Re: OUR CCF MONDAY EVENING CHAT AND FILM VIEWING FOR AUGUST 22 “The Shanghai Cobra”
From his book Charlie Chan at the Movies (1989 McFarland), the late author Ken Hanke wrote the following about this film:
"With 'The Shanghai Cobra' Monogram came within an inch of creating a Charlie Chan picture to rival Fox. The reason for this is not hard to fathom. Phil Karlson, a filmmaker of promise at the start of his career, was here on the first of his two series efforts. Even working within the limitations of format and budget, Karlson was able to achieve some extraordinary effects and generate an atmosphere almost equal to the best of any 1940s example of film noir, turning the "cheesiness" of the production values in on themselves, a la Edgar G. Ulmer, to create an attitude of doom and foreboding in which to set the film. The typically fanciful, yet wholly serviceable, screenplay posed no problem at all. Phil Rosen would have made a competent and enjoyable thriller from it, but Karlson makes it remarkable."
"The Shanghai Cobra" is the sixth of the wartime-themed films featuring U. S. Government Agent Charlie Chan supporting the war effort. I can't wait to watch this film.
