After Fox gave Chan away, Sidney Toler purchased the screen rights to the character and made a deal with Monogram, Hollywood's leading Poverty Row producer. The best entries in the Monogram series are the two directed by Phil Karlson, The Shanghai Cobra (1945) and Dark Alibi (1946). Although the second is by far the better of the two (in fact it is the only entry in the entire Monogram series that can stand comparison with any of the Fox features), it is not yet available on DVD.Shanghai Cobra is distinguished by its really stand-out opening on a rain-swept city street, directed with such gripping virtuosity that the rest of the movie becomes something of a letdown. Nonetheless, Toler is in fine mettle and is supplied with some delightful bon mots: "Man cannot sell bear skin unless shoot bear first!" Mantan Moreland and Benson Fong contribute some zesty comic relief and production values (by Poverty Row standards) are remarkably high.

For some reason, the U.S. Government is storing radium in bank vaults. No, Charlie Chan is not investigating what moron thought that was a good idea. Instead, he's looking into a series of murders by cobra venom that has a connection to the radium and an old case of Charlie's. Weird but not uninteresting plot. This is a decent Monogram effort with an emphasis on mystery (as there should be) and not on pathetic comedy relief. Oh, don't get me wrong, Tommy (Benson Fong) and Birmingham (Mantan Moreland) are still there and still as unfunny as ever. But they're relegated to background status for this one so we don't have to put up with their hijinks as much. If I'm not mistaken, I believe Moreland actually made it through the entire movie without saying the word "spooks." Probably the first and only time.There was a part of the plot that deals with an old case of Charlie's that took place in Shanghai. It would have been cool if they had tied it into the 1935 movie Charlie Chan in Shanghai. But, alas, that wasn't to be. Instead, it's about a man named Jan Van Horn that Charlie arrested in Shanghai in 1937 whose face was covered by bandages so Charlie never saw what he looked like. He did hear his voice and I immediately recognized it as a certain character actor. If you've seen enough of these types of films you will recognize it, as well. The man appeared in many B movies. Later, when the actor shows up in another role, we're expected to believe Charlie doesn't recognize that distinctive voice is Jan Van Horn. So that part of it was a dud but, to the movie's credit, it does manage to throw a twist in at the end to keep it from being too predictable. Overall, it's a watchable and somewhat entertaining movie. Slightly above par for Monogram but well below the superior Fox Chan movies.

Yet another Charlie Chan B-Pic from Poverty row Monogram Pictures.This time around Chan (Sidney Toler) is given the task of investigating the Murder of three Bank workers from Cobra venom, and in the same bank the Federal Government keeps valuable Radium in its Vaults worth several Millions of Dollars - The case has similarities to one Chan investigated in Shanghai 8 years earlier, although the main suspect vanished without a trace at the time.Also along for the ride are No.3 son Tommy (Benson Fong) and Assistant Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland).This 40's B-Pic by Low budget Studio Monogram Pictures is a pretty good Chan release, The Acting is above average and not as Wooden as in other episodes, There is more action and greater care in the Script and production this time and there are plenty of scenes in different locations rather than just a few rooms and despite the re-using of sets time and again (You'll notice rooms here that have been in other Monogram Chan Releases, even with the same pictures on the walls) all in all 'The Shanghai Cobra' is done with enough enthusiasm to make it pleasantly enjoyable.*** out of *****

In 1937, Dan Van Horn was arrested in Shanghai for a murder in which the bite of a cobra was implicated. Van Horn escaped, never to be heard from again, although it's known that his face was badly burned in an accident.It's now eight years later, and three employees of the Sixth National Bank have turned up dead, all identified as victims of the "Cobra Killer". The bank contains stores of radium for laboratory and hospital use, and is the center of all the skullduggery. As we've seen before, Inspector Charlie Chan (Sidney Toler) is alternately aided and confounded by his assistants, Number #3 Son Tommy (Benson Fong) and chauffeur Birmingham Brown (Mantan Moreland) - "You remain here until I find doghouse big enough to hold both of you". There are just enough characters and victims here to need a scorecard, and truthfully, that's about the only way one can follow the action. Add to that the device of moving a laundry storefront one door down from it's original location to further confuse the investigation. Van Horn (alternately referred to as "Dan" and "Jan"), is eventually revealed to be bank guard John Adams, who with his undercover daughter Paula Webb, have trailed the real Cobra Killer to the United States in an attempt to clear his name. The cobra device turns out to be not one, but two different gimmicks - a poisoned needle on the knob of a coffee shop juke box, and a similar set of needles on a cigarette lighter used to dispatch a detective working the bank building. The real Cobra Killer is a chemical engineer with an office at the bank, but as usual, his identity is only revealed at the end of the film, with only his profession providing a clue to the mystery. The Shanghai Cobra is a nifty entry into the Charlie Chan series at Monogram (this is the 6th film), but view it with some suspension of belief, as any number of the scenes and elements in the film rely on a stretch of the imagination.