The Cat O’Nine Tails (Arrow Video Blu-ray)
Karl Malden stars in The Cat O’Nine Tails (1971). He plays a blind man in a black suit, tapping his cane along a dark street when he overhears a blackmail conspiracy being hatched in a parked car. It’s one piece in a puzzling series of crimes, including a burglary and multiple murders linked to a genetics research institute.
The second film by Italian director Dario Argento was prescient for its interest in the use and potential misuse of genetics, including the possibility or separating newborns from society based on inherited tendencies. Argento was influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, not only for Psycho’s sexual-psychotic violence but for building suspense. The Cat also includes a Bullitt-like car chase but with comic relief (“This is crazy, this car doesn’t have seatbelts!” a pursuing cop says). Argento made astute use of architectural settings (he loved spiral staircases). Ennio Morricone’s score is inventive and anxiety-inducing.
The murder-mystery spree drives the plot as a crime reporter (James Franciscus) and the blind man race ahead of the police in search of the perpetrator. As Malden says when considering the possible suspects, “Isn’t there something fishy in all our lives?” The luxurious new Blu-ray box set includes a booklet with essays by Argento and film historians. (David Luhrssen)
Malignant (In theaters on Sept. 10)
The Italian giallo film genre originated in cheap paperbacks under gaudy yellow covers. These were popular reads that led to films copying their format: Exceedingly violent murders committed by a killer whose identity is not revealed until the final act.
All of the above applies to director James Wan’s latest entry. Madison (Annabelle Wallis) witnesses her abusive husband murdered by a mysterious killer during a violent home invasion. Thereafter, Madison sees visions of gruesome murders, each of which she learns are real, and each of which is strangely connected to her. Not surprisingly, she becomes the main suspect.
Critics largely agree that Malignant’s first half is strange and/or wacky, and they largely agree that its second half is masterful and surprising. Disagreement arises from whether the first half contributes to, or harms enjoyment of the momentous second half. It’s a backwards situation from the numerous thrillers and horrors that grab us with a promising beginning, only to let us down with a disappointing ending. Here’s a movie vision: we use one ticket to see the better halves of two films. (Lisa Miller)
Queenpins (In theaters on Sept. 10)
This combination comedy-heist flick is inspired by actual events. Kirsten Bell and Kirby Howell-Baptiste portray Connie and JoJo, a pair of ordinary women selling fake product coupons. The scheme may sound like small potatoes, but the scam nets its counterfeiters tens of millions. Eventually, the fake coupon sellers are investigated by an unlikely duo, they very thought of whom earns my chuckle. Vince Vaughn is postal inspector Simon Kilmurry, teamed with Ken Miller, a supermarket loss-prevention officer (Paul Walter Hauser).
Connie and JoJo first envision their theft as a Robin Hood gesture, but hypocrisy arises as they embrace the luxuries afforded by their ill-gotten gains. On the investigators’ side, Kilmurry and Miller misunderstand one another’s jobs, leading to bickering due to the mutual lack of respect. We can hope it’s hilarious, but have the filmmakers considered they could guarantee viewers’ smiles with a coupon for free admission?
“The Soul of the Midnight Special” (TimeLife DVD)
Most television stations signed off after the “Tonight Show”—until 1972 when “The Midnight Special” debuted. Producer Barry Sugarman sold a reluctant NBC on the idea of a music (and occasionally comedy)-driven program with a diverse lineup spanning Chuck Berry to George Carlin. This 10-DVD set focuses on the show’s R&B aspect, collecting performances by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes, The O’Jays, Ohio Players, Lou Rawls, Bill Withers, The Staple Singers and many more. Unlike the more plastic versions of music TV in those days, the performances weren’t lip-synched but live. (David Luhrssen)
