The Gold Cobra (1915)
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“The Gold Cobra”
Well produced three-part melodrama appearing on the Pathé Exchange, Inc., Program.
Reviewed by Margaret I. MacDonald.
This production hies from far Europe, is staged in pleasing style, and is of that mysterious fiber as regards the story which is characteristic of the European film creation. It has just a touch of things Oriental, and much of the spaciousness of the typical English home. It brings to us the underground passages of other days and the ghostly memories that linger with them.
The story of The Gold Cobra, interpreted on the screen by competent players, has its origin in the overturning of a Hindoo secret society, the confiscating of the golden serpent used in the ritual ceremonies of the sect, and a phial containing a sleeping potion.
At the opening of the picture, years after the incident referred to has happened, Colonel Douglas, the owner of the gold cobra, returns to England and purchases the estate of a man named Mallon, of rather questionable morals. On the eve of the celebration of the betrothal of his daughter to Robert Hamilton, a young man of wealth and position, the gold cobra is taken from its accustomed place in the safe before the eyes of the guests, among whom is the man Mallon, and presented to the bride-to-be. It is therefore not surprising when one day the cobra is missing; but the message accompanying the disappearance of the betrothal gift is of such awful significance that the house of Douglas is thrown into a paroxysm of fear for the safety of Kathleen, daughter of the Douglases, who Is threatened with death should the gold cobra not be returned to its original owners; so signified the message.
It is not exactly clear in the picture whether or not Kathleen kidnapped herself in order to be able to gain the money necessary to repair her lover’s broken fortunes, or whether Mallon, who turns out to be the thief of the Gold cobra, had placed her under the influence of the sleeping potion. At any rate the thief is discovered and the young woman is restored to her people.
The production is an attractive one and holds the interest to the last.
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[Transcriber’s Note: The Gold Cobra was probably made in Italy, and no cast list is available on this movie]
Collection: Moving Picture World, January 1915
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