THE CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971) (Arrow Video 4K UHD Review)

THE CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971)

Label: Arrow Video
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: 15 Certificate
Duration: 112 Minutes
Audio: English and Italian DTS-HD MA Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 2160p UHD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank, Rada Rassimov, Cinzia De Carolis

Synopsis: When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò, who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institute’s scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperiled in their search for the truth. And worse still, Lori, Franco’s young niece, may also be in the killer’s sights…

Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) was Dario Argento's sophomore film following the seminal giallo entry The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970). It's the middle entry in what has become known unofficially as Argento's "Animal Trilogy", a trio of films with names of animals in the title which ended with Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) The films share little in common aside from being stylish Italian whodunits and Argento's artful eye for the macabre, not dissimilar to John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy".

The film has quite a pedigree, starring American actor Karl Malden (How The West Was Won), featuring a cool, low-key score from Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) and it was co-written by Italian screenwriting legend Dardana Sacchetti (A Bay of Blood). The story revolves around a blind man named Arno (Malden) who cares for his young adopted daughter Lori (Cinzia De Carolis, Cannibal Apocalypse) and bides his time assembling the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle. One evening while walking down the street with his daughter he overhears two men discussing a blackmail plot while parked in a car outside of a genetics lab, which is conveniently located right next to Arno's apartment. Pretending to bend over and tie his shoe he asks Lori to observe the men in the car, but she's only able to describe one of the men to Arno. Later that night while working on a new puzzle Arno overhears a scuffle outside his window which turns out to be a crime in-process.

The next day Arno is out on the street when he's accidentally knocked over by a reporter named Carlo (James Franciscus, The Valley of Gwangi) near the genetics lab. Carlo stops to apologize and Arno asks him what has happened, the reporter tells him that the previous evening the night watchmen at the lab was knocked unconscious and that someone broke into the Terzi Institute, perhaps to perform some act of industrial espionage. Whatever it is Prof. Terzi (Tino Carraro, Orgasmo) doesn't seem too keen on assisting the police with their investigation. Soon after the break-in one of the lab's lead scientist Dr. Calabresi (Carl Alighiero, Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh) is thrown in front of a speeding train pulling into the station during the high profile arrival of a movie starlet, and his death is caught on camera which makes the front page news. 

The next day Arno's daughter notices the picture of the victim at the train station and recognizes him as none other than one of the men from the car outside the genetics lab the night before. The two seek out the reporter Carlo and the trio set about sleuthing the mystery in classic whodunit fashion as the killer sets out to eliminate those who may be able to finger them as the culprit. Per usual the red-herrings abound in this atmospheric, slow-burn, including the sexy, spoiled daughter of Prof. Terzi, Anna, played by the vivacious French actress/singer Catherine Spaak (Story of a Cloistered Nun). The set-up is your classic Italian whodunit but it soon becomes entangled in an improbable array of twists and turns stemming from the strangest chromosomal motivation this side of well, nearly most everything. It's very odd and not one of Argento's better twists in my opinion, it's a head-scratcher.

The cinematography from Erico Menczer lacks the stunning scope and framing of Argento collaborators Storaro (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) or Tovoli (Tenebre), but it's an early Argento so there's some great Euro 70's style and set decoration courtesy of set designer Carlo Leva. Love those 70's fashions, the locations and décor, with ornate wall paper and a funky 70's colors. The kills are not particularly elaborate (mostly strangulation) and are lacking those great POV shots Argento went for, but we do get some trademark stairwell shots, cool eyeball close-ups and nifty murder set including a man meeting his grisly end as he goes screaming down an elevator shaft, his hands torn to pieces grasping at the steel cables.

Perhaps not on par with Argento's finest works during this golden era, but this is still a very fine giallo entry that absolutely outshines anything he's done post-Opera (1987) in my estimation. Some say this flick is too slow burning, but maybe because I grew up on a steady diet of slow-burn made-for-TV movies I rather enjoyed the pace. The murders are also not as intricate as some of Argento's more loved films, but it is still an enjoyable whodunit that's wonderfully acted, steeped in atmosphere and masterfully directed.

