The crimes of the black cat

Stop me if you've heard this one before (don't really though) - a black hatted, gloved killer is working his way through the models at a fashion house. Blind composer Anthony Steffan gets caught up in all this nonsense because the first victim is his girlfriend Paola, who about ten seconds previously, dumped the poor guy by letter. That's right - a blind guy, dumped by letter.

Add to that the strange conversation Anthony overhears in his local bar. Someone seems to be blackmailing someone else to do something, but then an annoying hippy throws on a 'groovy' record to 'freak out' to, and Anthony only hears about half the conversation. The waiter describes a woman in a white cape to Anthony, but the other conversationalist must have slipped out a back door, because the waiter didn't seem them. Can I add here however that the record lasts about fifty seconds. Thank God it wasn't some prog or something.

The next day Paola is found dead at the fashion house. It's a kind of locked room mystery, as no one else was there, she has a slight scratch on her face, and there's a yellow shawl lying nearby. Model Margot swears there was a basket in the room too, but that's disappeared. The annoying police, plus Anthony (with sidekick butler Umberto Raho in tow) get right on the case.

There's plenty of suspects too, from hunky Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, second in command at the fashion house and a fanny rat to boot, then there's his missus, the boss of the place. There's also your usual lesbians involved, some gossips, slags, blackmailers. You know the drill by now.

Anthony maybe be blind, but he's no fool. He's one step in front of the police, but one step behind the killer, and what's his dead girlfriend doing in supposed blackmail pictures with Giacomo Rossi-Struart? Someone else gets the old yellow shawl/scratch killing, and Giacomo gets closer to the killer, or at least the person being forced to set up these killings - using his sense of smell!

Sure it's derivative of Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (the fashion house) and Argento's Bird With A Crystal Plumage (with the tape recorded clue, and Umberto Raho), there's still loads to enjoy here. There's a great colour scheme (mostly yellow of course!) and Anthony's character is composing the soundtrack to a giallo! When you see footage of it, you'll notice it's Lucio Fulci's Lizard In A Woman's Skin, and as an added bonus, it's the bit that reveals the killer. Good work there.

There's the scene where a character leads Anthony to an glass recycling plant (I think...in 1972?) and leaves him to injure himself amongst all the glass and sudden drops, and a razor killing in a shower that takes the gore level way beyond anything else seen prior to it in the film. The Copenhagen setting is different from the norm too.

The Crimes of the Black Cat is a pretty typical Giallo, which takes influence from many of the more established genre classics. The central character is blind, which is an idea lifted from Argento's 'The Cat o'Nine Tails', and the style and plotting is clearly reminiscent of Argento's early work. The black cat is an animal often seen in horror films, and that's down to Edgar Allen Poe and his famous story about the ominous animal. The way that the cat is used in this film is good because it's instrumental to the plot (unlike other Giallo's which mention a cat in the title and barely even feature one), but it really has to be said that the modus operandi used by the murderer is completely ridiculous even for a Giallo. The plot focuses on Peter Oliver; a blind, yet rich man who finds himself at the centre of a murder investigation when his girlfriend is killed. It seems that someone has a grudge against some of the local fashion models, and all the murders have the common theme of a yellow shawl being found next to the dead victims. But how do you catch a murderer that you cannot see?

Director Sergio Pastore, while taking many themes from across the Giallo genre, hasn't decided to make the film as bloody as some of its counterparts. The murder weapon doesn't allow for too much of the red stuff, but even so; it comes as a huge shock at the end when this placid film explodes with a Psycho-style shower sequence that features some of the most disgusting gore in the entire Giallo genre; and almost makes up for the lack of blood in the rest of the film. There is a lot of sleaze in the movie, however, and this is shown through ideas such as lesbianism and drug use; and that in turns blends well with the depressing urban climate in which the movie takes place. The acting is nothing special, but it's not bad in Giallo terms. Antonio De Teffè does well in the lead role and succeeds at convincing us he is actually blind. There are no real stars in the film beside him, and the lack of a heroine doesn't do the film too many favours either. Overall, this is a rather strange entry in the Giallo cycle as it has a number of good and inventive moments; but it's all encased around a lot of borrowing and tributes. Still, i wouldn't hesitate to rate this film as a success and it comes recommended to Giallo fans!

