WHERE is the Region 1 DVD???

I agree -- the rumors of its demise must be greatly exaggerated or it would not even be in circulation at all anymore; I was told at the showing I went to a week ago (www.cinefamily.org) that it was a FILM (not digital) presentation, which means there must be copies of the film being checked out from time to time at Universal (or, I suppose, the print I saw could have come from a private colletion).

3/4" tape masters for broadcast might have been created one or two decades ago and still trotted out for showing on-the-air. So, it is actually possible that the existing film elements might have all been destroyed since video masters were struck.

Film preservation is still a pretty new concept since it doesn't turn an immediate profit for the studios that hold these properties. Nowadays there is more collective awareness about the importance of conservation, but that doesn't ensure studios are cooperating, and (as has been well documented on stations like AMC over the years) some film storage units are deplorable toilets and even contribute to the eventual deterioration of film elements.

Even if Universal's film elements were all destroyed, though, I suspect there is a wealthy afficionado somewhere in this world who possesses a 35 mm Technicolor print of COBRA WOMAN locked safely away in a vault (don't ask how he got it, that's all), and the likelihood is that a collector will take much better care of his goods than some of these studios would. Perhaps that's how the Region 2 DVD of COBRA WOMAN on the "Carlotta" label, came to be... (just guessin'...).

Universal may continue to try to suppress COBRA WOMAN, but the snake will ultimately out itself!

I am thrilled to know that you own a copy of this goofy little fiim taped off AMC (probably looks terrific!), and I encourage you to have regular annual showings of COBRA WOMAN at your home for both the devoted and the unititiated.

No kidding.

Keep spreading the film's popularity and you will be a hero. There is a certain kind of magic that takes place when you get a bunch of people together to watch this movie -- I've seen it happen (and you probably have too). There is a collective sort of bizarre hilarity that takes over the audience when Maria Montez as Nadja starts calling out those to be executed. COBRA WOMAN, in its strange, juvenile way, is one of those few films that nourishes our inner child.

Y'know, if there is anyone with a lot of dough out there who SHOULD get behind the distribution of this film, it's Steven Spielberg. He could only make a small fortune if he fronted the cash for a boxed set of SECRET OF THE INCAS and COBRA WOMAN, two films he appears to have ripped-off (or, perhaps it is better said he "paid homage to") when creating RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and INDIANA JONES AND TTHE TEMPLE OF DOOM. (For all I know there's another old movie out there he used as the model for INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE, and that could be the third disc in a boxed set). Heck, it could only be better than the recent INDIANA JONES movie, which felt woefully stale and appeared to be little more than a pastiche of set pieces from prior installments, with a desperate "X-Files" ending.

I even wonder if Spielberg himself possesses prints of these films which could be used as the masters for the Region 1 DVDs... (hey, I'm just speculatin')...

KING COBRA!!!