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The Shanghai Cobra (1945)

The Shanghai Cobra (1945), directed by Phil Karlson, starring Sidney Toler and Benson Fong.

09/29/1945 BR Mystery and Thriller 1h 4m

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Charlie Chan at his best in his most thrilling adventure!

Synopsis

Someone is attempting to steal radium stored in a bank. Death by cobra venom connects a number of murders. Charlie Chan investigates.

  • Vincent J. FarrarCinematography
  • Phil KarlsonDirector
  • Ace HermanEditing
  • James S. BurkettProducer

Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) Collection

The franchise in release order. 22 films.

About the film

The Shanghai Cobra is a 1945 mystery film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.

Read the full article (4k characters)

The Shanghai Cobra is a 1945 mystery film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan.

Plot

When three bank employees are killed with cobra venom, Detective Chan recalls an oddly similar case ten years earlier in Shanghai.

In Shanghai in 1937, criminal Jan Van Horn was badly burned when the Japanese bombed Shanghai. After plastic surgery, he escaped custody and nobody knows what he looks like today.

Inspector Davis, in charge of the case, is an old friend of Chan's who calls him in. Chan has a second reason to be interested...the bank is the central depository for radium distribution for a good part of the United States. The special vault holding the radium is a monster that seems impregnable from street level. But Charlie discovers a network of underground tunnels and sewer pipes beneath the bank.

Tommy Chan and Birmingham, usually against orders, spend a goodly amount of time prowling these tunnels. At least until they discover a fourth body. Detective Larkin, an undercover officer posing as the bank's janitor, apparently found out too much.

Another puzzle is how the murders were committed. There was no actual snake, and all the victims died out of reach of the nearest human being. Charlie discovers the first three victims all favored the same inexpensive restaurant. When he learns their expensive jukebox came from "an anonymous donor", he tracks down the control room booth for the jukebox. Oddly, it is concealed behind a bookcase on the second floor of the bank building...in an office housing a full chemical laboratory. The woman running the booth is arrested, but she has never seen her boss. Charlie discovers that when you touch the coin return button on the jukebox, a poisoned needle pops out.

Charlie plants a false rumor that the radium will be moved to a safer location the next day. This forces the criminals to strike that night. But Chan hadn't counted on the use of explosives. He, Tommy, and Birmingham are trapped in an underground cave-in. Charlie taps into the underground phone lines and sends a morse code message. Police swarm the underground tunnels and arrest the robbery gang.

Freed from the cave-in, Charlie exposes two identities. Chief Bank Guard John Adams is revealed to be the escaped Jan Van Horn. But it turns out he really was innocent. The detective who framed the case against Van Horn also disappeared from Shanghai at the same time. He is revealed to be Bradford Harris, the bank vice president. And on his person is a cigarette lighter with a poison needle attachment, which he used to murder Detective Larkin.

Cast

Sidney Toler as Charlie Chan

Mantan Moreland as Birmingham Brown

Benson Fong as Tommy Chan

James Cardwell as Ned Stewart

Joan Barclay as Paula Webb (alias of Paula van Horn, daughter of Jan van Horn)

Addison Richards as John Adams (alias Jan van Horn), Sixth National Bank guard

Arthur Loft as Bradford Harris (alias Special Agent Hume)

Janet Warren as Record Machine Operator

Gene Stutenroth as Morgan, a gangster

Cyril Delevanti as Detective Larkin, a police undercover officer at the Sixth National Bank

George Chandler Joe Nelson, coffee shop proprietor

James Flavin H.R. Jarvis, chemical engineer

John Goldsworthy as Inspector Mainwaring

Walter Fenner as Inspector Davis

Mary Moore as Clerk in Laundry

Stephen Gregory as Samuel Black, the third victim

References

External links

The Shanghai Cobra film details at The Charlie Chan Family Home

The Shanghai Cobra at IMDb

The Shanghai Cobra at the TCM Movie Database (archived)

The Shanghai Cobra at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

Shanghai Cobra at Letterbox DVD

Shanghai Cobra at BFI

Text from The Shanghai Cobra on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shanghai_Cobra

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Questions about this film

What is The Shanghai Cobra about?

The Shanghai Cobra: Someone is attempting to steal radium stored in a bank. Death by cobra venom connects a number of murders. Charlie Chan investigates.

Who directed The Shanghai Cobra?

The Shanghai Cobra was directed by Phil Karlson in 1945.

Who stars in The Shanghai Cobra?

The cast of The Shanghai Cobra includes Sidney Toler, Benson Fong, Mantan Moreland, James Cardwell and Joan Barclay.

How long is The Shanghai Cobra?

The Shanghai Cobra runs for 64 minutes, or 1h04.

What is the correct order of the Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) Collection films?

The Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) Collection franchise has 22 films in the catalogue. In release order: Charlie Chan em Honolulu; Charlie Chan no Reno; Charlie Chan na Ilha do Tesouro; Charlie Chan na Cidade das Trevas; Charlie Chan no Panamá; Charlie Chan e o Estrangulador; Charlie Chan no Museu de Cera; Um Tiro Misterioso.

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Page updated on 09/14/2026.

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