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Lord, there’s good camp, there’s bad camp, and there’s camp that falls somewhere in-between. Cobra Woman falls into that middle ground for me. At times, it commits so completely to its ludicrous premise and scenarios that we reach a kind of Valhalla of knowingly terrible movie-making. Too often though, Cobra Woman is indifferent to its own strangeness, or plays it too seriously, or is just plain dull.
This is a large slice of cinematic ham. Between Maria Montez in a dual role (as both the good and bad twin sisters of an island kingdom), Sabu running around in tiny trunks, Lon Chaney Jr. trying to puff out his chest and suck in his gut as a deaf mute, and a few veteran actors earnestly trying to sell their bizarre dialog and characters, Cobra Woman has a certain amount of charm.
Montez isn’t much of an actress, but my god could she wear the most elaborate of clothing and sell it! The good sister gets stuck in dull swimwear and sarongs, while the bad girl gets the costumes dripping in jewels and covered in feathers. It’s like a drag queen’s wet dream. Just, for the love of God, don’t let her open her mouth and try to believably sell you on her characterization. Watch her for the glamour, and nothing more.
The rest of the film is made-up of a series of events that are either played up for their full ridiculous potential, or given-up on halfway through. An “elaborate” dance that Montez does to entice a cobra is a highlight. Her awkward body contortions and pointer-sister drag act is deliriously strange. Pity that the volcanic finale is such a bore. The cheapness isn’t embraced as it should be, and it becomes more distracting than anything else. The climatic payoff of the twin sisters isn’t very satisfying, and neither is the ending in which we abandon the island entirely. What was the point of the whole story if we’re just going to abandon the island after all of the trouble we went through on it? Cobra Woman is inept, but it has moments in which it grabs hold of its shaggy film-making and makes it worth watching, if for the unintended reasons.
