The Cat o' Nine Tails
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| Il gatto a nove code | |
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 Poster art for Dario Argento's The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971) |
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| Directed by | Dario Argento |
| Produced by | Salvatore Argento |
| Written by | Dario Argento Luigi Collo Dardano Sacchetti |
| Starring | James Franciscus Karl Malden Catherine Spaak Horst Frank Aldo Reggiani Carlo Alighiero Rada Rassimov Tom Felleghy Emilio Marchesini Ugo Fangareggi |
| Music by | Ennio Morricone |
| Cinematography | Erico Menczer |
| Editing by | Franco Fraticelli |
| Release date(s) | 1971 (Italy) |
| Running time | 112 min |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Cat o' Nine Tails (Italian: Il gatto a nove code) is a 1971 Italian mystery thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento.
[edit] Plot summary
The film begins with an unseen assailant breaking into a genetics laboratory, but when the police arrive to investigate it appears that nothing has been stolen. Newspaper reporter Giordani (James Franciscus) is intrigued by the incident, and soon thereafter one of the laboratory's geneticists dies after falling in front of a train.
Giordani teams up with a blind man, Franco Arnò (Karl Malden), who used to be a reporter before he lost his sight. Arnò discovers that the dead scientist is the same man he heard whispering to a shadowy figure in a car right before the burglary, and his investigator's instincts tell him that the scientist's death might have been the result of a failed attempt at blackmail.
Soon, the photographer who took a snapshot of the geneticist's fatal stumble is himself murdered, strangled to death and cut up. Both Giordani and Arnò realize he was killed to hide something, probably an incriminating clue in the uncropped negative of the photograph. But what is so important that the killer is trying to cover up, and why was nothing stolen from the lab? As they get closer and closer to the truth, more people die and several attempts are made on their lives before the secret is finally revealed.
[edit] Additional info
- This was Argento's second film as a director. It enjoyed moderate success in Europe but was dismissed in the United States, and Argento has admitted to being less than pleased with it.
- A heavily edited version running 90 minutes also exists.
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