The soup du jour for this Saturday Night Special is one of the most bizarre films I've seen lately! I've seen a lot of weird movies, but "Five Golden Dragons" is right up there at the top, especially in the category of bigger budget movies! They have nothing in common, but for some reason, this film reminds me of William Castle's "13 Frightened Girls," I guess just because it's so odd!
They claim it to be an Edgar Wallace story, which would explain a lot, but IMDB only credits Harry Alan Towers and Peter Welbeck as writers!
I've always been a big fan of Bob Cummings, because I used to watch his TV show "Love That Bob" aka "The Bob Cummings Show," all the time as a kid, and in the context of that show, I always thought he was hilarious, but in "Five Golden Dragons," he just seems lost! In fact, about half the time, he doesn't even seem to know that he's in this movie!
What's much more important than the five dragon characters is the trio of Euro beauties used in "Five Golden Dragons!" It gets pretty confusing too since Maria Perschy seen here is a character named Margaret!
And Maria Rohm is a gal named Ingrid!
And Margaret Lee is a club singer named Magda!
So out of three actresses, two are named Maria, and two are named Margaret!
The two Marias are of Austrian descent, and Margaret Lee is British.
Maria Perschy's Margaret is the first to go!
I don't usually notice screw ups, but it's hard not to notice Margaret's dead eyes blinking as the scene ends.
You know it's got to be an Edgar Wallace film because Klaus Kinski is in it, looking as cool and weird as ever in his Pee-wee Herman polka dot bow tie!
Here's the original mock up for the title card!
This movie has got everything including a rickshaw chase scene!
Almost every moment Bob Cummings is on screen is awkward especially when he's in a scene with Margaret Lee.
One thing I really liked about "Five Golden Dragons" was there were three songs performed in the club. Two songs were performed by Margaret Lee and....
..........Yukari Itô also gets a chance to do a number!
I was just wondering if they did this because of the popularity of the song "Sukiyaki (Ue o Muite Arukou)" by Kyu Sakamoto. "Sukiyaki" reached number one on the Billboard charts in the United States in 1963, and has sold over 13 million copies worldwide!
Robert Cummings was in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "King Nine Will Not Return," and if you want to see him in a better role than this, then go watch Hitchcock's "Dial M For Murder!"
I think this was the second guy that got tossed off a building!
Finally, it's time for the "Five Golden Dragons" to show up. Five guys who are so rich and powerful, they run everything, but this is going to be the first time they ever meet!
The first dragon is Dan (The Bamboo Saucer, Black Angel) Duryea!
Brian (The Creeping Unknown, Quatermass II) Donlevy is dragon number 2.
Sir Christopher Lee is dragon number 3.
And looking like he'd rather not be bothered, George Raft is dragon number four!
There's still time for Klaus Kinski's character to eat it!
So, yeah, these super rich and powerful men get together, put on these stupid costumes, and play a sophisticated game of Russian Roulette, kind of, except nobody found the bullet!
Dragon number five finally shows up too!
I saw at least five different posters from around the world for "Five Golden Dragons," and only one of them even had a picture of the star of the movie, Bob Cummings in it, and even on that one, he was very small!
The big sell was these four guys, and those three girls!
Just Weird!!
The big sell was these four guys, and those three girls!
Just Weird!!
2 comments:
I love this film and Christopher lee looked great in his golden dragon outfit. i wish they would do a interview on this dvd on Christopher.
Cool! It's amazing how some people can just look good no matter what they're wearing! Chris Lee sure could do it with ease!
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