Highlights for me were a particularly tense scene featuring Carlo getting a close shave from a barber who takes exception to his article implicating that a barber might be murderous maniac, a white-knuckle car chase through the busy streets Italy, and the film's elevator shaft shocker finale, it's all fun stuff that's expertly directed. I am reminded in a way of Lucio Fulci, whose later gore-riddled films brought him much notoriety but it is forgotten that he once also directed suspenseful, less visceral film such as The Psychic and I think Argento's Cat O' Nine Tails is similarly lost amidst his oeuvre, and is deserving more respect for the solid thriller that it is.

Audio/Video: The Cat o' Nine Tails, which was previously issued on B Blu-ray from Arrow Video twice, now gets a UHD upgrade from Arrow with a 4K scan of the original camera negative, framed in the original 2.35:1 widescreen. The image offers a lush layer of film grain with the increased 

resolution bringing out some of the more delicate details in the 70's era clothing and fabric textures, as well as in the close-ups of facial features. The Dolby Vision HDR10 color-grading brings additional warmth to skintones and the highlights are terrific with an improved color-balance. HDR10 also brings deeper more consistent black levels which improve contrast, depth and clarity as well, this is a very pleasing upgrade. 

Sadly no Atmos upgrade but the original uncompressed mono sounds is solid, handling the high and lows with ease and without distortion on either the English or the Italian presentation. It's vintage mono so we don't get a lot of depth or bass, but the dialogue, effects and score are all well balanced and sound great, particularly the Ennio Morricone's score, highlighted by "Lullabye in Blue" which opens the film.

Onto the extras we get the same assortment of extras from the previous Blu-ray, these include the Freak-O-Rama produced interviews with co-writer/director Dario Argento, co-writer Dardano Sacchetti, production manager Angelo Iacono, and actress Cinzia De Carolis. We are also treated to a fantastic audio commentary with Argento-experts and film critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman who bang-out a finely detailed talk-along that is sure to please. The disc is buttoned up with script pages with the original ending, as well as three trailers for the film.

We were only sent a "check disc" for review without retail packaging, but retail copies edition also includes an Illustrated collectors booklet featuring an original essay on the film by Dario Argento, and writing by Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth and Howard Hughes, a fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative, six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards, and a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative

Special Features:
- New 4K restoration from the original negative by Arrow Film

- 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)

- Restored original lossless mono Italian and English soundtracks

- English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack

- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack

- Audio Commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
- Interview with co-writer/director Dario Argento (16 min) HD
- Interview with co-writer Dardano Sacchetti (35 min) HD
- Interview with actress Cinzia De Carolis (11 min) HD 
- Interview with production manager Angelo Iacono (15 min) HD 
- Script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English (3 min) HD
- Original Italian Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- Original International Theatrical Trailers (2 min) HD
- US Domestic Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD

- Image Galleries: Posters, Italian Lobby Cards, German Promotional Materials, U.S, Promotional Materials, U.S. Pressbook, Soundtracks

- Illustrated collectors booklet featuring an original essay on the film by Dario Argento, and writing by Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth and Howard Hughes

- Fold-out double-sided poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative

- Six double-sided, postcard-sized lobby card reproduction artcards

- Limited edition packaging with reversible sleeve featuring originally and newly commissioned artwork by Obviously Creative

Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) might not be a giallo quite as stylish as Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) or Tenebre (1982), both are high water marks indeed, but is still a first-rate Argento thriller from his early period. It's almost annoying that Arrow Video have once again upgraded a golden era Argento whodunit with a now even more definitive edition than the previous definitive edition, but when it looks so good I think you can easily forgive them... your wallet might not though. 

THE CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971) (Arrow Video Blu-ray Review)

THE CAT O' NINE TAILS (1971)

Label: Arrow Video

Region Code: Region FREE
Rating: 15 Certificate
Duration: 112 Minutes
Audio: English and Italian LPCM Audio Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Dario Argento
Cast: James Franciscus, Karl Malden, Catherine Spaak, Pier Paolo Capponi, Horst Frank, Rada Rassimov, Cinzia De Carolis

Synopsis: When a break-in occurs at a secretive genetics institute, blind puzzle-maker Franco Arnò, who overheard an attempt to blackmail one of the institute’s scientists shortly before the robbery, teams up with intrepid reporter Carlo Giordani to crack the case. But before long the bodies begin to pile up and the two amateur sleuths find their own lives imperiled in their search for the truth. And worse still, Lori, Franco’s young niece, may also be in the killer’s sights…

Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) is Dario Argento's sophomore film following the seminal giallo entry The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970). It's the middle entry in what has become known as Argento's "Animal Trilogy", a trio of films with names of animals in the title which is capped off with Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) and share little in common aside from being that oh-so wonderful Italian variation on the classic whodunit called a giallo and Argento's artful eye for the stylish macabre, not unlike John Carpenter's "Apocalypse Trilogy".

