Cobra (1925, Joseph Henabery)
A Retrospective Review by David M. Arnold
I puzzled over this film for a long time after viewing it. I couldn't quite figure out what the point was. Was it some sort of morality play? A lesson on virture? I finally concluded that it must have been an attempt to capitalize on it's star's (Rudolph Valentino) innate magnetism to women -- a romantic fantasy.
Count Rodrigo Torriani (Valentino) is young, handsome and broke. He has the misfortune of being cursed with irresistiblity to women, who are drawn to him like moths to a flame. He has squandered his inheritance by bestowing cash settlements on women as compensation for the hearts he has broken.
Rodrigo is befriended by wealthy American antiques dealer Jack Dorning (Casson Ferguson), who hires Rodrigo to come to New York and to join his firm as an expert on Italian antiques. Jack's lifestyle is as dull as Rodrigo's is exciting. Elise (Nita Naldi), niece to a wealthy patron, and Mary Drake (Gertrude Olmstead), Jack's executive secretary, make up a complex menage-a-quatre.
I can't discuss my thoughts about this film without giving away some of the plot, but I'll try to be as oblique as possible. Suffice to say that one of the women is virtuous and the other one is not. The old Double Standard is in full vigor, and the non-virtuous one is damned for living the same lifestyle as Rodrigo, to whom the film give smirking approval. Finally, the virtuous one prevails and gets Her Man, although modern viewers might feel it was the wrong man.
Rudolph Valentino (stage name for Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina) made about a dozen films after he became a star in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" (1921). "Cobra" was the next to the last film he made before his untimely and unexpected death in 1926 at age 31. Valentino was one of film's earliest bona-fide heartthrobs, and a mob of mourners at his New York funeral nearly turned into a riot.
"Cobra" is one of Valentino's lesser works, although not really due to any fault of his own. His major contribution is to be broodingly handsome in a number of stagey scenes in which characters enter, deliver their lines (or, what pass for lines in a silent film), and then leave. Valentino was once again paired with Nita Naldi, one of the silent era's premier sex symbols. Valentino and Naldi sizzled in "Blood and Sand" (1922). The fire between them in "Cobra" has been damped down to a feeble smolder, and they get only one unconvincing smooch.
Director Joseph Henabery has an impressive filmography of long-forgotten films, many of them 2-reelers. He is most recognizable to silent fans as an actor who played Abe Lincoln in "Birth of a Nation", and Admiral Coligny in "Intolerance".
The film tackles the topic of adultery with a directness that the Hayes office would expunge from Hollywood a mere 10 years later. But, it is so hampered by the silent form that the it never quite delivers. I am a fan of silent film. My list of 5 all-time favorite films includes two silents. A silent film can be awe-inspiring ("Thief of Bagdad", "Metropolis"); it can be lyrically beautiful ("Sunrise"). "Cobra" is neither, and its technique with static camera placment is most un-cinematic.
My biggest complaint with "Cobra" is that the film doesn't have a coherent moral vision. The title is derived from Rodrigo's belief that the victim of a cobra is nonetheless fascinated by the snake, and succumbs somewhat willingly. Woman is Rodrigo's cobra, making him the victim who willingly succumbs out of fascination for his enemy. However, when Rodrigo eventually overcomes his self-destructive obsession, he is smacked down. In the film's final scene, Rodrigo returns, chastened, to Italy but only after sacrificing own happiness in gratitude to his friend's generosity. The fact that Rodrigo returns unattached keeps the fantasy alive -- Rodrigo is still available.
I watched the new Image DVD of "Cobra", a disc that suffers from less than pristine picture quality, and a total lack of any extra material that might help the viewer put the film into some sort of historical context. It appears to be the only Valentino film as yet (9/1999) to appear on DVD. This seems strange to me, since stronger films like "Blood and Sand" or "The Shiek" are more representative of his work.
I can recommend "Cobra" as a curio to film fans who want to round out their silent film experience. And, as a reminder that the silent era, too, had its share of clunkers.
Essay Copyright (C) 1999 David M. Arnold. All rights reserved.
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