One thing you can say about Italian gialli: they never resort to killing someone with a simple shooting or stabbing--the villains always use some ridiculously elaborate Rube Goldberg method for doing their victims in. And this giallo features what might be the most ridiculous of them all. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that the English title "Crimes of the Black Cat" can be taken completely literally. (Obviously, the people who thought up this movie were not cat owners--have you ever tried to get a cat to do ANYTHING?). Aside from the especially absurd murders this is a typical giallo. It is set in the European fashion world, it's highly stylized, the plot makes little sense, and the motivation of the villain turns out to be even more ludicrous than the method of murder.

The protagonist is the blind male lover of the first murder victim. (How come blind people never complain that they are always being stereotyped as good-looking and resourceful individuals who always get to solve the crime and sleep with many attractive members of the opposite sex along the way?). The only name star is Sylva Koscina, but she is barely in the movie. The best actor though is the cat (perhaps the self-same feline thespian who played "Satan" in "Gently, Before She Dies"). After he exits the film, it quickly spirals downward with a truly tasteless shower murder and one of those abrupt freeze-frame endings that were so big in the 70's (maybe they ran out of film a lot back then). If you like gialli at all though, you'll probably like this one. It's very typical for its kind.

The first half of this giallo is fairly undistinguished, especially since it blatantly copies Mario Bava (the fashion-house setting being lifted, yet again, from BLOOD AND BLACK LACE [1964]) and Dario Argento (borrowing its blind hero-turned-sleuth from THE CAT O'NINE TAILS [1971]). However, the film is stylish enough (particularly the zoom-happy murder sequences) and the plot convoluted enough (taking in a plethora of shady characters invariably involved in adultery, drug-taking, blackmail and revenge) to overcome its basic lack of originality; the circus-world back-story, then, should perhaps excuse its uniquely far-fetched murder method...though the seven yellow-silk shawls referred to in the original Italian title are equally insignificant!

The film's pulsating score by Manuel De Sica (son of neo-realist master film-maker and versatile actor Vittorio De Sica) is serviceable but unremarkable, as is the cast led by Anthony Steffen, Sylva Koscina (in what at first appears to be merely an extended cameo) and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart. Its use of nudity is very discreet (though it doesn't appear that any cutting was done, I haven't been able to establish the film's correct running time; the print I watched was around 94 mins. in PAL format, but some sources list versions running as long as 108 mins.!) and the gore only truly surfaces at the very end (with a particularly nasty shower murder, shamelessly ripping off Hitchcock's PSYCHO [1960] - but remaining, for my money, one of the genre's most memorable set-pieces). After the mystery has supposedly been solved (and the revelation of the killer's identity having thus proved quite lame and lazy, in my opinion), the film manages to pull the rug from under our feet - so much so that I had to watch the ending twice! - by providing one final twist. By the way, the decision to conclude the film in mid-sequence on a freeze-frame is another Argento influence, namely FOUR FLIES ON GREY VELVET (1971)!

All in all, a giallo more interesting in its borrowings than for any individual achievements - but one that remains eminently watchable just the same.

A blind pianist overhears a suspicious conversation in a bar. Shortly afterwards his girlfriend is mysteriously murdered. This leads to a series of serial killings that have some connection to a fashion house.

The above synopsis is one that you could come up with if you were to toss a dozen giallo scripts in the air and see what random parts fall onto your head. In fact, this film borrows elements from several popular gialli from the time. Throw in adultery, blackmail, an enigmatic drug addict, lesbians, fashion models and dark secrets from the past and you have the makings of a typical effort. However, this movie does have some tricks up its sleeve to differentiate itself from all others. Chief amongst them being what is perhaps the most insane method of murder ever devised. I won't spoil it for first time viewers but it is truly deranged. In addition to this there is also a mind-bogglingly vicous shower murder that comes out of the blue and genuinely shocks. Further strangeness comes with the fact that the blind protagonist appears to be working on a score for Lucio Fulci's A Lizard in a Woman's Skin. We see clips from this film on a couple of occasions, which is rather bizarre.

Everything is wrapped up at the end with an explanation that I found completely baffling. But, that's hardly a surprise in these flicks to be fair. At the end of the day, it couldn't be said that this is exactly a prime example of the genre. But it still remains entertainingly batty and does have some visual flair and some good set-pieces. It's unfortunate that the current legitimate DVD release appears to be a non-anamorphic copy of a VHS tape though. A better transfer would improve this one.