User Reviews

Going into this, I knew not to expect too much from it (having watched any number of low-brow espionage fare from the era) but I was still disappointed by the way it wastes a star cast and is compromised besides by the fatal miscasting of the central role! Harry Alan Towers made several colorful thrillers during this time, often set against an exotic backdrop and filled with beautiful girls; oddly enough, then, he went and repeatedly shot himself in the foot by choosing a Hollywood veteran (read: way past his prime and usually forgotten) for leading man – I thought this practice had died with the British B-movies of the previous decade! In this case, we get Robert (sorry, Bob!) Cummings – introduced sunbathing near a pool! – who really must have thought he was appearing in a comedy, since he never takes the mayhem going on around him seriously (despite the constant threats to his own life)! The producer probably felt he had made a coup by securing the services of a two-time Alfred Hitchcock hero (albeit perhaps his lightest ever): on his part, the actor probably merely thanked his lucky stars he could still ogle gorgeous half-naked chicks at his age and, for better or worse, this turned out to be his final theatrical film!

Anyway, the titular figures are 5 powerful industrialists from different areas of the globe who join forces – without, however, knowing one another's identity! – intending to control the world's economy (or some such grandiose scheme obviously doomed to failure by the generally oblivious intervention of our happy-go-lucky hero!). When they finally appear, or rather 4 of them (as the fifth remains a mystery till the very end), they are supposed to justify the presence in the film of Dan Duryea, Brian Donlevy, George Raft and Christopher Lee – who subsequently do nothing but present themselves to one another (after removing their golden-dragon masks) while sitting at table and opening a box in front of them with one of two keys which, were they to adopt the wrong one, would end up shot dead! Convoluting this basic plot is the interaction between Dragon minion Klaus Kinski, a couple of sisters (Maria Perschy, who had fled from service with the Dragon conglomerate, and Maria Rohm, the producer/writer's wife), two vaguely antagonistic others involved in running a nightclub (the girl being "Euro-Cult" babe Margaret Lee), not forgetting the Shakespeare-quoting British Inspector stationed in Hong Kong (played by Rupert Davies) who, when he gets stuck or slips on the Act/Verse front, a local aide butts in half-mockingly (yeah right, like I know Confucius!).

Though the Widescreen print looks very good, it all goes for naught when one is never really drawn into the various intrigues, not due to its proving mystifying but rather because it is so sketchily-presented as to barely matter! Along the way, Cummings receives a cryptic note from a man killed by Kinski's henchman, is chased by the latter and his men along the river banks and later atop a temple (cue totally inappropriate cartoonish sounds accompanying the dull and protracted action itself!), framed for Perschy's murder and eventually sent, in the guise of No. 5 Dragon (pardon the lapse into Charlie Chan lingo!), to be eliminated himself at the climactic meeting of the charade-happy big-wigs! Like I said, very few of the stars are given anything substantial to do – of the Dragons, only Duryea gets to utter more than a few dumb lines; Kinski, too, is underused; as for the girls, Rohm's basic lack of experience is evident (this was only her third film), Perschy does what she can with the frightened-lady stereotype, whereas Lee sings and plays the sultry villainess adequately enough but, entering proceedings at the 45-minute mark and appearing thereafter only intermittently, it results in a 'too little too late' scenario!

Silly, sometimes juvenile, but generally amusing adaptation of the Edgar Wallace story by producer Harry Alan Towers, using his screen writing pseudonym of "Peter Welbeck". Fading sitcom star Robert Cummings plays Bob Mitchell, a naive American playboy on vacation in Hong Kong. He soon gets dragged into various matters of international intrigue, while a dedicated police commissioner (Rupert Davies) and his associate (Roy Chiao) work the case. The "five golden dragons" of the title are criminal masterminds who are due to meet each other in person for the first time.

This is a moderately fun, rather lightweight mystery. It's not a great one by any stretch of the imagination, but it sometimes delivers some entertainment. It lessens its impact by going on too long, and losing some momentum, and it really does get too positively goofy for its own good. (The falling death of a henchman is played for laughs, for one thing.) What helps matters a fair bit is the exotic setting. The movie is shot in Techniscope and Technicolor and looks absolutely gorgeous. And now that the word "gorgeous" has been brought up, it must be said that the female cast looks ravishing: Margaret Lee as the devilish singer Magda, and Maria Rohm & Maria Perschy as a pair of sisters. The songs & score are catchy.