The film has quite a pedigree, starring American actor Karl Malden (How The West Was Won), featuring a low-key score from Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) and it's co-written by Italian screenwriting legend Dardana Sacchetti (A Bay of Blood). The story revolves around a blind, middle aged man named Arno (Malden) who cares for his young adopted daughter Lori (Cinzia DE Carolis, Night of the Demons) and bides his time assembling the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle. One evening while walking down the street with Lori he overhears two men discussing blackmail in a car parked on the street outside of a genetics lab, which just happens to sit next to Arno's apartment. Pretending to bend over and tie his shoe he asks Lori to observe the men in the car, she's only able to describe one of the men to Arno. Later that night while working on a new puzzle Arno overhears a scuffle outside his window which unbeknownst to him turns out to be a crime in-process.

The next day Arno is out on the street when he's accidentally knocked over by a reporter named Carlo (James Franciscus, Beneath the Planet of the Apes) near the genetics lab and when he asks the reporter what has happened he's informed that the previous evening the night watchmen of the lab was knocked out cold and that someone has broken into the Terzi Institute, perhaps to perform some act of industrial espionage. Whatever it is Prof. Terzi (Tino Carraro, Werewolf Man) doesn't seem too keen on assisting the police with their investigation. Soon after the break-in one of the lab's lead scientist Dr. Calabresi (Carl Alighiero, Blade of the Ripper) is thrown in front of a speeding train pulling into the station during the high profile arrival of a movie starlet, his moment of death is caught on camera and makes the front page news - it's a great set-piece and kill.

The next day Arno's daughter Lori notices the picture of the victim at the train station and recognizes that it's none other than one of the men from the car outside the genetics lab. The two seek out the reporter Carlo and the trio set about sleuthing the mystery in classic whodunit fashion as the killer sets out to eliminate those who may be able to finger them as the devious culprit. Red-herrings abound in this atmospheric, slow-burn, including the sexy, spoiled daughter of Prof. Terzi, Anna, played by the vivacious French actress/singer Catherine Spaak.

The set-up is your classic Italian whodunit but it soon becomes entangled in an improbable array of twists and turns stemming from the strangest chromosomal motivation this side of well, nearly most everything, it's very odd and not one of Argento's better twists in my opinion, it's a head-scratcher for sure and not in a complimentary way.

The cinematography from Erico Menczer lacks the stunning scope and framing of say Storaro (The Bird with the Crystal Plumage) or Tovoli (Tenebre) but it's an early Argento so there's some great Euro 70's style and set decoration courtesy of set designer Carlo Leva. Love those 70's fashions, the locations and décor are over-the-top and fun, with ornate wall paper and a funky 70's color palates. The kills are not particularly elaborate (mostly strangulation) and are lacking those great POV shots Argento went for, but we do get some trademark stairwell shots, cool eyeball close-ups and nifty set pieces, a particularly fun departure from life occurs when the villain meets a grisly end screaming down an elevator shaft, his hands torn to pieces grasping at the steel cables.

Perhaps not on par with Argento's finest works this is still a very fine giallo entry that absolutely outshines anything he's done post-Opera (1987) in my estimation. It's a bit of a slow burn, which I rather enjoy, and the kills aren't as intricate as you may have hoped for, but still an enjoyable whodunit that's wonderfully acted, steeped in atmosphere and masterfully directed.

Highlights for me were a particularly tense seen featuring Carlo getting a close shave from a barber who takes exception to his article implicating that a barber may in fact be the murderous maniac, a white-nuckle car chase through the busy streets Italy and the film's elevator shaft shocker finale, all fun stuff that's expertly directed. I am reminded in a way of Lucio Fulci, whose later gore-riddled films brought him much notoriety but it is forgotten that he once also directed suspenseful, less visceral film such as The Psychic and I think Argento's Cat O' Noine Tails is similarly lost amidst his oeuvre and it's definitely a film deserving of some respect for the thriller that it is.

