Cobra Woman (1944)

On the day of her wedding, a native girl (Maria Montez) is kidnapped and taken to the island of her birth which is ruled by her wicked twin sister (Maria Montez). Of course, the bridegroom (Jon Hall) and his mascot (Sabu) are in quick pursuit to rescue her. This pastry of Technicolor nonsense should be a lot more amusing than it is. Robert Siodmak (THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE) goes beyond the call of duty in trying to breathe some life into it but to no avail. It's stillborn. Oh sure, there's that eye popping luscious three strip Technicolor but that hardly compensates for the atrocious acting (a double dose of Montez!) or the hideous costumes by Vera West, among the ugliest I've seen in a major film. The film only came to life once when Montez, I thought, gave a realistic portrayal of an epileptic fit but to my horror I realized she was supposed to be seductively dancing! I think I gave up after that. Still, some people seem to revel in this twaddle, go figure. With Mary Nash, Lois Collier and Lon Chaney Jr.