The international cast of superstars gives it curiosity value. Cummings supplies both heroics and comedy relief, and he's likable enough. Davies and Chiao (the two of them utter quotes from Shakespeare appropriate to various situations) are excellent. Klaus Kinski is a hoot as always as the nefarious Gert, but fans might bemoan not seeing him get to do more. Giving the film a shot in the arm late in the game are the special guest star appearances by Dan Duryea, George Raft, Brian Donlevy, and Sir Christopher Lee, who play four of the five golden dragons. Still, one may rightly think that to see them so briefly is a waste of talent. Japanese pop star Yukari Ito makes a musical appearance.

Enjoyable, to a degree, but also largely forgettable. One highlight, or low point, depending on your point of view, is seeing a supposedly dead body blink several times.

Six out of 10.

I'm sure that Bob Cummings and the guest stars who played the Golden Dragons must have looked forward to a nice trip to Hong Kong as the main reason for signing on for this film. In the case of George Raft his troubles with the IRS are well documented. It's as good a reason as any to appear in this dragging film.

Five Men who are the Golden Dragons are operators apparently on both sides of the law and unknown to each other they meet in Hong Kong to dissolve a successful partnership and split their accumulated loot. They wear these silly dragon masks and have a key that opens a lock for admission. If they're not a dragon, they got shot with a turn of said lock.

Four of them make it, Dan Duryea, George Raft, Christopher Lee, and Brian Donlevy. The fifth doesn't show up, he's been eliminated. They can't start without him.

In the meantime kind of like Cary Grant was sucked into some espionage plot in an infinitely better film, North By Northwest, Bob Cummings gets involved in this whole business. He's an aging playboy in Hong Kong for some fun and frolic. Of course he's not what he seems.

Cummings tried to make light of the whole business. Everyone else mouthed the dialog with all the satisfaction of players whose salary checks have cleared.

All of you I'm sure have better memories of all the name players in the cast. Keep them.

I've gone back and forth on how to rate Five Golden Dragons. On one hand, I really want to like this movie. It's got an infectious 60s vibe that really worked with me. On the other hand, it's got a lot of problems and is, in all honesty, a mess of a movie. So, I'm stuck with giving it a wishy-washy 5/10.

I'm not going to do the normal plot summary. There's no point because there's not much of a coherent plot. None of it makes any sense at all. I'll just say that there is a lot of super-secret spy type stuff going on in Hong Kong and it all surrounds a group of five guys who call themselves the Five Golden Dragons (hence the title). What they do or who they are is as unknown to me now as it was before I watched the movie. All I know is that they want to sell-out to the mafia (I think) for $50 million. And there are some other people who would quite naturally like to get their hands on the money. Be warned that all or part of this could be completely wrong - I just don't know.

One of the big draws of Five Golden Dragons is the cast. George Raft, Dan Duryea, Brian Donlevy, and Christopher Lee are prominently listed in the credits. However, their combined screen time is about 10-15 minutes and all they do is sit around a table, put on and take off some goofy looking gold dragon masks, and spout some of the most inane dialogue I've ever heard. The whole thing looks like it might have been filmed in an hour. Their acting is also pretty funny. They all seem to go through a range of emotions ranging from bewilderment to confusion to amusement to impatience. It's obvious they realize how bad this thing really is.

Most of the rest of the cast is, however, very enjoyable. I really enjoyed seeing Klaus Kinski, Maria Perschy (wow), Maria Rohm, Rupert Davies, and Sieghardt Rupp. All are capable and do the best with what they have. But the highlight for me was Margaret Lee. Any movie with Margaret Lee is automatically better than it would have been without her. A lot of the movie is more than competently filmed with some very nice shots of Hong Kong. The chase scene through the harbor was especially nice. The movie's pacing is all over the place. In spots the action is great and the movie has a nice flow to it. But, in others, the film really drags.

Finally, after going through some of the good and bad I found in Five Golden Dragons, I'm left with writing about the one thing that almost ruined the movie for me and keeps me from rating it at least a point higher. And that is Robert Cummings. He's so bad! I don't know when I've seen an actor irritate me like this. Part of the problem is that much of the time he seems to be acting like he's in another movie. The comedy he brings to the film is most often completely out of place. His reactions to most everything going on are usually the exact opposite of what you would expect. Also, he's 100% wrong for the role. Here's the IMDb summary for the movie, "A naive young American playboy in Hong Kong finds himself caught up in the middle of an international crime." Young! Are you kidding me? At 57, Cummings isn't young by a long shot. And his bad dye job doesn't help. Some of his scenes with Maria Perschy and Margaret Lee are embarrassing. Also, at 57, he's way too old play "naïve". His stammering, stuttering schoolboy is laughable. Completely and utterly ridiculous! I'm willing to forgive a lot of the faults in Five Golden Dragons, but Cummings isn't one of them.

