The Cat o' Nine Tails

This week I chose:

The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971)

This Giallo by genre master Dario Argento is the second in his so called animals trilogy starting with The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and ending with Four Flies on Grey Velvet. I had seen this movie before, but that was 15 years ago or thereabout. I remember that I didn't care much for it, and that was about it.

With all the Gialli I have seen in recent years however, I wanted to give this movie a second chance.

The movie opens with someone breaking into a genetic research institute. The watchman is knocked out, but nothing seems to have been stolen. Retired reporter Franco Arno (Karl Malden) lives nearby with his young niece, who helps him as he is blind. He hears something during the break in and his sharp investigative instincts are alerted. The next day he meets Carlo Giordani, a reporter who is covering the burglary. A short time later, a researcher at the institute dies and Franco convinces Carlo that it was murder. Both men love solving puzzles and team up to solve the mystery as person after person dies.

The Cat o' Nine Tails is by no means a bad movie, let's make that clear. It is wonderfully shot with some great scenes, the actors are great, the score is good but... it is almost two hours long and the story is pretty dull. Unlike Crystal Plumage and Four Flies where the stakes are high and the main character has to keep going, Franco and Carlo could have just given up without all that much happening. Sure, a murderer would probably have gotten away with it, but that happens all the time anyway. The stakes here are so low for most of the movie that it unfortunately turns into a bit of a snooze fest. That changes later on, and there are a couple of really intense scenes. The milk scene is positively Hitchcockian.

Argento has said that The Cat o' Nine Tails is his least favorite movie of all the ones he has directed, and I can see why. There is the nucleus of a great story here, but it gets painted over with scene after scene that plods along in a sedate pace.

There is a bit of romance, but since The Cat o' Nine Tails lacks a female main character, it becomes underdeveloped. The lack of a female lead is actually pretty rare for a Giallo, at least in my experience, but that in itself does not hurt the movie. It simply needed to be shorter and sharper.

So, do I recommend this movie? Again, yes and no. If you just want a fun Giallo then give this a miss, but if you are on an Argento trip then you should definitely watch this. As I said, it's not bad it just isn't as good as what Argento can do. If you set your expectations to the right level, you'll be fine.

That's that and all that. Join me again next time, and until then, have a great week!