by Linda Kay

Also Known As: Eye of the Cat

Directed by: Alberto Bevilacqua

This review contains Kitty Carnage Warnings for scruffing and rough handling!

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains some spoilers for this film!

Synopsis: Biting, sadistic satire punctuates this dark comedy about a feckless musician named Marcello Ferrari (Nino Manfredi) whose wife Giulia (Mariangela Melato) and kids are stolen away by the domineering, fascist madman Cesare (Eli Wallach).

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): In the opening scene, Cesare (also referred to in the film as Ras) is berating and humiliating Giulia in her bedroom while a rotund brown tabby cat watches from a shelf above.

Cesare constantly insults the absent Marcello who has been married to Giulia for ten years, determined not only to steal back his former prostitute but to humiliate Marcello in the process. After Cesare walks into the children’s bedroom, the cat jumps down from the shelf and exits the bedroom.

The cat watches as Cesare slaps Giulia.

Continuing his belittling of Giulia, Cesare starts fiddling with Marcello’s recording equipment and accidentally turns on a Beethoven symphony. This seems to have a sudden and severe affect on the cat, who leaps up from the floor (a reverse shot of the cat actor being dropped to the floor) and jumps onto Cesare’s face, attacking him viciously.

Cesare asks Giulia for help. She calmly explains the cat’s name is Wolfgang Amadeus and how he is Marcello’s best friend. She further explains the cat got the name because whenever Marcello plays Mozart the cat’s tail would swish back and forth in time to the music like a metronome.

When Wolfgang stops attacking, Cesare is incensed. He looks over to see the cat sitting on the floor. It is actually an animatronic cat at this point, snarling in response. It’s incredible to think this lifelike model (at least when viewed briefly) was only used for this one shot!

Incredibly enough, mere seconds later Cesare chucks a lamp at the real cat actor, not the fake, and the lamp shatters right beside the poor kitty! Wolfgang understandably bolts.

Cesare stalks the cat with the remains of the broken lamp then spots him high on a nearby bookshelf.

Wolfgang goes flying when Cesare knocks the whole bookcase over.

When Marcello returns home to his abandoned and completely demolished apartment, he does the most natural thing for a cat owner. He looks for Wolfgang and, finding him on the bed unhurt, hugs him.

He carries the cat into the living room where later he and his friend (Enzo Cannavale) share some champagne with Wolfgang sitting beside them.

Wolfgang next appears on a leash walking beside Marcello down a street. Marcello is dressed in foolish clothes on his way to confront Cesare (the outfit is to throw the man off his guard).

A car pulls up and a man asks about Wolfgang. As a proud cat owner, Marcello picks up Wolfgang and shows him to the man before other thugs throw them into the vehicle and it speeds off.

At Cesare’s mansion, Wolfgang is carried into the house by one of the thugs holding the poor cat by the scruff.

Wolfgang next appears at a dinner party held by Cesare who anticipates Marcello’s announcement of how much money he will accept in exchange for his wife and kids. The cat, who is wearing a small bib, is brought to the table on a pillow by the butler Willy (Franco Scandurra).

Marcello introduces Wolfgang to the assembled guests as his collaborator and friend.

Cesare is infuriated but Marcello calmly defends the cat and throws a few insults at Cesare as well. As Marcello feeds the cat some soup from a spoon, Giulia assures Cesare that Marcello is playing the fool, knowing that he is also playing Cesare for a fool in the process. (The title of the film translates roughly to “Beware the Fool”.)

After dinner, Marcello retires to a detached room from the mansion and plays music on an organ with Wolfgang sitting beside him.

Incredibly Wolfgang only appears once more in a photograph with Marcello and his kids (which was also seen earlier in the film).

Despite his minimal appearances, the cat was featured prominently in posters for the film

The story for the film was based on one of director Alberto Bevilacqua’s novels, which he often adapted into films. The movie’s misleading alternative title, Eye of the Cat (which often leads to confusion between this comedy and the more aptly named horror movie directed by David Lowell Rich is a direct translation of the source material entitled L’occhio del gatto.

Final Mewsings: Cats know the difference between fools and friends.

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