Cobra Woman

Plot synopsis:
The beautiful Tollea is abducted and taken to the Cobra Island, where the Queen is her grandmother. Hava warns the angered Ramu not to go after her, but Ramu 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. 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 mistakenly involved with Naja, who falls in love with him. Kado is captured and torturned 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. Martok insists that Tollea perform a forbidden cobra dance, whereupon the island's volcano begins to erupt. It ceases when Martok is killed by Hava, and when Ramu is about to return home, Tollea asks him to remain and help her rule Cobra Island.

Tags: cult, romantic

Review:
This immortal camp classic stars the sublime Maria Montez as twin sisters - one Good, one Evil.
(Uncharted this island may be, but every drag-queen in the world seems to go shopping there.) And lest we in the audience harbour any lingering doubts about her acting skills, she follows up every speech with the deathless words - "I HAVE SPOKEN!"The insipid good sister Tollea really is no match.
(Believe it or not, Jean Cocteau offered her the role of Death in his film Orpheus, but couldn't afford her fee!) Yet it's fascinating to see director Robert Siodmak sketching out the schizo psychology he would explore fully in films like The Spiral Staircase and The Dark Mirror.Appalling as much of it undoubtedly is, Cobra Woman may still be the greatest film of its kind...and if anyone can work out what 'kind' that is, please write and tell me..
Released in 1944, COBRA WOMAN was precisely the sort of escapist fare demanded by audiences seeking relief from the horrors of World War II--and over the years it has become something of a cult classic, a wild and riotous mixture of outrageous sets and costumes, ridiculous plot and dialogue, and faintly absurd performances.
If you are seeking a mindless romp with tremendous camp appeal, look no further: this film is the goods.Directed by Robert Siodmak, who go on to become a noted director of film noir, COBRA WOMAN concerns an innocent South Seas maiden (Maria Montez) who is to marry a sailor (Jon Hall)--but who is suddenly kidnapped and whisked off to Cobra Island, where she discovers she is actually the twin sister of the evil high priestess.
Can Maria, Jon, a half-naked Sabu, a heavily made-up Lon Chaney Junior, and sarong-wearing monkey overthrow the evil priestess and return the island to peace?
The best way to describe it is as pure Hollywood: costumes and sets are a truly wild mixture of Arabia, the ancient Aztecs, South America, Carmen Miranda's hats, Dorothy Lamour's sarong, and Joan Crawford's shoulder pads, and Cobra Island comes complete with a bad special-effects volcano just for good measure.The cast plays with a mixture of sincerity and inadequacy that is very entertaining.
Maria Montez was a great beauty of the era and she wears the brilliance of Technicolor like a second skin, and if she clearly wasn't known for either acting chops or dancing skills...
Might as well quote from the recent career article I wrote on MARIA MONTEZ, due for publication in CLASSIC IMAGES some time soon:"She began work in 1944 on a film requiring her to play twin sisters--usually a stretch for any actress but even more so for Maria Montez, whose acting ability had never really convinced anyone except diehard fans that she was up to performing solo.
Nevertheless, she took it as a challenge to do "Cobra Woman" ('44) and ardent fans of the actress consider it their top "camp" favorite.She was so visible in "Cobra Woman" that it was impossible to ignore her still heavy accent, literally talking to herself on screen, as when she tells the Queen, "I have dee-cided to marry Martok and I dee-mand your consent." She played two opposite types, Naja, the evil Queen leading a tribe of snake worshippers, and Tollea, a simple, kind-hearted peasant girl.Only a few critics came to her rescue, one of whom was Lee Mortimer, N.Y. Daily Mirror: "If you were a producer with a cast of thousands, a corny tale, a stage-set volcano island, several reels of technicolor film and Miss Montez, what would you do?
Undress her in both, as much as the law and Will Hays allow, and let nature take its course." Others were more inclined to simply state: "It has every known variety of corn." (Alton Cook, N.Y. World Telegram) Still, the sight of Montez in a twin role (one good, one bad) writhing in a weird sort of belly dance to King Cobra, selecting subjects with a wave of her hand to be sent to their death by volcanic fire, is something to behold.
