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6.4/10
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Someone is attempting to steal radium stored in a bank. Death by cobra venom connects a number of murders. Charlie investigates.Someone is attempting to steal radium stored in a bank. Death by cobra venom connects a number of murders. Charlie investigates.Someone is attempting to steal radium stored in a bank. Death by cobra venom connects a number of murders. Charlie investigates.
Andy Andrews
- Patrolman Outside Joe's
- (uncredited)
George Chandler
- Joe, Coffee Shop Owner
- (uncredited)
Cyril Delevanti
- Detective Larkin
- (uncredited)
John Goldsworthy
- Inspector Mainwaring
- (uncredited)
Stephen Gregory
- Samuel Black
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
Sidney Toler is Charlie Chan in "The Shanghai Cobra," a 1945 film. The Chan series by now is in the hands of one of the "poverty row" studios, Monogram.
In this story, Charlie is called by an old colleague to help identify a man named Jan Van Horn,. Charlie arrested this man in Shanghai during the war; van Horn's modus operandi was killing with cobra venom. Van Horn at the time insisted that he was being framed. The man's face had been badly burned, and he escaped during deportation. Now he's probably had extensive plastic surgery.
Now four people have been killed with cobra venom, and all of them are involved with a bank that has radium in one of its vaults - radium that will be stolen if Charlie doesn't nab the criminal.
I admit I've always liked Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan, probably because I am most familiar with him in the role. And I admit that I've always loved Chan's relationship with Birmingham and find Mantan Moreland very funny. I know that kind of humor is out today, but as Birmingham the chauffeur, the talented Moreland has wonderful comic timing.
He also is treated on the same level as Charlie's son, in this case the number 3 son (Benson Fong). It's obvious that Birmingham has a close relationship with the Chan family.
These films have a certain formula - Charlie always solves the crime, of course, and whichever son accompanies him usually not only gets into trouble but drags Birmingham along with him.
However, no matter the studio, the Charlie Chan series is entertaining and enjoyable.
In this story, Charlie is called by an old colleague to help identify a man named Jan Van Horn,. Charlie arrested this man in Shanghai during the war; van Horn's modus operandi was killing with cobra venom. Van Horn at the time insisted that he was being framed. The man's face had been badly burned, and he escaped during deportation. Now he's probably had extensive plastic surgery.
Now four people have been killed with cobra venom, and all of them are involved with a bank that has radium in one of its vaults - radium that will be stolen if Charlie doesn't nab the criminal.
I admit I've always liked Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan, probably because I am most familiar with him in the role. And I admit that I've always loved Chan's relationship with Birmingham and find Mantan Moreland very funny. I know that kind of humor is out today, but as Birmingham the chauffeur, the talented Moreland has wonderful comic timing.
He also is treated on the same level as Charlie's son, in this case the number 3 son (Benson Fong). It's obvious that Birmingham has a close relationship with the Chan family.
These films have a certain formula - Charlie always solves the crime, of course, and whichever son accompanies him usually not only gets into trouble but drags Birmingham along with him.
However, no matter the studio, the Charlie Chan series is entertaining and enjoyable.
Yet another Charlie Chan B-Pic from Poverty row Monogram Pictures.
This time around Chan (Sidney Toler) is given the task of investigating the Murder of three Bank workers from Cobra venom, and in the same bank the Federal Government keeps valuable Radium in its Vaults worth several Millions of Dollars - The case has similarities to one Chan investigated in Shanghai 8 years earlier, although the main suspect vanished without a trace at the time.
Also along for the ride are No.3 son Tommy (Benson Fong) and Assistant Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland).
This 40's B-Pic by Low budget Studio Monogram Pictures is a pretty good Chan release, The Acting is above average and not as Wooden as in other episodes, There is more action and greater care in the Script and production this time and there are plenty of scenes in different locations rather than just a few rooms and despite the re-using of sets time and again (You'll notice rooms here that have been in other Monogram Chan Releases, even with the same pictures on the walls) all in all 'The Shanghai Cobra' is done with enough enthusiasm to make it pleasantly enjoyable.
