filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

gftbiloxi The 1925 COBRA was among Valentino's last films--and it tends to divide the star's fans, who either rejoice at his appearance in a realistic drama or yearn for something that rivals his earlier, often outrageous seductive melodramas.The story concerns Count Rodrigo Torriani (Valentino), an impoverished Italian nobleman with a penchant for torrid affairs that lead to endless and often monetary difficulties. Largely in order to escape such difficulties, Rodrigo agrees to work for American antiques dealer Jack Dorning (Casson Ferguson)--only to find himself little better off in New York, where he wavers between office secretary Mary Drake (Gertrude Olmstead) and Jack's femme fatale wife Elise (Nita Naldi.) In a stylistic sense, COBRA shows what Valentino could do as an actor when he was not encumbered by the usual "great seducer" scripts pressed upon him--and he acquits himself very well. The supporting cast, most particularly Naldi, is also excellent. But there is no two ways about it: COBRA is so low-key that it feels excessively slow as it moves toward its none-too-surprising conclusion.The film itself is beautiful to the eye. Valentino is very close to the height of his physical appeal and Naldi is stunningly beautiful in a series of Adrian-designed gowns; the art direction by William Cameron Menzies is excellent, and the cinematography by Fischbeck and Jennings has a velvety quality that is quite fine. Even so, and with a running time of just over an hour, COBRA feels excessively languid in tone. The DVD offers a handsome transfer and good music score, but little else. Recommended--but primarily for hardcore Valentino fans.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

sunlily It's amazing to me that this compelling Valentino drama didn't do better when it was released! Maybe the audiences of the time wouldn't accept him as anything but the sizzling sheik, but this is an entertaining melodrama. The good news is that since it wasn't shown much, it leaves us with a pristine print. It's a good story with fine acting all around, particularly from Rudolph and Nita Naldi, one of the silent screens most scintillating vamps.Rudy plays Count Rodrigo Torriani, a charming Itallian ladies man who's always in hot water with the ladies. There are some fine comedic moments at the beginning of the movie when the Count is trying to get himself out of one of these unfortunate situations where his Latin gestures say more than words ever could! During the course of this incident, he meets Jack Dorning,an Ameican antiques dealer who persuades him to come to America and work with him. Upon arrival, the Count falls for Dorning's pretty assistant Mary Drake,played by Gertrude Olmstead, who embodies all the feminine virtues that the Count has secretly been looking for.The plot thickens as the Count gets himself into more trouble in America by attracting the attention of spoiled society girl Elise, played with aplomb by Nita Naldi. Although she later marries his boss, Jack Dorning, she continues to pursue him with all the wiles at her disposal. There is a sizzling seduction scene where Miss Naldi is dressed in a sexy gown created especially for the movie. The music during this scene conveys the intensity of the moment, and adds to the imagery of woman as cobra, ready to squeeze the life out of an unsuspecting victim.The movie is slow moving to start, and the ending may seem banal to current audiences, but see this one for an unusual Valentino performance, the lavish production values,and an absolutely beautiful print!

ducdebrabant 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.

pocca In "Cobra," Rudolph Valentino once again plays a lady killer, but one who is miles away from the nostril flaring bodice ripper of "The Sheik." Rodrigo Torriani, a suave Italian nobleman dressed in the latest fashions, is a far cooler sort of Casanova, one who seems more amused than stimulated by his seductions. Valentino, although often accused of overacting, modulates his delivery to suit this more detached character and for the most part plays Rodrigo is a subtle, understated manner. The film openly very strongly, with Rodrigo deftly outmaneuvering the enraged father of his latest conquest and an entertaining flashback to Rodrigo's womanizing Renaissance fore-bearer, also played by Valentino (even though the film is set in modern times, it looks like the screenwriters couldn't resist putting Valentino in a costume). The title refers to the femme fatale lead, but Rodrigo is the true cobra of this film.Unfortunately, the film falters once Rodrigo is convinced by a rich American tourist, Jack Dorning, to come work for him as an antique dealer. Aside from an amusing bit in which a screeching floozy tries to blackmail Rodrigo, most of the middle part of the film is taken up with a meant to be torrid, but unconvincing affair between Rodrigo and Elise Van Zile, played by Nita Naldi. Valentino's scenes with Naldi in "Blood and Sand" had real heat, but Naldi seems a tad matronly here, and even more seriously there is not enough interaction between Rodrigo and Elise to convince us that they find each other irresistible. When Rodrigo meets Elise for the first time (who seems more shy than seductive), he almost immediately passes her off to Jack even though he is supposedly smitten with her (as suggested by an unintentionally funny bit in an which an Art Nouveau knickknack portraying a snake suddenly morphs into Elise). The next thing we know, Jack and Elise are a married couple. However, we are meant to believe that all along there has been a smoldering attraction between Rodrigo and Elise, until finally Elise cannot stand it any longer and pleads with him to make love to her. Because we really haven't been prepared for this moment Elise simply comes across as a stalker for much of this scene.Another problem (perhaps more so for modern audiences) is Rodrigo's noble sacrifice of yet another woman to his good pal Jack, in this case his pretty but bland secretary, out of guilt for his supposed role in the death of Elise. This well meaning gesture, typical of silent films, doesn't bear much scrutiny. It doesn't take the woman's feelings into consideration at all (she loves Rodrigo, not Jack) and is at heart condescending--is Jack so incapable of finding his own women? Plus, one might cynically ask, hasn't Rodrigo learned from recent experience that such forced, one-sided relationships tend to end badly? Valentino does do a good job emoting the pain his sacrifice is causing him, though.A good role for Valentino, but otherwise a disappointing movie.