It was also noted that here her royal deportment was never on more display, strutting around her island domain with all of the natives at her beck and call.Despite the silliness of the script, it was directed (of all people) by Robert Siodmak, who would later demonstrate his skill in directing another actress in a more serious dual role at the same Universal studio--Olivia de Havilland in 'The Dark Mirror'.".
Fabulous performance by Maria Montez as good and evil twins with able support from Sabu, John Hall, and the old lady who plays Maria's grandmother.
There's little point in rehashing the plot, which centers on twins separated at birth: Tollea, a sweet native girl engaged to marry an American; and Naja, high-priestess of a snake cult that practices human sacrifice.
Supporting parts are taken by Jon Hall, Lon Chaney, Jr., Sabu and a loinclothed chimpanzee.A thickly-accented native of the Dominican Republic, Maria Montez plays, sensibly, both twins (giving Siodmak good practice for Olivia De Havilland's similar dual role in The Dark Mirror).
COBRA WOMAN (Universal, 1944), directed by Robert Siodmak, is the fourth Technicolor adventure pairing Maria Montez and Jon Hall, in not only their best known movie, but has been labeled a top "camp" favorite among Montez fans.
A statement to that affect was once said by actor Roddy McDowall in a TV interview back in the early 1990s on the American Movie Classics cable channel in an interview opposite host Professor Richard Brown.The story begins on the day of the marriage of Tollea (Maria Montez) to Ramu (Jon Hall).
Tollea is kidnapped by the Cobra people, a tribe of snake worshipers, and taken to Cobra Island where she learns from the Queen (Mary Nash) that she is actually the older twin sister of Princess Naja (Montez), the island's wicked High Priestess.
Ramu is accompanied by his young native friend, Kado (Sabu), who not only tries to help his friend out of trouble, but gets into trouble himself.While the accented Maria Montez assumes two roles, it appears that most of the footage in this 70 minute adventure goes to Indian boy, Sabu, along with his pet monkey, Koko, each adding some "comedy" relief to the plot.
Unlike most South Seas tales of jungle movies of that era, which find many of the central male characters wearing only loincloth, like Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan, for example, Sabu, as in many of his previous prime adventure films, including the timeless classics of THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (UA, 1940) and THE JUNGLE BOOK (UA, 1942), appears bare-chested and wearing only a trim white bathing suit that might have been a rental from a Hollywood beach club.
Although a young man in his late teens or early 20s, Sabu's screen character appears more child-like, a role that might have been more suited possibly to a younger actor, particularly when he finds Ramu's love making Tollea a lot of nonsense.
Tree stand up, stretch little fellow") until he confesses.Special screen credit in the opening and closing cast list goes to Lon Chaney Jr., Universal's resident screen actor of horror, taking time off from playing The Wolf Man, Klaris, the living mummy, and character leads in six "Inner Sanctum" mysteries (1943-1945).
Hinds as Father Paul, who, in the opening of the story, relates the legend of Cobra Island; with Moroni Olson and Fritz Leiber appearing in smaller roles.Aside from the unheard of character names used in this screenplay, it's obvious that any movie like this cannot be taken seriously.
As for tropical romance, Hall and Montez even get to have an underwater kissing scene together - but which sister is he kissing?Yes, COBRA WOMAN all has these ingredients and more.
While the other Montez-Hall films have ceased airing on AMC, COBRA WOMAN has survived on that channel the longest.
Maria Montez (the queen of Camp) plays a pair of sisters, one good and one bad, who vie for control of a voodoo island.
and about as sophisticated as can be expected of any picture featuring a beautiful, wicked snake-priestess, human sacrifice into a volcano, good and evil twins separated in infancy, a gigantic mute assassin, a lost heir(ess), a cobra-worshipping cult and a pet ape wearing a skirt for decency!