Audio/Video: The Cat o' Nine Tails arrives on Blu-ray from Arrow Video for a second time, this time with a brand new 4K restoration sourced from the original camera negative, framed in the original 2.35:1 widescreen. The image is crisp and clean, grain is nicely managed without being intrusive and the colors are natural looking with nice deep black levels. The image is noticeably darker than the previous Blu-ray from Arrow, in a good way, the former looking to have been brightness/contrast boosted a bit too much in comparison, that older release also having been DNR'd a tad too much by today's standards. 


The lossless LPCM mono sounds very nice handling the high and lows with ease, no distortions were noticed on either the English or the Italian track, the latter I only sampled now and again for purpose of this review. It's mono so we don't get a lot of depth but the dialogue, effects and score are all well balanced and sound great, particularly Ennio Morricone's low-key score, which isn't his finest work but the "Lullabye in Blue" is definitely a haunting highlight that opens the film.

Onto the extras we have new interviews with co-writer/director Dario Argento, co-writer Dardano Sacchetti and production manager Angelo Iacono coordinated by Freak-O-Rama Productions, also advertised is an interview with actress Cinzia De Carolis but through what looks to be a disc authoring error the interview is nowhere to be found, when selected on the menu the Dardano Sacchetti interview plays again - shortly after discovering the error I see that Arrow are aware of the issue and have said the following in regard to the release being pushed back to correct it:

***THE CAT O' NINE TAILS RELEASE DATE UPDATE***
Unfortunately we have discovered a small authoring error on the Blu-ray of our upcoming release of THE CAT O' NINE TAILS in which one of the menu links incorrectly links to the wrong interview. We have rectified the problem and replacement discs are currently being manufactured. We are hoping that we can have the replacement discs swapped out for the faulty ones before New Year, regrettably this process is going to result in a short delay to the release date, the product will now be released on January 29th in the UK and January 30th in the US.

We caught this error before any stock had shipped to retailers, so all copies will be correct come the new release date, however a very small number have shipped to some customers who ordered directly from our website (we have contacted you via email if you order has shipped/been affected so please check those inboxes!)
Apologies for the delay and we very much hope you enjoy the release once it arrives!

My favorite extra on the set is a new audio commentary with Argento-experts and critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman who fill their commentary with loads of info, personal anecdotes and observations about the film, a great track. We also get some script pages with the original ending, and three trailers for the film.

Special Features: 

- Brand new 4K restoration of the film from the original camera negative
- High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentations
- Original mono Italian and English soundtracks (lossless on the Blu-ray Disc)
- Newly translated English subtitles for the Italian soundtrack
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing for the English soundtrack
- New audio commentary by critics Alan Jones and Kim Newman
- New interviews with co-writer/director Dario Argento (16 min) HD
- New interviews with co-writer Dardano Sacchetti (35 min) HD
- New interviews with actress Cinzia De Carolis (N/A)
- New Interview with production manager Angelo Iacono ( min) HD
- Script pages for the lost original ending, translated into English for the first time (3 min) HD
- Original Italian Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- Original International Theatrical Trailers (2 min) HD
- US Domestic Theatrical Trailer (2 min) HD
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Candice Tripp
- Double-sided fold-out poster
- 4 lobby card reproductions
- Limited edition booklet illustrated by Matt Griffin, featuring an essay on the film by Dario Argento, and new writing by Barry Forshaw, Troy Howarth and Howard Hughes

Cat O' Nine Tails (1971) might not be as stylish as Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970) or Tenebre (1982) but is still a first-rate thriller, a slow burn for sure, but one that ends with a satisfying conclusion, even if I think the XYY chromosomal motivations are quite absurd, Much as they did with their 4K restoration of Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage Arrow Video have offered us a superiors release of an Argento classic, well-worth the upgrade for the new audio commentary alone.

