That is the great Boris Karloff pictured above. He plays Mr. Singh a wealthy Indian ex-maharaja who has ironically built a palace in the middle of Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Too clever for words on the writer’s part, no? Singh has heard of Jim’s reputation, whih is quite extraordinary considering he is an undercover agent for the United States government. Singh wants Jim to train his boys I the fine art of killing and will not take no for an answer.So Jim is put through the ringer: fistfights, deadly cobras, more fistfights, a vicious tiger, a polo match with him as the target, and plenty of smooching the maharaja’s daughter in between. It is a hard knock life, but at least the boys are learning what it means to kill. Or something like that. The action is all padding for a paper thing plot.
The true reason for luring Jim to the palace is revealed at the climax. The Indian Commissioner discovered oil on land the Pawnee have settled. He is going to se the maharaja‘s cash to exploit it, but he needs the Pawnee to move on and hopes Jim will utilize his often mentioned, but never explained, solid reputation with Indian to convince them to leave. He refuses, of course. Singh feels betrayed by the commissioner’s threat on his daughter, so they scuffle. Or rather, an obvious stut man in a very bad wig scuffle. Both are killed when Singh’s heart cannot take the stress and the commissioner drowns in a pit of oil.
I could have sworn midway through the episode this absurd dancing ape was artie in disguise coming to rescue Jim, but he came later posing as a maician. This ape was supposed to be real. It did not quite work:
“The Night of the Golden Cobra” is goofier than most, almost to the point of embarrassment. But it has the saving grace of featuring Karloff. I am a big fan of old Universal horror films, so your mileage may vary, but I thought it was totally cool to see him as the villain. Karloff was 77 at the time and since he spent the entire episode sitting on a throne, I suspect he was in poor health or at least had trouble moving about. Still, subdued Karl off is better than no Karl off at all.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
