COBRA
Starring Rudolph Valentino
PHOTOPLAY
February, 1926
Women, women, women. He never could get away from women, and the only good clean love he ever had he sacrificed for his friend's happiness. How dramatic it all sounds! This was taken from the famous stage play but the way the tables have been turned only the bare skeleton of the play is left. Rudy, the gentleman who was so pursued, poses all over the place feeling quite satisfied with himself. But did he satisfy us? Ha! Ha! Who said that?
COBRA
Starring Rudolph Valentino
MOTION PICTURE
March, 1926
"Corbra" as a play fastened itself to a popular bandwagon and everyone clambered aboard. "Corbra" as a picture is a sort of hybrid vehicle which hasn't any glamour left to attract public favors. True, it has Valentino, but his presence doesn't add anything to it. He might be playing just so much atmosphere for all he distinguishes himself here.
Valentino isn't called upon to act in his role of an Italian nobelman fascinated by women as a lion is by a cobra. If you care for symbolism, you'll find the parallel in a few subtitles.
So "Corbra' becomes a disappointment. Valentino has many affairs, but he's afraid to display (or were the censors lurking in the background?) his customary Italian ardor. He performs a noble self-sacrifice, and the picture ends just like Theda's pictures ended years ago.
It's an old-fashioned film in every particular and lacks punch and sparkle. A good cast has been assembled, but the players are unable to bring away any high marks becuase of the limited opportunities of their trite roles. The picture was filmed long before "The Eagle," which appeared last month. This shows that it wasn't considered as very great shakes by its sponsors.
COBRA
Starring Rudolph Valentino, Gertrude Olmstead and Nita Naldi
PICTURE PLAY
March, 1926
There is nothing more to be seen in "Cobra" than Mr. Valentino's apparently endless wardrobe. He is evidently of the school of actors who believe that if you are all dressed up, you must be restrained, and like a little boy in his Sunday clothes, he seems afraid to move a muscle.
"Cobra" is an adaptation of Martin Brown's melodrama, but the play calls for a woman lead, and I can't understand why Mr. Valntino chose this picture for himself.
Nita Naldi, as the bad serpent of a woman, has been tamed and hypnotized into an almost dormant state in order to allow the impeccably dressed Mr. Valentino to open doors slowly and walk like a little gentleman. And with the hypnosis of Miss Naldi, the story catches some of her lethargy.
The end of the picture is a little ludicrous. Miss Naldi is
burned to a crisp in a hotel fire, where, needless to say, she
should not have been in the first place. Casson Ferguson, although
he wins both the women of the film, wins them, so to speak, by
default. He is not a very engaging person.
Eileen Percy has a small part, and Getrude Olmstead is a stenographer
devoted solely to business, who nevertheless, by her "meachin'"
ways, wins both men.
For more information, see "Cobra" as our "Feature of the Month"