Desert Island Film: The Cat O’ Nine Tails 15

From the archive

This film was last shown on 20 April 2024

Following the success of his debut feature, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, distributor Titanus tasked writer / director Dario Argento with delivering a follow-up in short order. The resulting film, granted a greatly enhanced budget and heralded in its US marketing campaign as "nine times more suspenseful" than its predecessor, was The Cat O' Nine Tails.

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

This second entry in the so-called "Animal Trilogy" found Argento further refining his distinctive style and cementing his reputation as the master of the giallo thriller. Co-starring Catherine Spaak and Rada Rassimov and featuring another nerve-jangling score by the great Ennio Morricone, The Cat O' Nine Tails remains one of Argento's most suspenseful and underrated films.

This film was selected as a Desert Island Film by Susanna Romoli to celebrate her 50th birthday:

“One of my favourite films which I saw when I was a child in the 80s.... I know I was too young to see it as it is a 15, but it came on TV and I watched it anyway!”

A limited number of tickets to this Desert Island Film are available to the public as well as to Susanna’s family and friends.

Learn more about Desert Island Screenings here.