Il gatto a nove code (1971)

Director:

Dario Argento

Writers:

Dario Argento (screenplay)
Dario Argento (story)
(more)

Release Date:

21 May 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

It's nine times more suspenseful!

Plot:

A newspaper reporter and a retired, blind journalist try to solve a series of killings connected to a pharmaceutical company's experimental, top-secret research projects and in so doing, both become targets of the killer.

Plot Keywords:

Night | Car | Picture | Street | Niece

Cast

James Franciscus	...	Carlo Giordani
Karl Malden	...	Franco Arno
Catherine Spaak	...	Anna Terzi
Pier Paolo Capponi	...	Police Supt. Spini
Horst Frank	...	Dr. Braun
Rada Rassimov	...	Bianca Merusi
Aldo Reggiani	...	Dr. Casoni
Carlo Alighiero	...	Dr. Calabresi
Vittorio Congia	...	Righetto (cameraman)
Ugo Fangareggi	...	Gigi the Loser
Tom Felleghy	...	Dr. Esson
Emilio Marchesini	...	Dr. Mombelli
Fulvio Mingozzi	...	Spimi's man
Corrado Olmi	...	Morsella
Pino Patti	...	Barber
Umberto Raho	...	Manuel's ex-lover
Jacques Stany	...	Prof. Manera
Stefano Oppedisano	...	Taxi driver
Ada Pometti	...	Telephone operator
Walter Pinelli
Sascha Helwin		(as Sacha Helwin)
Marie Louise Sinclair	...	Film starlet (as Marie Luise Zetha)
Martial Boschero
Cinzia De Carolis	...	Lori
Werner Pochath	...	Manuel
Tino Carraro	...	Prof. Fulvio Terzi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aristide Caporale	...	Smoker in the billiard hall (uncredited)
Giovanni Di Benedetto	...	Chief of Police Salmi (uncredited)
Margherita Horowitz	...	Lori's babysitter (uncredited)
Giuseppe Marrocco	...	Man at table in the Saint Peter's Club (uncredited)
Gennarino Pappagalli	...	Man in the Terzi's institute (uncredited)
Aldo Parenti	...	(uncredited)
Franco Ukmar	...	Policeman - speaks with Morsella about food (uncredited)

Directed by
Dario Argento

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Dario Argento		screenplay
Dario Argento		story
Luigi Collo		story
Dardano Sacchetti		story
Bryan Edgar Wallace		uncredited

Produced by
Salvatore Argento	....	producer

Original Music by
Ennio Morricone

Cinematography by
Erico Menczer

Film Editing by
Franco Fraticelli

Production Design by
Carlo Leva

Costume Design by
Carlo Leva
Luca Sabatelli

Makeup Department
Giuseppe Ferranti	....	makeup artist
Vincenzo Marchetti	....	assistant makeup artist
Piero Mecacci	....	makeup artist
Maura Turchi	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Angelo Iacono	....	production manager
Giuseppe Mangogna	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roberto Pariante	....	assistant director

Art Department
Romeo Costantini	....	assistant set decorator
Franco Pedacchia	....	assistant production designer
Lamberto Verdenelli	....	property master

Sound Department
Luciano Anzellotti	....	sound effects
Eugenio Fiori	....	boom operator
Romano Pampaloni	....	sound recordist
Mario Ronchetti	....	sound

Visual Effects by
Luciano Vittori	....	titles & optical effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Roberto Bertozzi	....	electrician
Roberto Brega	....	camera operator
Arturo de Castelterlango	....	first assistant camera
Rodolfo Flibotti	....	gaffer
Giuseppe Gabrielli	....	grip
Maurizio La Monica	....	second assistant camera
Alberico Loreti	....	best boy electric
Renato Mascagno	....	first assistant camera
Ettore Migalizzi	....	grip
Giovanni Migalizzi	....	grip
Maurizio Migalizzi	....	key grip
Firmino Palmieri	....	still photographer
Franco Rachini	....	electrician
Carlo Vinciguerra	....	electrician

Editorial Department
Cesarina Casini	....	first assistant editor
Sergio Fraticelli	....	second assistant editor

Music Department
Bruno Nicolai	....	conductor

Other crew
Carlo Du Bois	....	administrator
Roberta Leoni	....	production secretary
Bruno Ukmar	....	gunsmith
Luciano Vittori	....	title designer