DVD Review: THE GRAND DUEL (1972)

THE GRAND DUEL (1972) 

Label: Blue Underground

Region Code: Region FREE NTSC

Audio: English Dolby Digital Mono

Video: 16:9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Duration: 94 Minutes
Rating: R
Director: Giancarlo Santi
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Alberto Dentice, Jess Hahn, Horst Frank, Klaus Grunberg


The Grand Duel (1972) is the debut feature film from director Giancarlo Santi whom was second unit director on Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) among others, it turns out he could shoot a pretty great Spaghetti Western, too. The film stars a face quite familiar to the Euro-Western genre, the steely-eyed Lee Van Cleef (Escape from New York) as Sheriff Clayton, a lawman stripped of his star on the trail of a Phillip Wermeer (Alberto Dentice) whom stands accused of murdering the patriarch of the crooked Saxon clan. 

At the top of the film Clayton catches up with Wermeer in Gila Bend, Arizona. Complicating the apprehension of the fugitive is the arrival of a band of bounty hunters out for the reward on his skull. Clayton's not about to hand him over to the low lifes and actually assists in helping Wermeer evade his would-be captors, there's a rather elaborate and unrealistic escape sequence with Wermeer using a falling corpse and a wagon to launch himself to freedom, this is a frenetic actioner at times and the action looms large in this scrappy western. While the jailbird temporarily regains his freedom at some point the sly-eyed sheriff captures him, however, instead of turning him over to be hanged the two men form an uneasy partnership, the motivations for which boil down to each man seeking justice,  which ties directly to the three surviving Saxon sons who want nothing more than to see Wermeer hanged for their father's death.

The brothers Saxon make for a great trio of villains, there's a corrupt politician, a crooked sheriff and a despicable, scar-faced brother who guns down an unarmed old man outside of a saloon, just to prove what a piece of shit he really is. Each of the brother's get some depth to 'em, not too deep mind you, but just enough to make 'em interesting. Who actually gunned down the Saxon patriarch is a point of contention and we get some nice monochromatic flashbacks to that fateful night at the rail station, small touches like this reinforce the notion that this is definitely an above average watch as Spaghetti Westerns go, these Euro cowboy films are like surf-rock and ska-punk - there's only a handful of decent ones for every hundred or so, and the late-60's and early 70's were lousy with imported westerns, thankfully we have great distributors like Blue Underground to help sort through the chaff. . 

The Grand Duel comes sorta late in the Euro-western game but Giancarlo Santi's film is stylish, violent and not without some humor, this is fun stuff that plays very much like a old west buddy cop variation on the typical western revenge story. Van Cleef is fantastic as the silent but deadly lawman Clayton, Dentice plays off Van Cleef's straight man to great effect, the two make for a entertaining duo. We get some great dusty set pieces and it's packed gun-slinging action and fun, over-the-top stunt work  at one point Van Cleef's character catches a bullet in his teeth, so there's definitely a sense of fantasy at play here but it never devolves into a send-up of the genre, this is a mighty fine Euro-Western with everything you'd expect and a few surprises to keep things interesting

DVD: Blue Undergrounds dual-layered DVD edition of The Grand Duel has been transferred in hi-def from the original Italian negative and fully restored for this release, and it looks mighty fine. There's minimal print damage and a nice layer of fine film grain, the new hi-def transfer definitely passes muster with strong sun-drenched colors and a fair amount of depth for a standard-def image, occasionally it appears soft but overall this is a great looking edition, wish BU had the Blu-ray right to this one. 

The English Dolby Digital mono audio does it's job but not much more, the dubbed dialogue is crisp but there's the expected lack of depth to the proceeding, Luis Bacalov's haunting score sounds quite nice, fans of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol.1  (2003) will most definitely recognize the film's memorable theme. 

Special feature's include an audio commentary from journalists C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke who provide an informative and entertaining accompaniment to the feature, there's no dead air-and what's said is quite interesting, particularly for myself who knew little about the director and not much about the genre. We also get a Theatrical Trailer (2:55) for the film and a Spaghetti Western Trailer Reel (26:31). 

Verdict: The Grad Duel is pretty cool, scorched sun and sweat Spaghetti Western with a very nice presentation from Blue Underground. It's is a keeper, Lee Van Cleef was never cooler onscreen than with what he throws at us here, it's not usurping Sergio Leon'e Dollars Trilogy for Spaghetti Western supremacy but it's a definite recommend. 3 Outta 5