Catherine Spaak, James Franciscus, Karl Malden

Franco Arno is a blind man that 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 man sitti...( read more  read more... )ng in a car parked in front of a medical institute where genetic experiments are performed. The same night someone breaks in the institute and kills a guard. Arno decides to investigate with the help of reporter Carlo Giordani.

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51% liked it

618 ratings

PG, 112 min.

Directed by: Dario Argento

Release Date: February 11, 1971

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DVD Release Date: March 29, 2005

Stats: 131 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (131)


  • June 29, 2008
    Decent Giallo from Argento. Couple of good kills, a great ending fight sequence and Karl Malden turning in an interesting performance
  • June 25, 2007
    Weird Dario Argento "Giallo" (gorey Italian detective mystery) movie with people connected to a genetics research project being killed. There was no cat in this movie! I don't know why Argento chose animal names for his first three Giallos. Karl Malden is a blind puzzle-solver wh...( read more)o helps the detective James Franciscus unlock this strange case. There's a few nice death scenes: someone being hit by a train, someone sliding down an elevator cable and shredding their hands, someone drinking from a poisonous pyramid-shaped milk carton. The plot is a bit silly and borning, but there's some nice set pieces.
  • December 6, 2006
    Not one of Argento's best but it does have its moments (the excellent climax being one of them.)
  • October 13, 2009
    WAY better movie then I thought it was gonna be
  • May 16, 2009
    A nice early thriller.
  • April 22, 2009
    Difficile de comprendre comment Argento peut considérer ce film comme étant son pire, et ce après avoir réalisé des navets putrides comme "Opera", "The Card Player" et "Mother of Tears"... Peut-être un petit manque d'objectivité ici, ou encore un dédain pour une oeuvre de jeuness...( read more)e? On ne le saura probablement jamais.

    Deuxième film de celui que l'on surnomme à tort "l'Hitchcock italien", ce petit giallo du début des années 70 a relativement bien vieilli. Les personnages sont attachants, le suspense est bien mené et l'intrigue en général est assez captivante. Le seul problème, c'est qu'elle traîne un peu trop. On a l'impression que dans sa volonté de créer un suspense insoutenable, Argento a failli oublier qu'il devait y avoir une fin.

    On y reconnaît déjà sa griffe: les plans de caméra subjectifs, les longs travelings, les mystérieux meurtriers, etc. Cependant, c'est beaucoup plus près d'un thriller classique que de ce qui l'a fait connaître, c'est à dire le surnaturel/horreur violent. En fait, "The Cat O' Nine Tails" est assez soft en matière de violence, ce qui surprend un peu pour un film d'Argento. Le tout se regarde finalement assez bien, surtout avec la musique de Morricone qui berce nos tympans.
  • January 12, 2009
    I waited a while to see this and finally the day came! A really hard movie to find and a good watch. A pretty good movie all together, not as good as his other ones, but not his worst either. Worth a watch.
  • November 4, 2008
    Nice, smooth Argento film. Did have some extended scenes that had no meaning, could have been cut down a bit. This could be remade by someone who cares, who would stay true to it but cut the unneeded points. Love the paper milk containers and the sexy ladies-they were interest...( read more)ing...
  • September 23, 2008
    Pretty good for a debut feature!

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  • abliejgj
    May 14, 2007
    i'vent wacth the movie yet but its seems interestin and i will love to wacth it not at nite lol...

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