Unlike the other reviewers, I think the main reason to watch this film, is Robert Cummings, who for some strange reason preferred to bill himself as 'Bob' in the later years of his career! Always a smooth operator on screen, and in my all time top 5 or 6 'comedy' actors, I feel he must have realized early on that he was involved in somewhat of a 'turkey', and decided, wisely I think, to play the whole thing tongue in cheek! No matter what else is, or isn't going on around him, Mr. Cummings himself is always fascinating to watch! And the girls are all gorgeous, and the scenery is nice! It's a pity Cummings couldn't have had a better vehicle for his big screen swansong, but I think the secret of enjoying this film is simply not to take anything seriously!

To call this a strange thriller would be an understatement. The strangeness comes from the story itself. In the blurb for this flick, it declares a young naive American Playboy in Hong Kong finds himself caught up in international crime. Even though, at first glance, Bob Mitchell is just that - and he plays the part - he's actually a middle-aged Doctor. Bob, for some reason that is never explained, is to meet up with a businessman he talked to onboard his cruiseliner. This man is followed from the moment he disembarks. He rushes to an abandoned apartment in a block on the outskirts of the city and is promptly thrown over the balcony to his death. On his way to the apartment, he hands the taxi driver a cryptic note for Bob, which just reads Five Golden Dragons.

From here on in we enter a cat and mouse chase as Bob tries to find out about the dragons while staying out of the reach of assassins.

This film sports a marvellous cast. Christopher Lee, George Raft, Brian Donlevy, Klaus Kinski, Roy Chiao, Rupert Davis, Margaret Lee, Maria Rhom, and Robert Cummings. However, the majority of the talent, though consistent, is underused, Even the supplemental cast is strong in their portrayals. It's just the story that lets them down.

I cannot believe for a second that the Dragons are not Chinese and yet they run and control every illegal operation in Hong Kong. Let alone that these five crime lords are about to sell their enterprises to the Mafia. In fact, as the story progresses you begin to wonder if the writer, Peter Welbeck, wasn't just bolting things on as he went along. "Oh, I've had an idea, let's throw it in an see if it sticks." If this is the case then I take my hat off to the director, Jeremy Summers, who still created and crafted a nicely shot movie.

However, I'm not too sure if this was meant to be a comedy or a straight action spy thriller. There are times when everything is played as straight as a ruler. Then Summers throws in a curveball, such as a chase scene where Bob is being pursued by some assassins up one of the iconic period towers in Hong Kong. For some reason, the music being used is lighthearted and uses the "Shave And A Hair-Cut, Two Bits" refrain... Da... Da-Da Da Da... Da Da. As well as having a comedic sound when one of his pursuers is tossed over the parapet. Also, a lot of Bob's narrative has humorous overtones. All of this keeps the film light and makes it enjoyable in a weird kind of way.

This is pretty much your standard sixties action spy affair - though nowhere near James Bond's calibre. It's entertaining in its way and the peculiarity of some of the scenes will keep you watching. The ending may leave you feeling a little cold. This could have been so much better. It's one of those scenes that feels and looks rushed and "bolted" on. You should never do that at the climax it can easily ruin a film, which this so nearly does.

If you like lighthearted action thrillers with beautiful scantily clad ladies and a pinch of humour and a smattering of oddness then this could be your film. I enjoyed it but I doubt I'll watch it again - even though I now have a crush on Margaret Lee and Maria Perschy... Ah, if I could only time travel...

There are four golden reasons to watch this lightweight comedy- thriller from B-movie programmer king Harry Alan Towers alias Peter Welbeck. 1) the on-location photography of 1960s Hong Kong 2) Margaret Lee who also sings "Five Golden Dragons," a good little tune 3) Maria Rohm 4) Maria Perschy. If not for the latter three, I'd have turned off this movie after 20 minutes. I can't see any reason to actually buy the DVD if you've seen it on TV or Amazon Prime.

Affable Bob Cummings basically plays his TV character from "Love That Bob." Evasive, easy-going, constantly chattering small talk, nervous, clumsy and too-cool-for-school, Bob overdoes wiping his face with a handkerchief in the second half. I don't know what that was all about. An endless stream of beefy Chinese thugs in matching Polo shirts chase him around Hong Kong but can't kill him but they do kill off one of the cast sleeping in his hotel bedroom, while he's on the couch snoozing. The rest of the cast in small roles is a Who's Who of movie legends, well-known faces and international actors.

