CODE 7, VICTIM 5 (1964)

In Cape Town, South Africa, we see a New Year's parade of people in skull-face make-up dancing through the streets. One man wends his way through the crowds, looking a little fearful, and sure enough, we see him duck down an empty street only to be confronted by men in distorted clown masks who stab him to death. The dead man was the butler (and good friend) to a rich copper mining honcho named Wexler (Walter Rilla), and when Wexler decides that solving the crime is beyond the ability of the local police, he hires American private eye Steve Martin (Lex Barker). Martin arrives in Cape Town and is picked up by Wexler's loyal (and lovely) secretary Helga, but they find themselves followed by a car that eventually tries to run them off the road—though ultimately, it's the chaser who winds up careening down a cliff to fiery death.  At Wexler's, we meet Gina, his stepdaughter; Paul, Wexler's doctor who is dating Gina; George, the gruff mines overseer, who seems to have a thing for Helga. We also meet Inspector Lean (Ronald Fraser), a rather homely fellow who somehow has a way with the ladies—honestly, the sexual attraction mapping in the movie is a little unclear, or, a little all over the place, so I was not always sure who was serious about whom. Near the body of the butler, Lean found a photograph of four men, taken years ago in a POW camp; one of them is the butler, who has a large X marked across him, and one of the other men is Wexler. Wexler is reluctant to be helpful, but when another one of the men in the photograph is killed, he starts to open up about what happened in the camp, how it led to his current riches in the copper mines, and who might be stalking him.

This film was marketed as a secret agent movie (the not-very-subtle reference to Agent 007, James Bond, in the title, which was originally VICTIM FIVE) but it's not. It's a detective thriller with some adventure elements and attractive, sometimes bikini-clad, young women. As such, it works well as an example of the faux-spy thriller of the 60s—I don't really know if there are enough movies like this to constitute a genre, but it feels quite familiar. Barker is passable in the lead; he is, in his late 40s, perhaps a shade past his prime, but you don't need too much suspension of disbelief to buy him as a two-fisted hero. The Danish Ann Smyrner (as Helga) and the French Veronique Vendell (as Gina) are attractive, and better actors than they need to be for their rote roles. I didn't like the mild but somewhat silly comic relief of Ronald Fraser in the beginning, but he grew on me. Smaller roles are well played by Dietmar Schonherr as Dr. Paul and Howard Davis as Rawlings. The plot keeps you on your toes, with an unexpected twist involving one of the later victims, but it's easy to follow. The location shooting is nice. The action scenes are a bit underwhelming (a tired-looking lion on the attack, an ostrich stampede) but it was hard to dislike this bit of 60s crime fluff. Pictured are Vendell, Smyrner and Barker. [Blu-Ray]