Production Companies

• Labrador Films
• Seda Spettacoli
• Terra-Filmkunst
• Transconta SA

Distributors

• Mondial Films (1971) (France) (theatrical)
• National General Pictures (1971) (USA) (theatrical) (English-track)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1977) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Constantin Film (1971) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Constantin Film (1971) (West Germany) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Valio-Filmi (1972) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Anchor Bay Entertainment (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Astro Distribution (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Bingo Video Inc. (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Cinefear (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Control Productions (????) (Australia) (DVD)
• DMEG (2004) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Diamond Entertainment Group (DEG) (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Dutch FilmWorks (DFW) (????) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Echo Bridge Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Emerald (2008) (Argentina) (DVD)
• Future Film (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• K & C Video (????) (Australia) (VHS)
• Krause & Schneider Multimedia (KSM) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Miracle Pictures (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2005) (USA) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2007) (USA) (all media)
• Simitar Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Summit Video (????) (Australia) (VHS)
• UFA Video (????) (West Germany) (VHS)
• XT Video Entertainment (2005) (Austria) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Cat o' Nine Tails (USA) (dubbed version)
Die neunschwänzige Katze (West Germany)
Le chat à neuf queues (France)
The Cat o' Nine Tails (USA) (DVD title)

Runtime:

Spain:110 min | USA:112 min | Argentina:115 min | USA:90 min (cut version) | West Germany:32 min (Super 8-version in 2 parts) | Austria:114 min (Limited Uncut Integral-Version)

Country:

Italy | France | West Germany

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-15 (2005) (uncut) | Finland:K-16 (1972) (cut) | Norway:16 (1972) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2006) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Italy:VM14 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video re-rating) (2005) | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:GP (original rating) | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Cinecittà Studios, Cinecittà, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Labrador Films

Trivia:

Although it's one of his most successful films, this is the least favorite of Dario Argento among his pictures.

Goofs:

Continuity: Early in the graveyard scene, as they are walking, the position of the actors changes between shots. In the side angle Malden has his left arm raised with his hand on Franciscus' right shoulder, in the angle showing them from the front, Malden has his arm down and Franciscus is gripping his shoulder.

Quotes:

Carlo Giordani: Do you know how many people are together right now making love this very second?
Anna Terzi: No.
Carlo Giordani: 780 on the average. Really.
[pause]
Carlo Giordani: I don't know if you're aware of it or not, but that was an invitation.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Deep Red 25th Anniversary (2000) (V)

Nine Leads to Follow

The former journalist Franco Arno (Karl Malden) is a retired blind man the writes crosswords and lives with his orphan niece Lori (Cinzia De Carolis) nearby the Terzi Institute. While walking with Lori on the street, he overhears a strange conversation of two men in a car parked in front of the institute and he asks Lori to watch their faces. In the same night, there is a break in the institute with an attempt of heist. On the next morning, the researcher Dr. Calabresi (Carlo Alighiero) dies in the train station and the police believe that it was an accident. However, Lori recognizes the picture of the scientist in the newspaper as one of the men in the car. Franco contacts the snoopy reporter Carlo Giordano (James Franciscus) and asks him to blow up the picture and examine the details. The photographer discovers that Dr. Calabresi was pushed from the platform but he is also killed and the photograph vanishes. After their preliminary investigation, they find that the scientist are researching a revolutionary drug and a genetic experiment of XYY chromosomes associated to delinquency for the government and they conclude that there are nine leads to be followed: each of the five assistants of the institute (Dr. Calabresi; Dr. Esson; Dr. Mobelli; Dr. Casoni; and the gay Dr. Braun); the stepdaughter of Prof. Fulvio Terzi, Anna Terzi; the fiancée of Dr. Calabresi, Bianca Merusi; the missing photograph; and the robbery of the institute.

The suspenseful "Il Gatto a Nove Code" is the second film in the career of the director Dario Argento and despite the flaws, it is an entertaining conventional thriller. The association of Giordano with Arno is implausible; the unethical way that Giordano works, breaking in the residences is unacceptable for an experienced reporter; the one night stand of Giordano and Anna has no chemistry or eroticism; the car race of Anna is pointless; the edition of the accident of Dr. Calabresi is poor. But there are good moments, like the angles of camera in the stairways, or when Giordano brings two glasses of milk toward Anna. The deduction of Arno that Bianca has hidden the note in the watch in the necklace is unconvincing. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil) "O Gato de Nove Caudas" ("The Cat of Nine Tails")