Bob was lucky not to have any scenes directly opposite mad man Klaus Kinski, unusually subdued here. It has the same kind of fun-B movie time-killing, ambiance as another Towers production, Bang! Bang! You're Dead! (Our Man in Marrakesh) with Tony Randall who supposedly turned down the Cummings role. Towers had a yen for these Sax Rohmer/Edgar Wallace-style films in the 1960s, ultimately producing and writing over 100 films during his lifetime, adding production value with exotic locations like Beirut and Hong Kong. The editing of the night club performances by Lee and Yukari Ito is poor, interrupting their singing for some meaningless cut-away and then back again to the singers.

B grade British film set (and made) in Hong Kong, although the leads are American.

The Five Dragons are a confederate involved in illegal activity in Hong Kong, when they decide to dissolve the confederate. A professor meets some young women at the pool and becomes involved.

The story is simple comic book stuff, and not particularly carefully made, but the film is livened up by many period scenes in Hong Kong and the comely Magda.

There is a song by a contemporary Japanese star called Yukari Ito. In one scene a (new) Toyota Corona turns into an (old) Morris Oxford before blowing up.

Watching this film you get the impression that they were writing the film at the same time that it was being shot.Sequences don't seem to join together.Events happen for no reason.So in the end it makes very little sense.Robert Cummings,in his last theatrical film,looks totally out of place.He looks old and tired.He seems to behave rather strangely as if he has St Vitus dance.Then we have the guest stars.Watching them is rather like watching wax replicas.Basically all they have to say is "Number 2".The only real interest in this film is viewing Hong Kong as it was in 1965 before the construction of so many skyscrapers.Also planes coming into land at the old Kai Tek airport.that was truly a memorable experience.This film is truly awful but entertaining for that reason.

I have a real soft spot for 1960s movies and I am a fan of all of the ones produced by Harry Alan Towers in that decade. He was frequently involved in making low budget action pictures, but they were often filmed in beautiful locations with numerous stars in the cast. Five Golden Dragons certainly has both but as a result it looks better than it is. Harry wrote the screenplay under an assumed name and I would have done the same as this script is pants.

Christopher Lee, Klaus Kinski, Margaret Lee and even George Raft (eternally memorable as Spats Colombo in Some Like It Hot!) are trapped in this nonsense about a mysterious and impenetratable crime syndicate. I enjoy this kind of escapist adventure but it is a bit too slow moving and cringeworthy to be of interest to most adults. Badly cast leading men are a staple of Harry's productions and Robert Cummings fits the bill perfectly here.

I recently bought this film on blu-ray and the sound and picture are superb. Hong Kong looks beautiful and contributed to me giving this film more stars than it really deserves. I haven't done a very good job of explaining why I am so fond of Harry Alan Towers productions, but this is not one of his best despite having some nostalgic charm. Paroxismus (1969) for example is way better!

With an eye/view from the US or Europe it must been very exotic/exciting watching this movie shot on location in Hong Kong - obviously trying to get some Bond-Look-a-Like atmosphere as in the same time were released/made YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. While there were some Euro-Spy-wave there were also a crime-wave in germany based on Edgar Wallace books. 32 official movies were made from 1959-72 plus some "inofficial" ones made by the british movie makers and partially in co-production with Germany and international Cast.

Recently watchd this movie on bluray (german release) which contains two cuts. An international 105 min version (restored) and a shorter german version (78 min).

Compared to both version: the german Cut might have more tempo but it's a bit confusing when somebody suddently know something of things which had been cut from that version. This is also mentioned on the german bluray audio-commentary.

In the title sequence is a major difference as in the german one are Sieghardt Rupp and Klaus Kinski listed but not mentioned in the international one.

Even this movie might in some scenes to long this movie could have been much better. But there is a big issue: Bob Cummings. - Dont get me wrong: Bob Cummings is a good actor. But he was 57 years who plays "a young naiv playboy/reporter". With colored hair and "overacting" to try to be "young" he destroyed somehow the illusion/the movie. It (the movie) would have been much better when Bob cummings would have "act" more serious.