There are a couple of suggestions that hint at something deeper: the idea that perhaps Tollea really ought to stay and improve life for her people instead of marrying her rescuer, for example (though the final outcome makes sense -- she was only ever herself a pawn in the hands of the would-be reformers, after all), and, despite the missionary upbringing of the main protagonists, an unexpected treatment of the cobra cult as a genuine religion, where offending the Powers can have consequences and people deserve to worship as they see fit.The special effects are rather better on the costume front than they are where dangerous items are concerned, although there is a brave attempt at showing an advancing lava front by merely illustrating its effects, which works surprisingly well.
Maria Montez plays a naive South Seas islander and a power-crazed priestess with aplomb and smoulders out of the screen (her snake dance in a scintillating costume is definitely a memorable scene).Jon Hall makes an engaging romantic lead, though the plot suggests that the character is perhaps more honest than bright: his approach is generally to walk straight into danger and hope that circumstances will work out in his favour.
"Cobra Woman" brought together two of Universal's biggest box office stars of the war years, Maria Montez and Lon Chaney, in a Technicolor extravaganza helmed by director Robert Siodmak, who proves better than his material by going at such a linear, fast paced clip that one simply goes along for the ride.
Chaney fans can only be disappointed however, for after starring in two of his greatest films, "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man" and "Son of Dracula," he is sadly reduced here to a mute supporting role as Hava, powerful priest/bodyguard for Mary Nash's Queen, hoping that Tollea will save her people from the tyranny of evil twin sister Naja (both played by gorgeous Maria), whose immunity to the poisonous bite of the King Cobra makes her the all powerful ruler.
Of what I have got to see It was very interesting.I liked Maria Montez a lot a very exciting woman.
Anyone who calls the 40's Hollywood's "Golden Age" and bemoans that "they don't make movies like that any more" should see this, and realize that, for each "Casablanca", or "Gone with the Wind" made in the 40s, the same people made a dozen films like "COBRA WOMAN.
Even though this movie was somewhat kind of cheesy but the reason I was watch this movie cause I can't get enough of how beautiful Maria Montez is and it's too bad that she died at such a really young age cause she was the beautiful queen of technicolor.This movie is about Tollea and her fiance Ramu (Maria Montez and Jon Hall, respectivly) who are about to get married on their wedding day and Tollea is forced to go back home to her Cobra people to stop her cruel twin sister Naja's (also done by Maria Montez) wickedness and Ramu and his young buddy Kado (Sabu) go out and try to find her and Ramu mistook Naja as Tollea and as the Cobra law against strangers, they are executed and when the fire mountain gets angry, the people are sentenced to die without question.Overall if you love old cheesy technicolor movies then you should go watch this movie cause it is a clever way to spend 75 minutes of your time and it needs to be released on video and DVD, it's much better than watching most of today's junk.
It has what was well on the way to becoming Maria's "stock company" Jon Hall, Sabu and Turhan Bey (except Cobra Woman was without Turhan Bey).
Mary Nash plays, I think, the high-priestess of the Cobra Temple or maybe even Maria's nanny(it's been a while since I saw it and it's not available on VHS or DVD so you must depend on the very occasional TV showings to catch it)with her very best Maria Ouspenskaya (the slowest taking woman on the screen...by the time she finished you either forget what she was talking about or no longer cared!).
Spurred on by the success of ARABIAN NIGHTS (1942; see my comments below), Universal reteamed its star trio of Jon Hall, Maria Montez and Sabu (but also villainous Edgar Barrier) in a handful of other exotic adventure pictures with this one, directed by German stylist Robert Siodmak, being the best-known.
The latter had just scored a success at the same studio with the atmospheric SON OF Dracula (1943)  where Lon Chaney Jr. had donned the proverbial vampire cape  and he engaged the horror star yet again for COBRA WOMAN as the benign giant protector of the good Montez.
Jon Hall and Sabu are adventurers who reside in the mainland and, respectively, love and have befriended the good Montez (unaware of her royal lineage).
The evil sibling had been tyrannically ruling over her people with a decidedly unwelcome penchant for sacrificing a great number of her subjects to the Cobra god; this springs Chaney into action who (dressed as a blind, pipe-playing beggar) kidnaps the good Montez in order to replace the deadly queen.
