Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

How sad is this?

Absolutely brilliant

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

"Most interesting case," Charlie Chan says. "In four months, three persons are murdered by bite of cobra fang." The mysteriously murdered victims are all employees of a bank whose vault holds a valuable cache of radium. Crooks are after said radium and Charlie Chan is assigned to protect it. And the murders are not done by an actual cobra, it turns out, but by one of those dastardly sharp-tipped poison-dispensing devices hidden in a clever place.... This suspenseful series entry includes less comic relief than usual but moves fast and builds to an exciting climax that feels more like an action-adventure picture than the usual gather-the-suspects Chan resolution. Number Three Son Benson Fong is on hand to help, as is chauffeur Mantan Moreland—so there are a few decent laughs. (Charlie Chan, fed up with his assistants: "You remain here until I find doghouse big enough to hold both of you.") Sidney Toler moves with confidence and even a bit of a swagger as the great detective. Much of the action takes place in a diner that contains a unique jukebox: A coin is dropped and a song selected—but then instead of a record playing automatically, the request goes to a person sitting in a little room who then puts on the record manually. A video camera allows this disc jockey to view the interior of the diner and even communicate by microphone when desired. –I've never seen such a setup in real life but I have to say that the next time I see a jukebox I will be looking at it more closely. While no one would mistake this Monogram effort for anything bigger, imaginative touches and familiar characters make it well worthwhile for Chan fans.

Loosely based on novels by Earl Derr Biggers, 20th Century Fox's Charlie Chan series proved an audience favorite--but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor the studio feared audiences would turn against its Asian hero. This was a miscalculation: actor Sidney Toler took the role to "poverty row" Monogram Studios, where he continued to portray the character in eleven more films made between 1944 and his death in 1947.20th Century Fox had regarded the Chan films as inexpensive "B" movies, but even so the studio took considerable care with them: the plots were often silly, but the pace was sharp, the dialogue witty, and the casts (which featured the likes of Bela Lugosi and Ray Milland) always expert. The result was a kindly charm which has stood the test of time. Monogram was a different matter: Chan films were "B" movies plain and simple. Little care was taken with scripts or cast and resulting films were flat, mediocre at best, virtually unwatchable at worst.Thanks to an adequate cast and a few interesting plot devices, THE SHANGHAI COBRA is among the best of the Monogram-made Chan films--but even so it barely manages to achieve a consistent mediocrity. In this particularly entry, Chan (Sidney Toler) is called upon to investigate a murderer who kills with what appears to be a cobra-like bite; at the same time, he decides to make certain that a government supply of radium tucked away in a bank vault, of all places, remains secure. Do these two seemingly unrelated plot lines come together? Well... could be! Sidney Toler is always enjoyable as Chan, but most of his Monogram performances seemed "phoned in"--and that is as true of COBRA as it is of any Monogram Chan film. As usual, the really enjoyable performer is Mantan Mooreland. Changing times have led us to look upon Moreland's brand of comedy as demeaning to African-Americans, but he was an expert actor and comic, and taken within the context of what was possible for a black actor in the 1940s his work has tremendous charm and innocence.Fans of the 20th Century Fox series are likely to find Monogram's Chan a significant disappointment and newcomers who like the Monogram films will probably consider them third-rate after encountering the Fox films. Like other Monogram Chan films, THE SHANGHAI COBRA is best left to determined collectors. Four stars, and that's being generous.GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Charlie's still working for the Federal Govt., and along with no. 3 son Tommy and the rather subdued Birmingham are trying to prevent a gang of crooks stealing some radium from an impenetrable bank vault. Who are also being tailed by a watchful someone who they framed 8 years before in Shanghai.They all seem to spend a lot of time in that old friend, the gas chamber from the Jade Mask, this time masquerading as the sewers under the bank. But the key to this movie's implausible Monogram-plot is the very advanced jukebox in the diner which is manned via television by baddies 2 blocks away in the depths of the Monogram bank. Unsurprisingly Charlie solves everything.All of the above probably makes it sounds utter tripe, but I've always liked this outing from the team, with a nice and dark nitrate atmosphere pervading throughout to compensate for the plot's definite shortcomings. Not so many smart ass one-liners as in other efforts, but none the worse for that! Sure, it's the usual cheap Monogram affair, but if you sat through it knowing that and didn't like it kiss that hour goodbye forever!

While I have watched a lot of Charlie Chan movies and I have enjoyed them, they are no doubt very formulaic and the Monogram series is definitely inferior to the original 20th Century-Fox ones. So, how is it that some people gave these B-movies a score of 10?! Sure, they might be entertaining, but aesthetically they are far from high art. Think about it--some people scored this as high (or higher) as many might score GONE WITH THE WIND, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES or ORDINARY PEOPLE!!!! Come on,...this is just a B-movie,...and a very ordinary entry into the series at that. Plus, while I am not the most politically correct person out there, I can't believe a movie with Mantan Moreland's antics could ever merit a 10--or even an 8 or 9.First, let's back up a bit. The original series was pretty entertaining, but like all the Chan films it featured a White guy playing a Chinese man--not unusual for its day, but certainly something that prevent the films from being better--especially with the silly use of the English language by Charlie. While Chinese in ethnic origin, he is supposedly from Hawaii and I assumed most Hawaiians of his day did not talk like morons. Plus, this makes little sense because he is so darn smart a detective. But, most fans are able to look past this and accept that this isn't "high art" but still is quite entertaining. Fine. This is where I see myself. After all, even though he talks silly and spouts a lot of so-called "Chinese Wisdom", he is a decent, brave and intelligent guy--not exactly a negative stereotype.But, after the success of the initial films, Warner Oland (the first famous Chan) had the nerve to up and die and the series started to slip a bit when he was replaced by Sidney Toler. I don't really blame Toler, as he proved in other films he was a good actor. It's just that the original chemistry seemed "different" and Fox soon dropped the series. Enter Monogram Studios to continue the series (known as a "poverty row" studio due to its low production values). Now, the movies featured unknowns doing much of the supporting acting and Mantan Moreland was introduced to the series for new comic relief. Mantand's performances and the writing for his character was highly reminiscent of a smarter and less lazy version of Steppin Fetchit. As a kid, I laughed when he said lines like "feets don't fail me now" when he was scared (something he always seemed to be in the films). Now that I am older, I cringe a bit and know that there are Black people out there who are understandably furious about the stereotype he portrayed--especially because this type role was about the only one you'd see Black men portraying in mainstream films of the era.Now on to this particular movie. The film is about a series of murders of people all working at one particular bank. All seem to have been bitten by a cobra, but this just doesn't make any sense given that the film is set in an American city. And, since the American government is keeping some secret radium in the banks' vault (this part of the movie, actually, makes no sense at all), Charlie comes to investigate. This film offers more suspense than usual and the whole idea of robbing the bank and how it would be accomplished is pretty interesting stuff. Not a great film (certainly NOT a 10), but entertaining and fun.