Fazit: it's not that bad at all but not that great. Just passable time-killer

This is an enjoyable "B" or, perhaps, "B-"film. I'm sure the cast had a marvellous holiday in Hong Kong, if only they had been there to make a better film. Rupert Davis did sterling work as Sanders, the police commissioner The four famous actors who played the dragons are woefully underused and could only have accepted the parts for the paid holiday, as the roles are just cameos. The only mystery is the Bob Cummings character (who would have been better suited to a different film) This character is clearly far more than the dizzy playboy that he purports to be but we are never told what. He does tell Sanders, who immediately treats him as an equal, but we come in at the end of that conversation and only hear Sanders' calling him a "strange duck" (not "doc" as stephenabell suggests).

The actors do what they can, the faults are caused by the writer and director.

I can imagine watching this film again but not for a few years.

This ludicrous feature is atypical of the "so bad, it's kind of funny" movie. It does boast an international cast, many of whom are poorly dubbed and has been filmed on location in Hong Kong, though the scrubby print I saw, really didn't do justice to the oriental metropolis. The film aspires to be an "action - comedy", but fails miserably on both fronts. The action is generally of the Keystone Cops variety, though clearly not planned that way, whilst the comedy mainly emanates from the audience who like this writer, can't really believe they are watching the antics presented onscreen.

I do encourage potential viewers to see if they feel they might be thrilled by observing: 1 A charisma-less leading man, who feels the need to constantly and very obviously chew gum throughout the film for no apparent good reason.

2 Four bizarrely staged chase sequences guaranteed to make your jaw drop at their pure inanity. One involves (sort of) row boats across the harbour, another involves rickshaws and yet another is a facepalming, totally non-suspenseful foot chase up and down a tower, whilst the last sees a couple of speedboats chasing a water-skier, would you believe.

3 Villains who feel a need to wear (golden) dragon head dresses, when meeting and discussing business arrangements.

4 One of the silliest looking swimming caps (It seriously would have made Esther Williams blush) I've ever seen displayed on film.

5 A couple of night club song numbers, for those who may be missing their Bollywood fix and to pad out the running time of this train wreck of a movie.

Forewarned is forearmed.

For it's era not too bad at all. Compared to others of that time pretty good. The bigger names in cast have only small parts but that is even still typical of Hollywood.

Probably the worst of Harry Alan Towers' exotic Eastern-shot quickies. The effort of gathering together "guest stars" Dan Duryea, George Raft, Brian Donlevy & Christopher Lee doubtless drained Towers and director Jeremy Summers of the stamina, inspiration (or budget) to then make a half-way decent film (we also get disappointingly little of Klaus Kinski, who's probably only in it because he was already in Hong Kong under salary to Towers filming 'Sumuru' at the time).

So for most of its length we just get a bemused-looking Bob Cummings wandering or getting chased through various Hong Kong tourist locations and night spots to a tiresomely energetic score by Malcolm Lockyer (and Inpector Rupert Davies even more tiresomely quoting Shakespeare every couple of minutes) before the Dragons finally converge upon the spot for the underwhelming finale.

"Five Golden Dragons" is a very odd film that was made at the Shaw Brothers Studio in Hong Kong. It's odd because although the studio is known for its martial arts movies, this one is a crime film jam-packed with over the hill American stars of the past. Bob Cummings stars in it but it also features Dan Duryea, George Raft and Brian Donlevy! Additionally, Christopher Lee is there...and like all but Cummings, he barely has a line in the film and spends much of the movie wearing a silly golden dragon mask!

Cummings plays an American businessman, Bob Mitchell, who is in Hong Kong on business. However, his path crosses a vicious gang run by the Golden Dragons syndicate and he spends much of the film running from these jerks....and, inexplicably, running from the police who are trying to save him!

The plot to this film quite often makes no sense. However, the location shooting looks nice and the film never really takes itself seriously, so it's still a decent time-passer...even if the notion of the older American actor somehow defeating crime lords!

I'm almost angry!

This COULD have been a fun "Euro-spy" style movie. It has everything; beautiful women, exotic locations, mysterious villains, and big name guest stars but they saddled it with a lead actor that is better suited to be an understudy for Dean Jones in a "Herbie" movie!

You could make almost NO changes to the script and recast the lead with someone that would deliver the lines without thinking there was a laugh track, and you'd come out with a real entertaining spy film, instead of this VERY unfunny "comedy".

Robert Cummings was 57 when he made this, playing a role surely meant for someone about 25-30 years younger. I don't have a problem with actors playing younger/older characters, but this us pushing it. It is also more obvious because of his being surrounded by gorgeous girls a fraction of his age. The Hong Kong setting and attractive women are the only watchable elements if this film.