Giallo #7: "The Cat O'Nine Tails" (1971)

Part two of Dario Argento's "animal trilogy," "The Cat O'Nine Tails" is the only title in the trio which does not refer to a literal aspect of the film, but rather an arbitrary line of spoken dialogue referring to the number of leads available to the film's unlikely pair of amateur detective, who are both on the trail of a vicious killer.
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Although hardly an apt description of the film, the title does inevitably get the point across that this far more of a procedural (and less a sleazy, paranoid mystery) than either of Argento's other works, including "The Bird with the Crystal Plumage" and "Four Flies on Grey Velvet".
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As such, it's easy to dismiss it as a work in a genre known for its lack of taste and its surplus of blood, torsos and shiny objects. But strict as it is, the film is not without its moments of genuine suspense and ingenuity, including a - let's call it "fall from grace" - close out the film.
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Karl Malden (in a rare bit of globalized casting) plays the ostensible lead as a blind man who stumbles upon the case by chance (and by personal intrigue) along with Carlo, an investigative reporter, as the two set out to solve the case of a mysterious break-in at the mystifying Terzi Institute. 
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Needless to say, the investigation leads the two makeshift sleuths into the crosshairs of the offender, while concurrently unraveling a mystery about the peculiar death of Terzi employee Dr. Calabresi by oncoming train.
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It appears as if giallo fanatics find "The Cat O'Nine Tails" a bit stale and compromised (heck, even Argento apparently wasn't the biggest fan), yet the film's lack of gratuity and, let's face it, brevity, do not hinder the connect-the-dots mystery at hand and some grueling, tense set pieces, including a particularly unsettling visit into a desolate graveyard and a climactic rooftop chase. [B-]