The script, co-written by Bryan Edgar Wallace – son of famed crime writer Edgar Wallace – from a story by Argento, Dardano Sacchetti, Luigi Cozzi and Luigi Collo, revolves around XYY syndrome, a genetic disorder in which males are born with an extra Y chromosome. Aided by his young niece Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) and reporter Carlo Giordani (James Franciscus), he uncovers skulduggery in the scientific community, the conspiracy involved in which will stop at nothing, even murder, to keep their secrets. Once again boasting a convoluted plot, it follows the investigations of blind former journalist Franco “Cookie” Arnò (Karl Malden) who overhears what seems to be a blackmail plot outside the genetics research facility, the Terzi Institute.
But compared to the staggeringly assured Bird, it seems rather mundane – might one even dare to suggest that it’s a bit ordinary? Certainly it contains fewer sequences that are as memorable as those found in the earlier film though it still has much to commend it. It’s not to say that Cat is a bad film – far from it. Argento himself has expressed displeasure with the way the film turned out and has frequently called it the least favourite of his films – and as anyone who has doggedly clung to his career over the past three decades in the increasingly forlorn hope that he might find his old form again will attest, that’s quite the admission. But it was the second film from Dario Argento, following hot on the heels of his dazzling debut L’uccello dalle piume di cristallo/ The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) and by comparison, it doesn’t quite cut the mustard.
Had it been made by anyone else, Il gatto a nove code/ The Cat o’Nine Tails (1971) would have been a well above average thriller.
0 kommentar(er)
