Review of Five Golden Dragons (1967) by Michael T — 10 Jul 2016

Edgar Wallace was a popular British writer of thrillers in the early 20th Century; he immigrated to the USA and became a scriptwriter at RKO before his death (his most famous script was for the original King Kong).

Wallace's works were rediscovered in Europe, particularly in West Germany, in the 1950s and that led to quite a few adaptations of his novels by various film studios in the 1960s. Five Golden Dragons was one of these, filmed in Hong Kong using the Shaw Brother's studios it involves the popular Hitchcock premise of the 'wrong man,' in this case an American tourist Bob Mitchell (Robert Cummings) accidentally stumbling onto an international criminal organization, the Five Golden Dragons, that is planning to sell its worldwide illegitimate enterprises to the American Mafia.

It is likely that the original Wallace novel was filled with a lot more "Yellow Peril" stereotypes and the Bob Mitchell character is a bit too much like a Bob Hope character than a Jimmy Stewart character; his character was probably altered from the novel to fit a 1960s sensibility.

The 1960s Hong Kong location shots are great, this film tales full advantage of its exotic locale. And it features Klaus Kinski as a chain-smoking assassin and Dan Duryea, George Raft, Brian Donlevy, and the always great Christopher Lee as four of the Five Golden Dragons.

Plus Rupert Davis as a Shakespeare-quotingHong Kong police Commander who is always being corrected by Inspector Chan (Roy Chiao) as to which act and scene the quote comes from.