Cobra (1925)

For big stars, of course, you can't go any higher than Rudolph Valentino. I've already detailed The Eagle (1925) earlier in this resource. Alpha have now issued an excellent value DVD of this title - a very good print with a fine music score by Don Kinnier. Also scored by Kinnier and also recommended for print quality is Alpha's edition of Valentino's Cobra (1925). This one co-stars the ravishing Nita Naldi (exquisitely costumed by Adrian) and the rather dull Gertrude Olmstead and even less personable Casson Ferguson. And to add to a viewer's woes, it's listlessly directed by Joseph Henabery, an exponent of the steady-as-she-goes, don't-do-anything-exciting school of film-making. Naturally, with Henabery at the wheel, the big action scene occurs off-camera. And speaking of the camera, I don't think it moves once during the entire movie. Whereas Clarence Brown sets out to dazzle the audience in "The Eagle", Henabery's evident aim is to send us to sleep. If it were not for Nita Naldi, he would have succeeded. True, Rudy's charisma manages to surmount the director's super-slow pacing until Naldi rescues the movie. But once she exits, our interest dies.

If this rather melodramatic piece were redone today you might get a psychological explanation for Rudolph Valentino's behavior. Quite simply put Rudy is a sex addict, title and all.Cobra has Valentino cast as a man with a title going back many generations, but he's cash poor and he has a compulsion to bed every woman he meets. You can imagine that such behavior has left him with few friends. But he gets a lifeline from America in the form of vacationing millionaire Casson Ferguson offering him a job in New York City where he's got a certain expertise in antiques and that's Ferguson's business.It doesn't take long for Rudy to start returning to his old ways. It means tragedy for one woman he's involved with. In the end he does an honorable thing.The Cobra did not do all that well as the movie going public liked to see Valentino in costume dramas. There is a small flashback sequence where you see him as one of his ancestors. Maybe had the whole film been set in the 15th century it might have worked better.As it is The Cobra is second tier Valentino.

In the early-mid 1920s, the name Valentino became synonymous with sex appeal and desire. Women adored him and in some of his films (especially "The Sheik") he became the sex symbol of all sex symbols. However, here in "Cobra", he plays a sexy man with a bit more depth...and the result is quite satisfying.The film begins with the young Count (Valentino) creating a bit of a mess of his life due to his playboy ways. Eventually, he's womanized so often that he's ready to leave his native Italy to make a new start. This occurs when he meets an American businessman who wants to hire the Count for his high-class antiques business.Once in America, he tries to mend his ways--but finds himself gravitating back to the old lifestyle. Now he once again swears off women--as he desperately wants more depth to his rather pathetic life. Eventually, through sublimating his sex drive in his job (Tiger...take notice), he's able to gain his and others' respect.Unfortunately, there are complications. First, his best friend and partner's wife begins to make the moves on him! Second, he finds himself falling for his secretary---but he's not sure what to do. She's nice and he doesn't want to mess things up by changing their relationship. How all this works out is NOT predictable and this is why I liked the film. It has a lot more depth than his rather silly Sheik character and shows more depth in his characterization than you might expect--and it's certainly worth seeing for this reason as well as exceptional production values.

Rudy is very good, especially in the comedic parts. The story isn't much, and it would have helped if either of his leading ladies had been Vilma Banky (the less said about the desiccated-looking Gertrude Olmstead the better). But Nita Naldi's appeal is at least more apparent here than in "Blood and Sand," and her clothes, by Adrian, do a lot for her. What's more, though she's a bad girl, she's a believable one. The film should be seen for Rudy's charm, for William Cameron Menzies' very, very effective production design, and for the fact that the DVD is made from an absolutely gorgeous, velvety, pristine, 35 mm print. It looks better than any other DVD I'm aware of with Valentino. A hotel fire, which we learn about from a newspaper, should have been portrayed. It's really an obligatory scene, and the movie is rather naked without it. It might have put the picture in the hit category, had it been done well.