Acquainting myself slowly with Dario Argento’s ‘animal’ giallo trilogy (because of the animals named in the title) and I had heard The Cat ‘O Nine Tails (1971; Il gatto a nove code) wasn’t as good as the first of the trilogy, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage. This may be true, and apparently it is one of Argento’s least favourite of his own movies, but I still enjoyed it as a post-Hitchcock murder mystery. A blind man nicknamed Cookie (Karl Malden) overhears a potential clue in the murder of a doctor from a secretive research institute and teams up with hunky reporter Carlo (James Franciscus) to solve the crime. There are nine potential suspects in the staff, hence the title (I don’t think you actually see a cat in this movie!). There are some great sequences including the one at the train station, the one with the poisoned milk, the graveyard investigation and the night-time rooftop finale. There are some kooky supporting characters (Gigi The Loser was my favourite) and a lovely score by Ennio Morricone. I remember it being screened a bunch back in the day on SBS Cult Movies – glad to have finally seen it!
VHS Tracking 