Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Executscan Expected more

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

biorngm Review - The Shanghai Cobra, Released 9-29-45 This Charlie Chan movie would considered one of the better efforts by Monogram, because the story holds the viewer interest throughout its hour plus run. There is intrigue from the start, coupled with crimes committed, mysterious methods involved in the deadly misdeeds, and a cast of characters keeping the observer constantly guessing. The action takes place primarily in and below a bank building, and some of the perpetrators are not obvious. There is little comic banter, more serious moves among the guest cast members, no wasteful scenes, gunfire, explosions, secret passageways, and a very interesting method of taking victims. The premise is the mystery murders from a cobra bite, similar to a crime in Shanghai years before, in which Charlie arrested a man named Van Horn for bank robbery and murder by cobra bite. It was the first day Japanese bombers flew over Shanghai, Van Horn was a prisoner, badly injured in the bombing. Inspector Mainwaring rode with Charlie to the British Police Headquarters to meet Van Horn for the second time. Van Horn had bandages about his head, telling Charlie is being framed. While being transported to Singapore, Van Horn jumped out of the transfer boat, and that was the last time Charlie says he heard of Van Horn. Van Horn returns to Washington D.C. to prove his innocence, employed as a bank guard with his daughter helping his cause employed as a bank President's secretary. Locally, three persons are murdered by the bite of cobra fangs, markings on the bodies indicate the bite. All three victims worked for the Sixth National Bank, the same bank as Van Horn and his daughter. There is an additional plot to steal the radium kept by the government in the bank vault. The bank is the distributing center for hospitals, laboratories and factories in this vicinity, utilizing the peaceful uses for the radioactive material. Chan, with the help from his old cohort in Honolulu, Inspector Davis, search for killers and thieves. The story weaves its way through characters, some obviously suspicious, others secretly active with the bank and others. Charlie Chan works the clues expertly, determining how the cobra bites were inflicted, in two ways, while apprehending the perpetrators.This movie is definitely worth watching for all the characters intertwining. The best is last, as usual, but there is really few wasted minutes in the film. Highly recommended.

gridoon2018 The opening is promisingly atmospheric: rain, a shadowy street, a woman who looks like she might be a femme fatale, a man watching her from his car, another man whom SHE seems to be following, a coffee shop with a jukebox whose other end looks like a movie theater (!), and cryptic dialogue between the three. But after one of the men dies and Charlie Chan is brought into the case, "The Shanghai Cobra" becomes a deadly dull mystery. The "how" at least turns out to be somewhat creative, but the "who" doesn't seem to matter much! (the chief bad guy is barely in the film). The only bright spots are Chan's witticisms and putdowns of his Number Three Son ("Pop, I want to talk to you as man to man" - "I am ready, but you still have few years to go"!). Thankfully, Mantan Moreland is kept relatively in check this time around. ** out of 4.

utgard14 For some reason, the U.S. Government is storing radium in bank vaults. No, Charlie Chan is not investigating what moron thought that was a good idea. Instead, he's looking into a series of murders by cobra venom that has a connection to the radium and an old case of Charlie's. Weird but not uninteresting plot. This is a decent Monogram effort with an emphasis on mystery (as there should be) and not on pathetic comedy relief. Oh, don't get me wrong, Tommy (Benson Fong) and Birmingham (Mantan Moreland) are still there and still as unfunny as ever. But they're relegated to background status for this one so we don't have to put up with their hijinks as much. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Moreland actually made it through the entire movie without saying the word "spooks." Probably the first and only time.There was a part of the plot that deals with an old case of Charlie's that took place in Shanghai. It would have been cool if they had tied it into the 1935 movie Charlie Chan in Shanghai. But, alas, that wasn't to be. Instead, it's about a man named Jan Van Horn that Charlie arrested in Shanghai in 1937 whose face was covered by bandages so Charlie never saw what he looked like. He did hear his voice and I immediately recognized it as a certain character actor. If you've seen enough of these types of films you will recognize it, as well. The man appeared in many B movies. Later, when the actor shows up in another role, we're expected to believe Charlie doesn't recognize that distinctive voice is Jan Van Horn. So that part of it was a dud but, to the movie's credit, it does manage to throw a twist in at the end to keep it from being too predictable. Overall, it's a watchable and somewhat entertaining movie. Slightly above par for Monogram but well below the superior Fox Chan movies.

gftbiloxi Loosely based on novels by Earl Derr Biggers, 20th Century Fox's Charlie Chan series proved an audience favorite--but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the studio feared audiences would turn against its Asian hero. This was a miscalculation: actor Sidney Toler took the role to "poverty row" Monogram Studios, where he continued to portray the character in eleven more films made between 1944 and his death in 1947.20th Century Fox had regarded the Chan films as inexpensive "B" movies, but even so the studio took considerable care with them: the plots were often silly, but the pace was sharp, the dialogue witty, and the casts (which featured the likes of Bela Lugosi and Ray Milland) always expert. The result was a kindly charm which has stood the test of time. Monogram was a different matter: Chan films were "B" movies plain and simple. Little care was taken with scripts or cast and resulting films were flat, mediocre at best, virtually unwatchable at worst.Thanks to an adequate cast and a few interesting plot devices, THE SHANGHAI COBRA is among the best of the Monogram-made Chan films--but even so it barely manages to achieve a consistent mediocrity. In this particularly entry, Chan (Sidney Toler) is called upon to investigate a murderer who kills with what appears to be a cobra-like bite; at the same time, he decides to make certain that a government supply of radium tucked away in a bank vault, of all places, remains secure. Do these two seemingly unrelated plot lines come together? Well... could be! Sidney Toler is always enjoyable as Chan, but most of his Monogram performances seemed "phoned in"--and that is as true of COBRA as it is of any Monogram Chan film. As usual, the really enjoyable performer is Mantan Mooreland. Changing times have led us to look upon Moreland's brand of comedy as demeaning to African-Americans, but he was an expert actor and comic, and taken within the context of what was possible for a black actor in the 1940s his work has tremendous charm and innocence.Fans of the 20th Century Fox series are likely to find Monogram's Chan a significant disappointment and newcomers who like the Monogram films will probably consider them third-rate after encountering the Fox films. Like other Monogram Chan films, THE SHANGHAI COBRA is best left to determined collectors. Four stars, and that's being generous.GFT, Amazon Reviewer