The Cat O’ Nine Tails review (Blu-ray) ★★★

The latest in Arrow Films exemplary series of genre and exploitation releases on Blu-ray is Argento’s 1971 giallo The Cat O’ Nine Tails. This is the middle entry in the Italian director’s “animal trilogy” a series of three mystery thrillers beginning with his groundbreaking debut The Bird With The Crystal Plumage (1970), and finished with Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971). However, despite being grouped as a trilogy, the films have only their style and genre in common.

Cat O’ Nine Tails concerns a series of murders centering around The Terzi Institute, a medical centre involved in research to find a genetic marker that could indicate a tendency towards murder. Franco Arno (Malden), a blind man who lives with his young niece Lori, overhears a conversation about blackmail while taking a late night stroll. Later that night there is a break in at the institute and a nightwatchman is killed. The next day one of the institute’s chief researchers dies in an apparent accident at a railway station (a brilliant sequence).

Arno is convinced he has overheard a plot, and after a chance meeting with a newspaper reporter Carlo Giordani (Franciscus) he tells the reporter of his suspicions. Arno convinces Carlo that a paparazzo who captured the moment of the man’s death at the station may have actually caught a murder on camera. However when the photographer also turns up murdered before they can view his full photograph (it was cropped on publication, thus missing a crucial detail) they decide to investigate further.

Cat O’ Nine Tails is probably one of the weakest films from Argento’s remarkable golden streak as a filmmaker (from Bird in 1970 to his last great film Tenebrae in 1982). Although commonly placed in the horror genre, the film plays more as a straight thriller. Even by Argento’s normal standards of bizarre plotting and strange McGuffins the genetic research hook that provides the killer’s motivations here is complete twaddle.

Malden initially appears to be the film’s lead, but is replaced in that role by the more traditionally handsome leading man Franciscus for most of the film. Malden’s visual impairment, which one might expect to be crucial to the plot, is actually not used in any meaningful way. While there are classic Argento flourishes throughout the film, far too much of the running time is taken up with a constant series of red herrings. While Franciscus is fine as a lead, his character is saddled with some terrible dialogue, including an hilarious chat up line: “Do you know how many people are making love right now, at this very second? About 780 on average. In case you didn’t realise, that was an invitation.” Amazingly this actually works! Later when he and Malden are investigating a cemetery and are startled by a noise, he says “maybe it was a cat. Cat’s like cemeteries, don’t they?”

The convoluted plot eventually resolves itself with a great rooftop climax, but the very abrupt ending leaves the fate of key characters unexplained. It’s like Argento wanted to wrap things up as quickly as possible and move on to the next film. Despite this there is much to enjoy here for fans of the director’s work, not least Erico Menczer’s fine cinematography, Ennio Morricone’s lovely score, and female lead Catherine Spaak’s incredible high 70s fashion wardrobe and hairstyle.

The quality of the transfer presented on Arrow’s disc is extremely good and a big improvement on previous versions of the film available in the UK. As usual on a 70s Italian film, there is a choice of English of Italian dialogue (I’d opt for the English version, as the two leads are both American actors and the Italian dubbing is distracting). Extras are slim for an Arrow release, but it is an old title, and it’s clear from Argento’s own introduction that this is not one of his favorite films. Argento fans, like myself, will still be fascinated to see this early work in a shiny new HD transfer. But for the uninitiated Suspiria or Deep Red would be a far better starting point.