The serpent
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The serpent |
| Original title | Cobra Woman |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1944 |
| length | 70 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Robert Siodmak |
| script |
Gene Lewis Richard Brooks |
| production | George Waggner |
| music | Edward Ward |
| camera |
W. Howard Greene George Robinson |
| cut | Charles Maynard |
| occupation | |
| |
The serpent (original title: Cobra Woman ) is an American adventure film directed by Robert Siodmak from 1944 with María Montez .
action
Shortly before the wedding between the islander Tollea and the sailor Ramu, the bride is kidnapped on behalf of her grandmother to her home island, the realm of the cobra people. Tollea's twin sister, the high priestess Naja, rules there together with her fiancé Martok. Large numbers of locals are regularly sacrificed to appease the worshiped king cobra and the anger of the active island volcano . According to the wishes of the grandmother and queen, Tollea, the older of the two and legitimate aspirant to the throne, is to end Naja's reign of terror. Meanwhile, Tollea's groom Ramu has followed her to the island, accompanied by his friend Kado and a clever chimpanzee . At the first encounter Ramu confuses Tollea with Naja, who takes a liking to the stranger. Ramu is thrown into prison by Martok, but is able to escape and meets Tollea again. The queen asks him to return to his homeland alone so that Tollea can lead her people after the liberation. Martok murders the queen because she refused to consent to his wedding to Naja and the disclosure of Tollea's hiding place. Ramu is arrested again and is due to be executed with Kado the next day. Tollea seeks out Naja and demands her ruler title. While trying to pierce Tollea with a spear, Naja falls to her death from a window. Tollea dons Naja's priestly costume and rushes to the temple to prevent the execution of Ramus and Kado. Martok realizes that the high priestess is really Tollea, and a fight ensues between Martok's guardians and Tollea's allies. When Martok dies, the volcano goes out and the cobram people are free. Tollea leaves the island with Ramu and Kado.
background
The Serpent was after Dracula's son Robert Siodmak's second film for the production company Universal Pictures . María Montez, Jon Hall and Sabu had previously played together in Arabian Nights , among others . Although filming had ended in June 1943, the film later started as Siodmak's next work, Witness Wanted , which ushered in his successful film noir cycle. In retrospect, Siodmak described The Serpent as "silly but fun".
The serpent started in New York on May 17, 1944 . In the FRG the film was not shown in cinemas, but was first broadcast on television (WDR 3 / NDR 3 / RB / SFB) on December 21, 1977.
In 2001, The Serpent was shown again at the San Francisco International Film Festival , with a personal introduction by avant-garde director Kenneth Anger . In 2006 Anger presented the film again at the Viennale .
Reviews
“Once again, the obedient audience is magically lulled to sleep with the craziest adventure fairy tale ever dished outside of a comic strip . […] Do you want to know more? Would you like to know that Ms. Montez plays a double role as a good and bad twin, without the slightest hint of a difference being noticeable? Do you want to know that the king cobra dance is a screaming dive event and that the level of intelligence of this whole affair is the same as that of the chimpanzee? If so, we advise you to watch this film. It's better than the joke pages it's obviously based on. "
"Imaginative Hollywood cinema, highly stylized and colorfully implemented."
Web links
- The snake priestess in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Joseph Greco: The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood, 1941-1951. Dissertation.com, 1999, ISBN 1581120818 , pp. 9-10.
- ↑ The Serpent in the Internet Movie Database .
- ↑ a b The Serpent in the Lexicon of International Films .
- ↑ The Serpent on the SFIFF website, accessed January 31, 2013.
- ↑ Christina Nord: Caught in a Forest of Miracles , article in the daily newspaper of October 27, 2006, accessed on January 31, 2013.
- ↑ “And again the submissive audience is witchingly rocked to sleep with as wacky an adventure fable as was ever dished up outside the comic strips. […] Do you want to know any more about it? Do you want to know that Miss Montez plays dual roles — those of the good twin and the bad twin — without a trace of distinction between? Do you want to know that the Dance of King Cobra is howling honky-tonk and that the intelligence level of the whole thing is that of the chimpanzee? If you do, we solemnly counsel that you go to see the film. It is better than the funny papers, on which it was obviously based. ”- Review in the New York Times on May 18, 1944, accessed on January 31, 2013.