These sequences which are aplently, despite the film's lean 71-minute duration, are both corny and embarrassing  never more so than when the King Cobra (real for the close-ups and a fake and hilariously overgrown one for the long-shots) is carried in a golden platter to do the honors personally!; the rubber snake shots here are about as bad (perhaps even more so) than the similar ones in Fritz Lang's latter-day entry into the exotic sub-genre, THE Indian TOMB (1959).The film is extremely handsome to look at and reasonably entertaining while it's on but, in hindsight, could have been a lot better and thus rather unworthy of both its director and considerable reputation as a camp classic; the late British critic Leslie Halliwell hit the nail squarely on the head, then, with his memorable assessment of it  "A monument of undiluted hokum"!.
The official synopsis for this film is upon discovering his fiancée Tollea (Maria Montez) has been kidnapped, Ramu (Jon Hall) and his friend Kado (Sabu) set out for a Pacific isle where all strangers are to be killed on arrival and the inhabitants, who are frequently sacrificed to an angry volcano god and worship the cobra.This film kicks off on an island where Ramu and Tollea are set to be married.
Ramu has to try to find Tollea and figure out what can be done to save those that live here.Now this is interesting as it is a lesser known Universal horror film.
Maria Montez, the star of the film, who plays twin sisters, is breathtaking, while her acting skills leave something to be desired.
Jon Hall is the male lead, and the performance by Mary Nash as the aging Queen is probably the best in the film..
Maria Montez plays twin sisters---one good, one evil---vying to be queen of Cobra Island, a dazzlingly lush tropical location.
Some think of Montez as the first method actress in the movies, which is to say that she took her roles so seriously that she was known to act as if she had 'become' her character even to the point of appearing off-screen in full costume and expecting to be treated as some sort of exotic royalty.
The twin sisters subject was much better applied on "Dark mirror" (1946) ,where there would be the good one and the villain again.And one should add that Olivia de Havilland is immensely superior to decorative Maria Montez.Man sails to Cobra Island (how subtle!) in search of his fiancé who disappeared just before the wedding.There he will meet a queen and two sisters,one of whom the high priestess of a Vulcano God.And she's making life hard for anyone!Too bad for the poor virgins she points out.This is comic strip quality .There are so many Siodmak movies better than that childish tale:"dark mirror" "phantom lady" "the killers" "pièges" "spiral staircase" etc etc etc...
Cobra Woman (1944) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Universal fantasy in Technicolor has more camp than any film from that era.
A bride to be (Maria Montez) is kidnapped and taken away to Cobra Island where her evil twin sister is.
During a private showing of "Arabian Nights", she stopped the film, turned to the executives and asked - "Isn't that the most beautiful woman you have ever laid eyes on!!" If Deanna Durbin singlehandedly saved Universal Studios during the 30s, Maria Montez ran a close second.
Her exotic Technicolor fantasies earned millions for Universal during the 40s.I don't know about being the most beautiful but she was extremely gorgeous and in "Cobra Woman", with its lush tropical settings, Technicolor and playing twins - one good, one evil - she had never been shown to better advantage.
peddler comes to the village just in time for the wedding of Ramu (Jon Hall) and the beautiful Tollea (Maria Montez).
Once again, Montez has Sabu and Jon Hall as co-stars, protecting the kindly older sister, while Lon Chaney Jr. is branded to protect evil.
Cobra Woman is the high camp epitome of Maria Montez's Technicolored career.
Cobra Woman he avers, offers "all that you desire in adventure and romance: the horror of masses trapped by King Cobra, the sinuous dance of the temple beauties in their waltz of the snakes; all the fabulous wonders and dangers of the tropics!" Plus Maria Montez, "more ravishing, more bewitching, more alluring!" Plus Jon Hall at his "dynamic best", "a rascally Sabu".
you're ahead of me here; one Naja, 'high priestess' of the island and one, Tollea, who wouldn't know a cobra from a decent screenplay.