*** out of *****
This time around Chan (Sidney Toler) is given the task of investigating the Murder of three Bank workers from Cobra venom, and in the same bank the Federal Government keeps valuable Radium in its Vaults worth several Millions of Dollars - The case has similarities to one Chan investigated in Shanghai 8 years earlier, although the main suspect vanished without a trace at the time.
Also along for the ride are No.3 son Tommy (Benson Fong) and Assistant Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland).
This 40's B-Pic by Low budget Studio Monogram Pictures is a pretty good Chan release, The Acting is above average and not as Wooden as in other episodes, There is more action and greater care in the Script and production this time and there are plenty of scenes in different locations rather than just a few rooms and despite the re-using of sets time and again (You'll notice rooms here that have been in other Monogram Chan Releases, even with the same pictures on the walls) all in all 'The Shanghai Cobra' is done with enough enthusiasm to make it pleasantly enjoyable.
*** out of *****
When the strange death of three employees of the same bank from cobra venom startles the police, they start remembering a similar case that had occurred in Shanghai eight years before - and they think that the only one who can identify the killer named Jan Van Horn that had escaped before the trial back then is Charlie Chan, because it was him who'd caught him. But Charlie, once called in for help, explains that the convict had been burnt badly in an accident and his face has probably changed completely; and besides that, he'd always insisted that he'd been framed...
But one thing becomes clear pretty soon: there IS something going on in connection with the bank, where a large and immensely valuable amount of radium is stored; and, strange as it sounds, there also seems to be something wrong with the laundry next door, and the coffee shop across the street - and its jukebox...! And when Charlie, Tommy and Birmingham finally find out that there's a secret passage to the bank leading through the underground sewers, they get into a REALLY tight spot there...
This 'Charlie Chan' movie definitely has got a BIG 'touch' of Noir, from dark, rainy streets to a ruthless gang of killers to a genuine 'tough guy' private eye (well, he finally turns out not to be so tough after all...) - only the gags that Tommy and Birmingham, and even Charlie himself, deliver, lighten up the otherwise really 'black' and pretty suspenseful atmosphere. But after all the perils are overcome, and the RIGHT guys have been convicted, we get to see an ending that CERTAINLY is one of the funniest of ALL 'Charlie Chan' films!
But one thing becomes clear pretty soon: there IS something going on in connection with the bank, where a large and immensely valuable amount of radium is stored; and, strange as it sounds, there also seems to be something wrong with the laundry next door, and the coffee shop across the street - and its jukebox...! And when Charlie, Tommy and Birmingham finally find out that there's a secret passage to the bank leading through the underground sewers, they get into a REALLY tight spot there...
This 'Charlie Chan' movie definitely has got a BIG 'touch' of Noir, from dark, rainy streets to a ruthless gang of killers to a genuine 'tough guy' private eye (well, he finally turns out not to be so tough after all...) - only the gags that Tommy and Birmingham, and even Charlie himself, deliver, lighten up the otherwise really 'black' and pretty suspenseful atmosphere. But after all the perils are overcome, and the RIGHT guys have been convicted, we get to see an ending that CERTAINLY is one of the funniest of ALL 'Charlie Chan' films!
"Most interesting case," Charlie Chan says. "In four months, three persons are murdered by bite of cobra fang."
The mysteriously murdered victims are all employees of a bank whose vault holds a valuable cache of radium. Crooks are after said radium and Charlie Chan is assigned to protect it. And the murders are not done by an actual cobra, it turns out, but by one of those dastardly sharp-tipped poison-dispensing devices hidden in a clever place....
This suspenseful series entry includes less comic relief than usual but moves fast and builds to an exciting climax that feels more like an action-adventure picture than the usual gather-the-suspects Chan resolution.
Number Three Son Benson Fong is on hand to help, as is chauffeur Mantan Moreland—so there are a few decent laughs. (Charlie Chan, fed up with his assistants: "You remain here until I find doghouse big enough to hold both of you.") Sidney Toler moves with confidence and even a bit of a swagger as the great detective.
