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The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971)

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Overall Rating 67%
Overall Rating
Ranked #4,153
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Franco Arno is a blind man who lives with his young niece and makes a living writing crossword puzzles. One night, while walking on the street, he overhears a weird conversation between two men sitting in a car parked in front of a medical institute where genetic experiments are performed. The same night, someone breaks into the institute and knocks out a guard. Arno decides to investigate with help from reporter Carlo Giordani. --IMDb
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Review by Christopher
Added: April 5, 2004
Franco (Karl Malden) the blind puzzle maker, use to be a news reporter before he went blind. That was his reason to obtain the services of Carlo (James Franciscus), the tenacious reporter. After the first two killings took place and the cops were unsuccessful in finding a killer, Franco and Carlo took it upon themselves to solve it. The closer they get to solving the mystery, the more their lives are in danger as the killer continues to try and get rid of the two. Carlo jumps to conclusions very quickly each time another clue is found, and ends up being wrong, until the killer willingly shows themself, which leads to a final battle with Franco.

Karl Malden did an excellent job acting blind. He took care of his young niece, which helped him along with almost everything and added to the reality factor. James Franciscus played that of your average, smart ass reporter. He too did a fine job. Most of the killings were done with brute force. Hitting the victim with something repeatedly, strangling them, what have you. Blood was shown where it was needed. There wasn't any non-believable amounts of blood going everywhere, which worked out excellently.

Argento's directing skills really shined through. Not just with the acting and such, but mostly with the camera angles. For example, whenever the killer was shown doing something, nothing of the killer would be shown. If they went and reached something off of a table, the only thing shown was the item coming off the table. The same happened whenever someone was killed or dragged off some where. More directors should grab onto, it certainly made this film work out very well.

Final Conclusion: 7/10
Nirrad #1: Nirrad - added November 15, 2008 at 11:59am
I was finally able to finish this movie late last night. Excellent giallo that keeps you guessing until the end. Definitely in my top 5 Argento films.
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