Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

mark.waltz Paramount had Dorothy Lamour; MGM had Hedy Lamarr, and universal had Maria Montez. She had been around for a few years when she made what is considered one of the biggest camp- fests in Hollywood history. You can keep your Jane Hudson and your Neely O'Hara's. Montez is two characters here, and it's a battle of good versus evil as they fight over the throne of a mystical kingdom where cobra rules, and the jewel is all powerful. In Technicolor, Montez is unforgettable. She's of course more fun to watch being evil, and as the youngest of twins, she is determined to hang onto her power no matter what. But after being separated from her older sister, she is determined not to be dethroned, even dealing with her grandmother Mary Nash who knows the truth. 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. Who can forget the scene of the evil Montez dancing around, dramatically pointing out victims for the sacrifice towards King Cobra, and the scene where the heavily accented Montez screeching, "Gif me da cobra jewel!" Montez goes beyond the visual of "She who must be obeyed" to create one of the most fascinating characters ever.

writers_reign Not one but two distinguished filmmakers would no doubt love to erase this turkey from their respective CVs. Both screenwriter (later writer-director) Richard Brooks and director Robert Siodmak would make lasting contributions to cinema (for good measure Brooks wrote two fine novels; The Brick Foxhole, which was filmed as Crossfire, and The Producer)but this wasn't one of them. After a one-reel introduction in which a cardboard cutout speaks of the dreaded Cobra Island, Tollea (Maria Montez) is kidnapped and taken there hours before marrying Jon Hall, who promptly sets sail to rescue her accompanied by stowaway Sabu (later, Sabu's pet monk, a cheetah lookalike also turns up on the island but don't ask how he got there). The island is one of those backwaters with no shortage of architects to design sumptuous palaces, masons to build them, gold and silversmiths to provide ornate cobra motifs, modistes to design exotic costumes, seamstresses to run the;m up and, of course, a plentiful supply of silks and satins to work with. The plot, and I use the word loosely has Montez - she took her stage name from Lola Montez an Irish-born colleen who reinvented herself as a 'Spanish' dancer - as twin sisters one good and the other ... Gee! 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. In terms of expanding waistline there's little to choose between Hall and Montez, in terms of wooden acting even less. See it if you must but don't say I didn't warn you.

dbdumonteil This is one of Robert Siodmak's weakest efforts . 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..

gftbiloxi 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? Well, maybe, if only Maria can lay hands on the priestess' cobra jewel! The plot is amusing in a silly sort of way, but it is really the style of the thing that makes it such a charming bit of fluff. 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... well, let's see YOU say lines like "I want that cobra jewel" with a straight face or squirm around in a dress that must weigh a ton without falling off your heels! Jon Hall is appropriate American Male and Sabu is, well, Sabu, and as a friend of mine recently said, "What were expecting? Long Day's Journey Into Night?" No, you won't find any deep meanings here, and thank heaven for it. This purely for the fun of it with no artistic ambitions and as many wild colors as Universal Studios could throw on the screen. So put your brain on hold, grab your cobra jewel, and settle down for some purely mindless pleasure! Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer