Horror/Mystery/Thriller
1 hour and 52 minutes
Rated: GP
Written by: Dario Argento
Directed by: Dario Argento
Produced by: Salvatore Argento
Cast:
James Franciscus
Karl Malden
Catherine Spaak
Caught between the truth and a murderer's hand!
The King of Italian Horror Cinema, Dario Argento, directed his second film: The Cat o' Nine Tails after the enormous commercial success that his debut motion-picture The Bird with the Crystal Plumage had earned in both his home nation of Italy as well as the enormously profitable United States. Naturally, the film's distributors were itching for Argento to create a sequel - something Argento had no intention of doing. He caved, in the sense that both Bird and Cat are gialli films - horror/mystery movies created by Mario Bava, but later popularized by Argento - but as far as comparisons go, that is really all that Argento's first two motion-pictures have in common.
Argento himself has expressed nothing but hatred toward The Cat o' Nine Tails. He has called it too cold, too "American, with no love whatsoever present throughout it." While arguably it is perhaps one of Argento's least memorable films, The Cat o' Nine Tails is still unquestionably an important movie when it comes to the brilliant career of Italy's most famous auteur du macabre.
For starters, this is the first Dario Argento movie that is less concerned with why violence occurs and more focused on how it occurs. In Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Argento was more focused on story and plot than he has ever been since that debut film of his. The Cat o' Nine Tails saw him stepping away from this. The film seems to be expressing to its audience that moments of violence occur, and they occur randomly. We should not be worried about why they're happening simply because that won't solve anything in a preventative sense. Argento would carry this theme throughout every film that would follow The Cat o' Nine Tails - especially in his later gialli like Deep Red, Tenebre, and Opera.
The Cat o' Nine Tails also introduced audiences to the signature camera style of Dario Argento. Cinematographer Enrico Menczer captures moments on film that are pure Argento through and through. Characters are framed around glitzy and glamorous settings - precursors to such shots and camera angles in Argento's films Suspiria and Inferno. The performers are often seen from above or below heading up and down Italian spiral stairs. But most importantly, The Cat o' Nine Tails is the first Dario Argento giallo - or film for that matter - to put the camera into the point-of-view of the film's murderer. This is something that would become so uniquely Argento it would be imitated by every filmmaker to ever follow him in attempting a giallo film - including Alfred Hitchcock, whose film Frenzy is no doubt Hitch's response to the critics' comparison of Argento to him. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage may have began Argento's career with a brilliant splash, but it was The Cat o' Nine Tails where Argento really established his own creative voice, technical style, and visionary eye as an auteur.
But even though The Cat o' Nine Tails is one hundred percent a Dario Argento film through and through, it is not without its flaws. For starters, its story just really is not that interesting. While story and plot have never been Argento's major concerns - this was before his abandoning them altogether in favor of surrealism (e.g. Suspiria, Inferno, and Phenomena), Argento may have wanted to focus more on technical aspects of making this film, and he certainly didn't like the idea of making a follow-up to Bird in the same style. But the film's rather lazy and uninspired storyline is completely sub par when it comes to the man handling it all. Especially considering the really amazingly brilliant plots Argento conceived for his films: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Deep Red, and Sleepless.
The film's performances are a mixed bag. At best, one can say that its two leading men are delightful to watch, and that there is genuine chemistry between them. James Franciscus is charming when he needs to be, but completely believable when it comes to his stunt work in the film's impressive confrontational climax. Karl Malden is the film's real shining star, though. His portrayal of a blind puzzle maker caught up in this world of mystery and violence is truly brilliant, and a must see for any performer having or wanting to tackle a role of a blind character. However, the film's supporting cast is nothing to really brag about. Still, a few brilliant performances delivered in a Dario Argento movie is worthy enough in itself to be mentioned.
Italian maestro Ennio Morricone provides the film's score, and much like his contributions to Argento's other works of this era - The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and Four Flies on Grey Velvet - Morricone's compositions are truly incredible. They are minimalist and jazzy in proper segments to create suspense where it is needed - the film's climax and murder sequences provide some truly edge-of-your-seat tension - and the lighter more melodic score is placed wonderfully during scenes of real intimacy between the film's characters.
While The Cat o' Nine Tails is one of Dario Argento's more middle-of-the-road movies, with its unimpressive story and rather bored direction, it is unquestionably an incredibly important motion-picture when it comes to Argento's career. It is the film that would help the young director work out his brilliant visionary eye and technical genius that everyone would later come to praise, admire, and attempt to replicate in his later work. It is a must see for all fans of Dario Argento and the giallo subgenre.
6.5/10
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