Cobra

In Brief: Rudolph Valentino's penultimate film, Cobra (1925), is something of an oddity. Cobra (no, the title doesn't refer to Valentino) is essentially a drawing room romantic drama done in the typical Hollywood style of the era. The camera is nailed down (the one shot where it moves is startling just because it feels out of place) and there's a tendency for scenes to look like they were blocked for the stage. There's a reason that director Joseph Henabery would be relegated to short films by the dawn of sound and is best remembered for his brief turn playing Lincoln in D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915). And, despite striking sets by William Cameron Menzies (and an uncredited Natacha Rambova, who was also Mrs. Valentino), that reason is on display here — but it also contains one of Valentino's best and most subtle performances. As Count Rodrigo Torriani — a down-on-his-luck Italian aristocrat with a weakness for women and a fine knowledge of antiques — Valentino is fascinating from first to last. Cobra may be rather indifferent cinema, and it's certainly undistinguished melodrama, but it presents a compelling performance from its star.