The Cat o' Nine Tails Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

The Cat o' Nine Tails Blu-ray Movie Review

Meow. And murder.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 29, 2011

A bit more exciting than one of your crossword puzzle games.

For a director whose greatest hits list reads like a selection out of some top-twenty-five genre list and whose best films are both near legendary and long since settled into cinema lore, Dario Argento seems pigeonholed into something he's really not. His name evokes "Horror" to be sure, but Argento elevates his film above and beyond what is the accepted basic definition of that genre. Many of his pictures certainly have Horror elements to them, but Argento isn't exactly the same kind of filmmaker as is a Clive Barker or someone along those lines, directors who make fine movies but who are more solidly hardcore Horror. Argento's pictures are as much about style, class, and mystery as they are scares and gore and other deeply-rooted emotional elements that construct various degrees of Horror filmmaking, the director dabbling and sometimes diving headfirst into the macabre, the supernatural, the grotesque but retaining an air of stability and evenhandedness that is sometimes lacking in more hardcore flat-out Horror. The Cat O' Nine Tails is one of Argento's most "tame" movies that should not and objectively, really, cannot be labeled as a "Horror" picture. Instead, this is a well-crafted Mystery that follows to the letter the typical Argento structure and style but foregoes even a hint of pure Horror elements in favor of a smooth, occasionally borderline intoxicating Whodunit that not only proves the director's versatility, but makes for an excellent not-so-scary introduction into his uniquely constructed cinematic worlds.

Aha! So the cat is Irish!

One evening, a blind man named Franco (Karl Malden) is "witness" to a crime. A man has knocked a genetics research facility guard unconscious, broken in, but seems to have stolen nothing of value. When Franco's niece Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) reads to him the corresponding story in the newspaper, they learn that one of the facility's scientists -- a man named Dr. Calabresi (Carlo Alighiero) who was sitting in a parked car and whom Lori had only the night before described to her uncle -- has been viciously killed at a train depot. Franco suspects there may be more to the story than sheer coincidence, believing the illegal entry and the murder to somehow be related. Franco contacts the reporter who wrote the story, a young go-getter named Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus), and together the two learn that the photo in the paper had been cropped, and that the original shows evidence that Dr. Calabresi was in fact murdered. Now working as a pair, Franco and Carlo set out to break the story wide open, discover who killed Dr. Calabresi, and learn what it was that was so important to the Doctor and spurred the initial break-in in the first place.

Admittedly, much of The Cat O' Nine Tails is neither original nor enthralling. Add to that a rather strange pairing of heroes -- a journalist and a blind crossword puzzler who was once a journalist but who now has a young girl in tow who calls him "cookie" because he's so sweet -- and the movie has "hokey disaster" written all over it. But then again this is a Dario Argento film, and "odd" is the middle name of all of his movies. The picture follows the same basic structure of every good mystery; clues are slowly revealed, allegiances are tested and strained, false flags and red herrings are prevalent, and the killer's identity is well-shrouded until the climax. Argento expertly elevates the level of suspense throughout; this is never much of a spine-tingling, nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat sort of affair, but Argento's sheer prowess as a filmmaker carries it past the doldrums of genre norm and transforms an otherwise routine story into something that's at the very least watchable, and is at its very best captivating but not necessarily intense or even all that memorable. Indeed, this is one of Argento's weaker overall pictures, which still makes it a whole lot better than most of what's out there. Even he can only do so much with something as structurally routine as this.

Technically, the film is as well-made as most any Argento movie; his framing and camera placement are decidedly and expectedly flawless, and he manages to make his style an important part of the storytelling process without ever coming close to overwhelming either the plot or the characters. Set design is a strength, with several locations themselves seeming to come alive in reinforcement of the plot, particularly during a chilling cemetery sequence late in the film. Another plus is Ennio Morricone's (Once Upon a Time in the West) complimentary, tone-establishing, and mood-reinforcing score. The cast is strong, too; the performances are perhaps a little over-the-top, but then again, that and the general "odd" sensations swirling around the characters is just what's to be expected from an Argento film. James Franciscus and Karl Malden make for a formidable one-two good guy punch; the young and exuberant Franciscus counters the more mature but not stuffy Malden, who must build his character through emotion and by conveying an innate sense of smarts that he uses to counter his physical disability. Catherine Spaak is excellent as the sultry mystery woman whom Argento shapes as both a sex object and a suspect, both to great effect and benefit to the film.

The Cat o' Nine Tails Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Cat O' Nine Tails may represent Blue Underground's finest release yet from a purely visual perspective. This 1080p Blu-ray transfer is marvelous from the top down, and aside from a few white speckles and a handful of early scenes where grain appears frozen in place rather than naturally swirly, it never misses a beat. Colors are fantastic, enjoying a fine period appearance, accentuating brighter shades of red and the like but also handling naturally warm and less pronounced hues with equal precision. Additionally, skin textures are natural and black levels are nicely inky and deep, never crushing out detail and refusing to unnaturally brighten up. Fine detail is strong, made all the better by the intact grain structure and fine sharpness and clarity the image enjoys. Facial and clothing textures are superb and environments positively sparkle, both exteriors and interiors alike. There's a natural depth to the image and it never goes soft. In short, Blue Underground has a winner in every regard with The Cat O' Nine Tails.

The Cat o' Nine Tails Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Cat O' Nine Tails arrives on Blu-ray with two DTS-HD MA soundtracks, one of the 1.0 mono variety and the other a 2.0 presentation. Obviously, both lack range and neither will deliver any sort of exciting, system-stretching experience, but listeners should be pleased with the generally crisp and satisfying-within-reason aspects of the tracks. Clarity is sometimes questionable, but serviceable; the opening title music plays with a decidedly and all at once tinny, indistinct, and harsh sensation, but things clear up significantly afterwards and for the remainder of the film. It still remains a touch shallow in places, but listeners will no doubt enjoy the crisp, accurate dialogue and satisfactorily clean music. These are simple presentations with little body, but even with the limitations of the one- and two-channel options, Blue Underground has delivered listening experiences that sufficiently and succinctly handle the film's naturally limited audio.

The Cat o' Nine Tails Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Cat O' Nine Tails features a very small but mostly serviceable assortment of extras, headlined by a filmmaker interview piece.

• Tales of the Cat (480p, 13:53): Interviews with Writer/Director Dario Argento, Co-Writer Dardano Sacchetti, and Composer Ennio Morricone. In Italian with English subtitles.
• Trailers: U.S. (480p, 1:38) and International (1080p, 1:51).
• TV Spots (480p, 1:02 & 0:32).
• Radio Spots (1080p, 0:58 & 0:31).
• Radio Interviews (1080p): Stars James Franciscus (7:35) and Karl Malden (7:50).

The Cat o' Nine Tails Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Cat O' Nine Tails doesn't exceed expectations as either a Mystery/Thriller or as an Argento film, but it does firmly meet them. The plot is sound if not a bit stale, but Argento's styling, knack for storytelling, and smarts behind the camera only accentuate the film, as does both the score and the cast. This isn't "Horror Argento," but in many ways it is "vintage Argento." Viewers looking for something more in line with the usual macabre/supernatural/scary sort of film might be disappointed to find instead a relatively tame Thriller with The Cat O' nine Tails, but it's still at least a watchable and rewarding little picture. Blue Underground's Blu-ray release of Cat O' Nine Tails is sadly absent a more thorough collection of extras, but steady lossless soundtracks and a pristine 1080p transfer certainly make the upgrade to high definition worthwhile. Recommended.