''Cobra Woman'' is a 1944 American

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, is used in several contexts. Most commonly it refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. In 1513, when Spanish conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa coined the term ''Mar del Sur'', ...

adventure film An adventure film is a form of adventure fiction, and is a genre of film. Subgenres of adventure films include swashbuckler films, pirate films, and survival films. Adventure films may also be combined with other film genres such as action, an ...

from

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, directed by

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as ''The Killers'' (194 ...

that stars

Maria Montez María África Gracia Vidal (6 June 1912 – 7 September 1951), known professionally as Maria Montez, was a Dominican motion picture actress who gained fame and popularity in the 1940s starring in a series of filmed-in-Technicolor costume ...

, Jon Hall, and Sabu. Shot in

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

, this film is typical of Montez's career at Universal, and, although mostly forgotten today by the general public, is venerated by film buffs as a camp classic for its legendary

phallic A phallus is a penis (especially when Erection, erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimesis, mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically— ...

snake-dance and Montez's words: "Geev me that Cobra jewl (sic)".

Avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

filmmaker

Kenneth Anger Kenneth Anger (born Kenneth Wilbur Anglemyer, February 3, 1927) is an American underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. Working exclusively in short films, he has produced almost 40 works since 1937, nine of which have been grouped ...

has called it his favorite film. Film critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...

gave the film three stars out of four and called it a camp classic.

Plot

The beautiful Tollea is abducted and taken to Cobra Island, where she discovers that the Queen is her grandmother. Hava warns the angered Ramu not to go after her, but he sets sail for the forbidden island, with his young friend Kado accompanying him as a stowaway. A panther attacks Ramu, who is saved by a dart from Kado's deadly

blowgun A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or blow tube) is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the force created by ...

. They continue the search for Tollea, unaware that the high priestess of the island is Naja, her twin sister. The queen has ordered Tollea to be forcibly returned to Cobra Island only so she can displace her evil sister. Ramu mistakenly becomes involved with Naja, who falls in love with him. Kado is captured and tortured by the brutal Martok, but refuses to reveal Ramu's whereabouts. Martok proceeds to murder the Queen. When they finally meet, Naja attempts to kill her sister with a spear, but plunges to her own death instead. The evil Martok insists that Tollea perform a forbidden cobra dance, whereupon the island's

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates are ...

begins to violently erupt. It ceases when Martok is killed by Hava. When Ramu is about to return home, Tollea asks him to remain by her side and help her rule Cobra Island.

Cast

as Tollea/Naja * Jon Hall as Ramu * Sabu as Kado *

Edgar Barrier Edgar Barrier (March 4, 1907 – June 20, 1964) was an American actor who appeared on radio, stage, and screen. In the 1930s he was a member of Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and was one of several actors who played Simon Templar on ''The Saint'' ...

as Martok * Mary Nash as the Queen *

Lois Collier Lois Collier (born Madelyn Earle Jones; March 21, 1919 – October 27, 1999) was an American actress born in Salley, South Carolina. She was sometimes credited as Lois Collyer. Early years Collier's father was Ernest Jones, a pharmacist, of S ...

as Veeda *

Samuel S. Hinds Samuel Southey Hinds (April 4, 1875 – October 13, 1948) was an American actor and former lawyer. He was often cast as kindly authority figures and appeared in more than 200 films until his death. Early years Hinds was born in Brooklyn, New Y ...

as Father Paul *

Moroni Olsen Moroni Olsen (June 27, 1889November 22, 1954) was an American actor. Life and career Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Latter-day Saint parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Martha ( Hoverholst) Olsen, who named him after the Moroni found in the ...

as MacDonald *

Lon Chaney, Jr. Creighton Tull Chaney (February10, 1906 – July12, 1973), known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film '' The Wolf Man'' (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard (Dra ...

as Hava (billed as Lon Chaney)

Production

Universal announced the film in June 1942 starring Montez, Hall, and Sabu, even before shooting had begun on their production of ''Arabian Nights''. It was meant to follow that film but was pre-empted by ''White Savage''. Filming took place in May 1943. Siodmak later called the film "silly but fun...Montez couldn't act from here to there but she was a great personality and completely believed in her roles: if she was playing a princess you had to treat her like one all through lunch but if she was a slave girl you could kick her around anyhow and she wouldn't object:

Method Acting Method acting, informally known as The Method, is a range of training and rehearsal techniques, as formulated by a number of different theatre practitioners, that seeks to encourage sincere and expressive performances through identifying with, u ...

before its time you might say."

Critical reception

A contemporary review of the film by

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that "the submissive audience is witchingly rocked to sleep with as wacky an adventure fable as was ever dished up outside the comic strips." He also wrote that Cobra Island "is ruled by a viperous doll who snake-dances in the sacred temple, surrounded by a bevy of night-gowned toots," that "Miss Montez plays dual roles — those of the good twin and the bad twin — without a trace of distinction between," and that the film "is better than the funny papers, on which it was obviously based." Writing in

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

, critic Hans Wollstein described the film as "the quintessential romantic Montez-John Hall melodrama," "Hollywood escapism at its zenith," and "a rather choice slice of cinematic ham." A description of the film at

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

notes that "the absurdity of the plot of ''Cobra Woman'' was a source of creative inspiration for such diverse individuals as theatrical producer Charles Ludlam of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company and novelist

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal (; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, erudition, and patrician manner. Vidal was bisexual, and in his novels and ...

In popular culture

Universal's theatrical release poster can be seen in the 2013 film ''

Mama Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent * Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places *Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlement ...

''.

References

External links

* * * *
Review of film
at ''Variety''
Review of film
at ''Variety'' {{Robert Siodmak 1944 films 1944 romantic drama films 1940s adventure drama films Films directed by Robert Siodmak Universal Pictures films American romantic drama films Films about twin sisters American adventure drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films