Haring Cobra (1951) - Rogelio dela Rosa & Lilia Dizon

Screen legend Rogelio dela Rosa played dual role in this exciting costume movie, as Felipe, a shipyard stevedore and as Haring Cobra, the deposed king. The scheming Haring Cobra hired the services of Felipe, his look-a-like, to double for him and devised a plan to reclaim his throne. Director Richard Abelardo, known for his terrific and superb camera works and visual effects, was able to put the two characters in a single frame perfectly. One wonders how he did it given the crude movie equipments he had during that time.

Haring Kobra is a costume epic, one of the countless produced in the early 1950s, revealing the Filipino's obsession with folklore and fantasy

Among the film's more interesting features is the dual role played by Rogelio dela Rosa, the matte paintings of a mythical Balinese kingdom executed by the film's director, Richard Abelardo, and the production and costume design by National Artist Carlos 'Botong' Francisco.

While working in a shipyard in Jolo, Felipe (Rogelio dela Rosa) is coerced by two henchmen of a deposed monarch, Haring Kobra, to accept a twofold mission - to impersonate him and kill the present usurper to the throne, his cousin, Rahmed (Jose Vergara) and thus stop the forthcoming marriage of Rahmed and the lovely Amahda (Lilia Dizon)

In a short flashback, Haring Kobra relates the events that led to his overthrow - how he was betrayed by Rahmed and together with his loyal aides, set upon a raft and left to drift aimlessly at sea; how he lost his right arm and instead of a hand, now has grotesque sharp steel