The Cat O' Nine Tails

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.

Reportedly, this is Dario Argento least favorite film. And while it does leave a lot to be desired, it's not quite as bad as Dario would have you believe. The plot involves a break-in at a research facility. Nothing appears to have been taken. A guard was beat up. It causes quite a commotion with the police and the press but the people behind the research facility would rather it was ignored. It could have ended there but for one of the researchers making a phone call to someone, saying he knows what was stolen, knows why it was stolen, and more importantly, knows who stole it. The blackmailer meets a grisly end when he's shoved in front of a train. Fortunately, the murder was caught on film. Unfortunately, the murderer knows this and kills the photographer, stealing his film. A simple crime that might have gone unnoticed now escalates as more people finally begin to suspect foul play. Soon, there are three murders and a little girl is kidnapped. Who will solve the mystery first, the police or a blind ex-reporter (Karl Malden as Franco Arno) and his sidekick (James Franciscus as Carlo Giordani)?As always, Argento's eye for imagery is put to good use, there are several fabulous shots, not the least of which involves a chase sequence and a fight on a roof. Argento says his favorite technique is creating moments that are still, detached. I think he means "static" because there are more than a few instances where things lag for lack of purpose. I also didn't care for the final resolution because he (admitted) that he wanted it to be ambiguous. I hate ambiguous endings, there are so.................vague.Flawed as it is, this movie is still fun (and absorbing) to watch.

This is definitely the version of this film to buy. I made the mistake of buying the Diamond Entertainment version (girl on the cover with hands around her neck) which was full-screen and not a sharp picture, and edited down to 1:28:30 from the 1:52:00 the film is supposed to be, although the back cover falsely claimed it was the full 112 minute movie.) This is wide-screen and very clear picture, and appears to be complete (correct running time and containing numerous scenes edited out of the other Diamond Entertainment version.) If you like Dario Argento's work, you should like this film. My guess is that reviewer Leonard Maltin, who gave this film 2 stars, did not see this full version of the film, but rather one of the badly edited versions, such as the aforementioned Diamond Entertainment version, which completed omitted the entire cemetery scene, edited the murders and the fall down the elevator shaft scene, the Catherine Spaak topless scene, and on and on, totaling nearly 24 minutes gone from the movie.) It would be hard to keep a movie coherent with that much editing.

This is Dario Argento's second of three films referred to as Argento's "Animal Trilogy", it is followed by Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). and the first films he di i call them his 8 classics is a must...This film shows his ever changing film style from his first film The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970) to this filmThe Cat O'Nine Tails (1971) to Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1972). then he did a few tv films and came back with Deep Red (1975), know as the best giallo film ever made, it would then be followed by Suspiria (1977) the first of a trilogy about "The Three Mothers" and his work as producer on Dawn of the Dead (1978),, check out his cut of the film too it has more goblin music in it and faster pace ect.this movie is what can i saw Dario, he always is the shape as the killer his hands on weapon ect most never know it lol..any way great print , great audio some extras price cant be beat one of the cheapest dario films for your collection too.

This is Dario Argento I love. Myabe not as great as in Deep Red or Four flies, but so good at redefining the paths of thriller and noir. Karl Malden is a great blind man, totally believable, and Argento proves to be one of the best to exploit that to create a constant sense of threat, playing a lot with sound and sudden details and editing cuts. Maybe the ending is,as usual with him, not so satisfying, but still it is a totally enjoyable and personal thriller

d'après le réalisateur c'est celui qu'il apprécie le moins dans sa filmographie , certes c'est moins puissant que Suspiria ou L'oiseau au plumage de cristal car il est plus sur une enquête policière ou un thriller mener par Karl Malden ( les rues de San-Francico ) et James Franciscus que sur le fantastique , mais pour moi je le trouve passionnant le climat et angoissant le scénario et pointu on connait l'assassin que sur la fin , bref le suspense et bien mener du début jusqu'à la fin , sans compter que l'on reconnait de suite la patte du maître avec ses plans originaux c'est toujours esthétique et comme je le disais ce climat particulier que l'on retrouve dans tout ses films , on à même la chance que ce soit Ennio Morricone qui composa la musique du film que demander de plus ... que le blue-ray soit de bonne qualité ? ? et bien oui , dès les premières images j'avais le sourire de satisfaction il fait vraiment honneur au film et il à fallu que ce soit un import qui est lisible sur tout les lecteurs , en Français ( vrais VF ) , en Anglais et Espagnol pour me donner satisfaction et ceci pour un prix ultra-raisonnable de 11euros mesdames et messieurs ( mince voilà que je fait du Bellemare )

Catherine Spaak, toujours ensorcellante, est délicieusement coquette et la plus sensuelle. Catherine Spaak, ever bewitching, is delightfully coquettish and most sensual.

l'edition blu ray du chat a neuf queues de dario argento parue chez blue underground est une pure merveille!! qualité d'image magnifique bien au dessus de l'edition dvd (collection les introuvables fnac). peu de bonus mais pour une fois audio français disponible sinon pour les puristes v.o sous titres français. ravi de mon achat!!

Peccato che non c'è, una edizione italiana. Un titolo imperdibile. Troppo tempo per la consegna, ma l'attesa ne è valsa la pena