Much of the action takes place in a diner that contains a unique jukebox: A coin is dropped and a song selected—but then instead of a record playing automatically, the request goes to a person sitting in a little room who then puts on the record manually. A video camera allows this disc jockey to view the interior of the diner and even communicate by microphone when desired. –I've never seen such a setup in real life but I have to say that the next time I see a jukebox I will be looking at it more closely.
While no one would mistake this Monogram effort for anything bigger, imaginative touches and familiar characters make it well worthwhile for Chan fans.
The mysteriously murdered victims are all employees of a bank whose vault holds a valuable cache of radium. Crooks are after said radium and Charlie Chan is assigned to protect it. And the murders are not done by an actual cobra, it turns out, but by one of those dastardly sharp-tipped poison-dispensing devices hidden in a clever place....
This suspenseful series entry includes less comic relief than usual but moves fast and builds to an exciting climax that feels more like an action-adventure picture than the usual gather-the-suspects Chan resolution.
Number Three Son Benson Fong is on hand to help, as is chauffeur Mantan Moreland—so there are a few decent laughs. (Charlie Chan, fed up with his assistants: "You remain here until I find doghouse big enough to hold both of you.") Sidney Toler moves with confidence and even a bit of a swagger as the great detective.
Much of the action takes place in a diner that contains a unique jukebox: A coin is dropped and a song selected—but then instead of a record playing automatically, the request goes to a person sitting in a little room who then puts on the record manually. A video camera allows this disc jockey to view the interior of the diner and even communicate by microphone when desired. –I've never seen such a setup in real life but I have to say that the next time I see a jukebox I will be looking at it more closely.
While no one would mistake this Monogram effort for anything bigger, imaginative touches and familiar characters make it well worthwhile for Chan fans.
Back in the days before the American entry into World War II, Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan had occasion to arrest a man accused of a nasty string of killings involving use of cobra venom. That individual escaped. But when in America just post World War II, the same modus operandi turns up in a string of homicides in the same urban vicinity, Toler knows its The Shanghai Cobra at work again.
Toler's hunt for The Shanghai Cobra now involves him in a case where the Feds have a serious interest. The Cobra plans to steal some radium stored in a bank vault for the usual nefarious purposes. With the questionable help of Number 3 son Benson Fong and chauffeur Mantan Moreland, Charlie of course solves the mystery. Not without a few twists in it, like a jukebox with a television camera inside it. Television development was put on hold during the war years and it was still an object of wonder to the public. Also of course the ways The Shanghai Cobra does deliver death is interesting.
One thing though did bother me. You would think that such a man might seek an alternative type poison, lest his work attract the attention of people like Charlie Chan. Cobra venom poison is kind of unique in America, even today.
In any event though, The Shanghai Cobra is not a bad mystery and it is that because you will be crossed up in the end if you think you've identified The Shanghai Cobra.
Toler's hunt for The Shanghai Cobra now involves him in a case where the Feds have a serious interest. The Cobra plans to steal some radium stored in a bank vault for the usual nefarious purposes. With the questionable help of Number 3 son Benson Fong and chauffeur Mantan Moreland, Charlie of course solves the mystery. Not without a few twists in it, like a jukebox with a television camera inside it. Television development was put on hold during the war years and it was still an object of wonder to the public. Also of course the ways The Shanghai Cobra does deliver death is interesting.
One thing though did bother me. You would think that such a man might seek an alternative type poison, lest his work attract the attention of people like Charlie Chan. Cobra venom poison is kind of unique in America, even today.
In any event though, The Shanghai Cobra is not a bad mystery and it is that because you will be crossed up in the end if you think you've identified The Shanghai Cobra.
Did you know
- TriviaActual footage of the Japanese bombing of Shanghai is used in the flashback sequence.
- GoofsA building supposedly located in Washington, D.C. has the California state flag flying from its flagpole.
- Quotes
Tommy Chan: Pop, I want to talk to you as man to man.
Charlie Chan: I am ready, but you still have few years to go.
Birmingham Brown: That's right.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Un automne à New York (2000)
- How long is The Shanghai Cobra?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Shanghai Cobra
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $75,000 (estimated)
- Runtime
- 1h 4m(64 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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