. I know Argento feels that the film is too similar to the American films that influenced it, but it's miles ahead of films like Phantom of the Opera, The Card Player and Giallo in terms of style, plot and fun. If you're thinking of buying this, chances are you're already a fan of the film and was just wondering whether the upgrade to Blu-ray is worth buying the film again. I can definitely recommend any fans to replace your old DVD, this is by far the best I've ever seen the film look.

Excellent

Fine vintage Dario Agento horror film with a few clunky bits and odd draggy moments. While his set piece killings and directorship are perfect and excellent cinema. If frequently strong stuff.

I rented this film thinking it was in English I was disappointed I would have watched it all no doubt it was a good film but I didn't want to watch a film in foreign

This movie about a series of murders of people associated with a medical research laboratory was the second film directed by Dario Argento, and it helped to consolidate the success he had enjoyed with his debut feauture, 'L'Ucello dalle Piume di Cristallo/The Bird with the Crystal Plumage' (1970). Like the first film it boasts a classy music score by Ennio Morricone, and a series of inventively staged murders, in this case at a railway station and in a lift shaft. Argento has expressed dissatisfaction with the film because it is too similar to the American thrillers that had influenced him, and I think that the movie is less distinctive than 'L'Ucello dalle Piume di Cristallo' or 'Profondo Rosso/Deep Red' (1975).However the story, which was co-written by Argento and Dardano Sacchetti, who scripted the 1979 Lucio Fulci film 'Zombi 2', is consistently interesting, and the cast is good. Karl Malden is particularly good as Franco Arno, a blind crossword puzzle writer, with good support from Cinzi de Carolis, who plays Arno's niece, Lori, and James Franciscus, who plays a crime reporter called Carlo Giordani. Franciscus was at the height of his fame at the time this film was made following the box office success of 'Beneath the Planet of the Apes' (1970) in which he played the male lead.One curious thing about the Arrowdrome DVD is the fact that the titles are in English with the title of the film given as 'The Cat O'Nine Tails' rather than the original Italian title, 'Il gatto a nove code'. When I saw this I assumed that the print on the DVD was a dubbed English version, like the 'Deep Red' DVD from Arrowdrome, and the DVD sleeve does state that the language is English. However, as it turned out the dialogue was spoken in Italian with English subtitles. This suited me fine because I prefer subtitles to dubbing.

This 4K upgrade of the movie is outstanding. Bright vibrant colours. Sound quality is excellent. Arrow Video have done an excellent job on the restoration. Now looking at obtaining their other 4K of Dario Argento films.

Alles super, gerne wieder!!!

Era da molto tempo che cercavo questa edizione limitata, ma purtroppo senza alcun risultato. Il prezzo è davvero conveniente e tra la scelta e l'ordine è anche diminuito. Il pacco è arrivato con un giorno di ritardo ma il ne valeva la pena.

While most films that fall under the Giallo banner are far more style than substance, this one rises far above all of that. Among Dario Argento's finest works, it is an eerie psychological thriller which is part Hitchcock, part Raymond Chandler novel, and part Cinecitta. The story is believable and captivating, the suspense is chilling, the acting is superb. Of course there's great music, with Ennio Morricone at the helm of the sounds, and of course there's all kinds of good-looking people, cool cars, and stylish set pieces, just as you'd expect from an Italian film from 1970. But with this film those extras are minor attractions, and the film itself is what keeps you watching.

This is a review of the Arrow Limited Edition Blu Ray of the movie. People agree that Cat O'Nine Tails is not among the best movies of Dario Argento. It's not a bad movie but it doesn't have the same virtuosity than Suspiria , Tenebrae or Bird With a Crystal Plumage. It's a must see for Argento fan, but for those not familiar with Argento, it's not the best place to start.About the Arrow Limited Edition. The boxset is top notch. It comes with a poster, a booklet with various essays on the film, 4 lobby cards. The new 4K restoration of the film is excellent. Most important, there are plenty of insightful extras. I don't think there can be a better edition. A real treat for any Argento's fan.