LE CHAT A NEUF QUEUES SEDA SPETTACOLI ; ITALY dvd specification original year of release: 1971 approximate running time: 112 minutes aspect ratio: widescreen anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio system: PAL (colour) rating: unrated sound: french dolby digital mono, italian dolby digital mono with french subtitles dvd release: tf1 region: 2 region coding: 2 dvd extras animated menus filmography screensavers link to TF1 vidéo website 15 minute audio interview behind the scenes

[video][sound][extras]

If you want a review of the actual film, click here.

video

The picture quality is excellent. The print is in very good shape. It is an Italian one, with Italian titles. It's clean almost all the time. Dust flecks are really very rare. But at the end of the reels, stamps can be seen. It's not really disturbing, as the the rest of the film is quite clean. I've noticed that 6 or 7 seconds from the "insult competition" are missing on this print, compared to my old French video. But if you have not seen this old version, you won't notice anything.

There may be a very slight grain in some dark scenes (graveyard...), but it's almost unnoticeable. For a 1971 movie, which is supposed to be quite rare, the print is really brilliant! The digital work on the picture is really perfect, with many details, sharp definition, beautiful colours, deep contrast. Difficult scenes work perfectly: the burgling in the Terzi Institute, in which the camera shakes a lot and the picture is quite dark, works very well. The layer change could be more discreet... All in all, an excellent work on the picture for this movie, with a very clean print and a great digital work.

sound

This dvd has two mono Dolby Digital soundtracks: French and Italian (with French sub-titles only). These are the original soundtracks. The French one is very clean, with almost no cracks at all. Yet it has a synch problem at one moment (Franco talking with Lori). This defect appears on the old French video too. The Italian soundtrack is a little more dirty, but it's not really annoying. Anyway, don't expect miracles: it sounds like 1971 mono soundtracks.

extras

The main menu shows a dark CGI graveyard, with the brown eye of the killer on it. The "back to menu" icon is a pair of black glasses. All the menus have music and are animated. chapters: Leads you to another part of the graveyard, with rain and lightning. You can choose any chapter you want. The chapters are shown in animated windows.

around the film: This menu shows the graveyard once more, with an angel statue, and with rain and lightning. Each section is introduced by a cool CGI black cat moving to the camera and eating it! You can check the following section: about the director: A scrolling complete Filmography of Dario Argento. posters: two Italian and two French posters. behind the scenes: In fact, this is text about the movie. It was easier for Dario to find money to make this movie than for "The Bird...". He worked with Lombardo from "Titanus", although he did not get along very well with him on the set of "The Bird...". He forced Dario to work with a very popular actress: Catherine Spaak. But Dario found that she was not the character. The American producers asked him to use American actors. He chose James Franciscus and Karl Malden. Dario was very influenced by Roy Boultingauquel's books and Richard Siodmark's movies. After seeing the movie, Lombardo was so disappointed that he told Dario that he should give up thrillers. But a few days after, they learnt that "The Bird..." was a huge success in the USA! dvd-rom section: My computer can't play it. It has a link to the poor "TF1 vidéo" website, and screen savers made with the "Cat..." posters. interview: a 15 minutes long brand new audio interview about the movie with Dario. For a full transcript of this interview, click here.

reviewed by Emmanuel Denis

cover artwork

disc artwork

menu shots

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