THE CRIMES OF THE BLACK CAT (1972)
Label: Cauldron Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 99 Minutes
Audio: English PCM 2.0 Dual-Mono, Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Sergio Pastore
Cast: Anthony Steffen, Sylva Koscina, Giacomo Rossi Stuart, Jeanette Len, Renato De Carmine, Umberto Raho, Romano Malaspina
Early on in Sergio Pastore’s Argento influenced murder mystery The Crimes of the Black Cat (1972) a fashion model named Paolo discovers a gift basket left behind in her dressing room. When she opens it she elicits a frightful shriek which draws the attention of the fashion-house staff and other models, who find her dead on the floor of an apparent heart attack. Her ex boyfriend, a blind composer by the name of Peter Oliver (Anthony Steffen, The Night Evelyn Came out of the Grave)who she dumped the night before her death suspects that there's something more sinister afoot, and teams up with Paolo's model gal-pal Margot (Shirley Corrigan) and his loyal butler Harry (Romano Malaspina) to investigate her death.
With a fashion-house setting that channels Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (1964) and a blind protagonist turned sleuth lifted straight from Dario Argento's The Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) from the previous year. Its a giallo traversing well-trodden tropes but it's spirited and fun with oodles of sleaze, well-executed murders, and a batshit murder method that involves a drugged-up woman in a white cape, a vicious black cat, a yellow shawl found at each murder scene, and various elixirs and poisons. That might sound like a lot to put out there but none of which is really a spoilerly as the pieces are laid out pretty early on in the film, the fun is in piecing it a together.
A key component of Peter's investigation is a conversation that the blind protagonist overhears inside a noisy bar wherein a woman is seemingly coerced or blackmailer into doing something nefarious against her will - something potentially having to do with the initial murder, and the ensuing string of murders that come after. The blind-man sleuthing a murder definitely brought to mind Argento's blind reporter in Cat O' Nine Tails, as we as his musician turned amateur sleuth from Argento's later Deep Red (1975) - like I said, it borrow heavily, the fun is in the pulpy execution.
Highlights are the score from Manuel De Sica (Dellamorte Dellamore) and the kills are pretty well done, including a graphic Psycho-esque shower scene and a throat slash with straight-razor, plus someone falling into a vat of quick lime, and a decent dive through a pane of window glass. It's a giallo that kept me thoroughly entertained from the start, it might lack originality and the stylish lensing of a Bava or Argento but I thought it was quite spirited and deliciously pulpy.
Audio/Video: The Crimes of the Black Cat (1972) arrives on Blu-ray uncut with a 4K restoration by Cauldron Films, presented in 2.35:1 widescreen in 1080p HD. The source shows limitation by way of some occasional softness and fairly minor damage but film grain is appreciable and overall I thought it was a solid HD release.
Audio comes by way of lost Italian 2.0 or the previously rare English-dub presented here in uncompressed English PCM 2.0 mono with optional English subtitles. The Italian track is anemic and not great, but the English-dub it quite good with a ton of familiar voice actors providing the dubs, the dialogue and the score from Manuel De Sica sounds very good, no complaints.
Onto the extras we get some nice goodies beginning with a pair of commentaries - the first with Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson, and a second with the Fragments of Fear – A Giallo Podcast with Peter Jilmstad and Rachael Nisbet. There are also two featurettes, the newly produced 18-minute Remembering Sergio Pastore – Interview with Sara Pastore, the director's opera-singing daughter, and the 17-minute Sergio Pastore – Un Ammirevole Indipendente.
The disc is buttoned-up with a 4-minute Trailer and Image Gallery. The single-disc standard release version arrives in a clear keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork, inside there's a postcard sized insert advertising current and future releases from Cauldron.
Special Features:
Audio Commentary by Troy Howarth and Nathaniel Thompson
- Audio Commentary track with Fragments of Fear – A Giallo Podcast with Peter Jilmstad and Rachael Nisbet
- Remembering Sergio Pastore – Interview with Sara Pastore (18 min)
- Sergio Pastore – Un Ammirevole Indipendente (17 min)
- Trailer (3 min)
- Image Gallery (2 min)
The Crimes of the Black Cat (1972) is entertaining giallo made in the shadow of Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage and wearing its influence on its sleeve, but its also pulpy fun with some seedy vibes and visceral bits of violence that are definitely going to appeal to the giallo loving folk out there, plus it has a pretty great score. I appreciate Cauldron Films for saving this black-gloved thriller from the dustbin and offering up a solid platter of pulpy whodunit fun.
Screenshots from the Cauldron Films Blu-ray:
