"Cat o' Nine Tails" has a potentially interesting story that comes to nothing.It's another tedious giallo where you don't care who did it, if anyone does.The story is perhaps, if anything, too involved for its own good. Something about chromosome alteration eliminating criminal behaviour? Nevertheless we get some fairly violent deaths, such as a person being run over by a train - actually not anywhere near as violent as it would be in real life - and, memorably, someone falling down an empty elevator shaft, though the impact at the bottom looks nowhere near as painful as their hands sliding down the ropes on the way down. I thought I actually saw smoke?As usual for these types of things, I wasn't paying attention in the end, and whoever did do it wasn't familiar to me by that stage anyway.

Great Directors can Suffer from Self Comparison among the General Public and Ardent Fans. That is, a Particular Movie is Compared to the Auteur's Other Work and Not the Work of Others. Such has been the Case with this one, the Director's Second Film where He is Obviously Finding His Niche and has yet to Develop the Pure Style and Momentum of His Later Work.Fans are Divided on this one and if Viewed in Context with the Filmography one can see Why. The biggest Problem, if Someone is Looking for a Problem, is the Pacing. It Tends to Linger and Drag in Spots. It's also fairly Long and that Doesn't Help. But there are enough Scenes of Excellence and the Plot, while a bit Dense, is Intriguing.The Train Platform Scene, among others, are Unmistakably Argento and the Odd Music can Unsettle in Parts. James Franciscus and Karl Malden are better than OK and the Little Girl is more than Fine. Argento Newbies, Do Not Start Here! This one takes some Patience and the Director has said it is one of His Least Favorites, perhaps His Worst. But even His Worst is Better than Most. Definitely Worth a Watch even for Casual Fans and Argento Cultists will want to see it for an Example of His Early Work and for Comparison.

Unlike all the Dario Argento fans who obviously want to seek out this film, I watched it because it has the late James Franciscus in color. Now you're talking.Alas, that wasn't enough to make me think "Cat o'Nine Tails" was any good.Part of the problem for me is that I don't like dubbed films, and I had the distinct impression that some of these actors were dubbed. They sounded dubbed. Also, it's hard to buy Karl Malden as an Italian named Franco Arno, though he was very good.Arno, now blind, is retired and lives with his young niece. He writes crosswords now. While walking with his niece near the Terzi Institute, he overhears a conversation in a car that piques his interest.On the same night, the institute is broken into, though it doesn't appear anything was taken. Then one of the researchers is pushed in front of a train and killed. The police believe it to be an accident, but Arno's niece recognizes the man killed as one of the people in the car.Franco contacts Carlo Giordano (Franciscus) and the two bond and start investigating together. Blowing up the photo, the train death is clearly seen as murder, though the photographer is killed and the photo disappears.The Terzi Institute is researching a drug that concerns the XYY chromosome, often associated with violent behavior. But who is responsible for the murders? There are nine people, items, or circumstances that demand investigation: The five investigators in the lab, the stepdaughter of Terzi, Anna Terzi, the fiancée of Dr. Calabresi, Bianca Merusi; the missing photograph; and the robbery of the institute.I didn't think this was very well done. I take it Catherine Spaak was supposed to be a knockout. I found her odd looking - mainly I think she just had a very dated look.James Franciscus died at the age of 57 of emphysema. In the mid-'80s he formed Omnibus Productions and produced adaptations of many classic novels as films -- Heidi, David Copperfield, The Red Pony, and also wrote a film, 29th Street, starring Anthony LaPaglia, Danny Aiello, and Lainie Kazan. Died way too young. "Cat o'Nine Tails" was one of several films he did overseas.Argento himself didn't like this film, though I believe it's a big rental in Italy. With the Italian dialogue, perhaps it's less awkward.

I saw this on The Horror Channel.Having seen a few Dario Argento horror flicks on this channel now, I would dare say that Cat O' Nine Tails is the most restrained, at least in the gore/violence stakes, of those I've watched. There are moments of extreme but swift, clever nasty bits, though.I guess you'll be watching this cos it is by this so-influential 'Italian Hitchcock' maestro rather than for its story, but having said that, it's decently far-fetched enough but with enough relevance to paranoia around government testing of miracle drugs and all that...It looked to me to have been made in English, rather than dubbed, or could just that the brilliant, understated performance by Karl Malden was and everyone else were dubbed after. He plays a blind, retired journalist, who has a young orphaned girl as his visual aide and along with a current newspaper reporter,(James Franciscus) they uncover all these secrets after a man, they suspect, was pushed under a train, rather than falling and then, other murders.I'm no expert on the horror genre but would dare say that this still has signs of the director's visual stylish daring, but is less operatic than some of his, being more workmanlike and 'American'. It still works well, but is more akin to a crime thriller than out-and-out horror, though we do get moments of terror and suspense and the odd twist in the tale.This might be a lesser Argento (number of reviews and score on IMDb) but is still a heap better than many Hollywood affairs but somehow, doesn't have that magic ingredient that his best movies have. Quite good, but not great.