The Cat o' Nine Tails

The Cat o' Nine Tails

Infobox Film | name = Il gatto a nove code


caption =Poster art for Dario Argento's "The Cat o' Nine Tails" (1971)
director = Dario Argento
producer = Salvatore Argento
writer =Dario Argento
Luigi Collo
Dardano Sacchetti
starring = James Franciscus
Karl Malden
Catherine Spaak
Horst Frank
Aldo Reggiani
Carlo Alighiero
Rada Rassimov
Tom Felleghy
Emilio Marchesini
Ugo Fangareggi
music = Ennio Morricone
cinematography = Erico Menczer
editing =Franco Fraticelli
distributor =
released = 1971 (Italy)
runtime = 112 min.
Edited version:
90 min.
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:8604
imdb_id = 0065761

"The Cat o' Nine Tails" ( _it. Il gatto a nove code) is a 1971 Italian mystery thriller film written and directed by Dario Argento; it was his second film as director. Although it is the middle entry in Argento's so-called "animal trilogy" (along with "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" and "Four Flies on Grey Velvet"), the "cat o ' nine tails" of the title does not directly refer to a literal cat, nor to a literal multi-tailed whip; rather, it refers to the number of leads that the protagonists follow in the attempt to solve a murder. A heavily edited version, running 90 minutes, also exists. This shortened print, which omits most of the violence and references to homosexuality, was released to videotape in the early 1990s.

Plot summary

The film begins with an unseen assailant breaking into a genetics laboratory, but when the police arrive to investigate it appears that nothing has been stolen. Newspaper reporter Giordani (James Franciscus) is intrigued by the incident, and soon thereafter one of the laboratory's geneticists dies after falling in front of a train.

Giordani teams up with a blind man, Franco Arnò (Karl Malden), who used to be a reporter before he lost his sight. Arnò discovers that the dead scientist is the same man he heard whispering to a shadowy figure in a car right before the burglary, and his investigator's instincts tell him that the scientist's death might have been the result of a failed attempt at blackmail.

Soon, the photographer who took a snapshot of the geneticist's fatal stumble is himself murdered, strangled to death and cut up. Both Giordani and Arnò realize he was killed to hide something, probably an incriminating clue in the uncropped negative of the photograph. But what is so important that the killer is trying to cover up, and why was nothing stolen from the lab? As they get closer and closer to the truth, more people die and several attempts are made on their lives before the secret is finally revealed.


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  • The Cat o' Nine Tails — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel: Die neunschwänzige Katze Originaltitel: Il gatto a nove code Produktionsland: Italien, Frankreich, Deutschland Erscheinungsjahr: 1971 Länge: 89 Minuten Originalsprache …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cat o' nine tails — This article is about the implement of punishment. For the Cat O Nine Tails plant, see Typha latifolia. For the film, see The Cat o Nine Tails. A leather cat o nine tails pictured with a U.S. dollar bill for size comparison. A U.S. dollar bill is …   Wikipedia

  • Cat o' nine tails — cat cat (k[a^]t), n. [AS. cat; akin to D. & Dan. kat, Sw. katt, Icel. k[ o]ttr, G. katze, kater, Ir. cat, W. cath, Armor. kaz, LL. catus, Bisc. catua, NGr. ga ta, ga tos, Russ. & Pol. kot, Turk. kedi, Ar. qitt; of unknown origin. Cf. {Kitten}.] 1 …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Cat o' nine tails — cat o nine tails cat o nine tails . 1. a whip used as an instrument of punishment consisting of nine pieces of knotted line or cord fastened to a handle; formerly used to flog offenders on the bare back; called also the {cat}. It was used in the …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cat-o'-nine-tails — cat o nine tails cat o nine tails . 1. a whip used as an instrument of punishment consisting of nine pieces of knotted line or cord fastened to a handle; formerly used to flog offenders on the bare back; called also the {cat}. It was used in the …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cat-o'-nine-tails — [ˌkæt ə ˈnaın teılz] n [singular] a whip made of nine knotted strings, used in the past for punishing people …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • cat-o'-nine-tails — noun (plural cat o nine tails) Etymology: from the resemblance of its scars to the scratches of a cat Date: 1665 a whip made of usually nine knotted lines or cords fastened to a handle …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • cat-o'-nine-tails — noun a whip with nine knotted cords British sailors feared the cat • Syn: ↑cat • Derivationally related forms: ↑cat (for: ↑cat) • Hypernyms: ↑whip …   Useful english dictionary

  • cat-o'-nine-tails — [[t]ˌkæt əˈnaɪnˌteɪlz[/t]] n. pl. tails a whip, usu. having nine knotted thongs or cords fastened to a handle, used for flogging • Etymology: 1685–95; from the resemblance of scars to a cat s scratches …   From formal English to slang

  • cat-o'-nine-tails — noun (C) a whip made of nine strings with knots on the end, used in the past for punishing people …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

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