Wed 20 Jan 2021
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: CODE 7: VICTIM 5 (1964).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Suspense & espionage films[6] Comments
CODE 7: VICTIM 5. British Lion Film Corp., UK, 1964. Columbia Pictures, US, 1965. Lex Barker, Ann Smyrner, Ronald Fraser, Walter Rilla. Co-producer (uncredited): Harry Alan Towers. Director: Robert Lynn.
Code 7: Victim 5 has the distinction (?) of being one of the first films to try and cash in on the post-Goldfinger James Bond craze. This was marketed as a spy thriller (The original title was simply Victim 5) but it’s actually … well, what is it exactly? Something about a New York Private Eye named Steve Martin (is he meant to be the same character Raymond Burr played in Godzilla? Could this be the basis of future academic discussion?) called to Cape Town South Africa to find out who killed a millionaire’s butler, and learning this is simply one in a series of murders involving former POWs from World War II who … who … zzzzz.
Steve (played here by Lex Barker) Martin’s investigative technique consists of going from one tourist spot to another – any place where there’s scenery, really — looking for clues or something and getting in fights, shoot-outs and car chases, all of which, the background music Insists, must be very exciting, but they seemed sort of blah to me.
There’s a bit of imagination In one sequence involving Death by Ostrich Stampede, and late in the film we get to see the former Tarzan once again stalking lions through the jungle, but mostly this is the kind of film that is usually (and charitably) dismissed as “routine.” The smutty-sub-Bond double-entendres and the plethora of girls In Beach Party bikinis, sporting 1960s hairdo’s maybe made the movie look hip back in ’65, but now it just looks quaint — it doesn’t have a quaint charm, it’s merely quaint.
January 20th, 2021 at 11:08 pm
Pretty typical Harry Alan Towers production where he lures people who should know better to make a movie in an exotic locale and nothing much happens, but in beautiful scenery.
Being Towers usually someone gets stiffed for some money somewhere along the line, but it doesn’t show on screen.
This is a fairly typical Barker film and he played variations on this character in a couple of other films (I don’t think they were all named Steve Martin).
I enjoyed the scenery, and the climax showing off Cape Town’s most famous feature had a moment or two. It’s a shame Barker, a wealthy sophisticate who spoke multiple languages, always came across quite so stiff in movies.
January 20th, 2021 at 11:36 pm
Sean Connery’s presence on the screen, for example? No. That he never had.
What he was, though, was my personal very favorite Tarzan. No one did it better.
January 21st, 2021 at 9:12 am
My favorite Tarz is Jock Mahoney, though his films weren’t the best of the long-running franchise.
January 21st, 2021 at 10:48 am
As soon as I see the name Harry Alan Towers, I turn off.
Johnny Weissmuller brought a soul to Tarzan and his pictures at MGM illustrated that. The RKO films were not as strong but fun and I just adore Brenda Joyce. Oh, and I profoundly disagree re the merits of the later films.
January 21st, 2021 at 7:45 pm
Barker was probably at his best as Tarzan and I enjoyed the Karl May Winnetou and Kara Ben Nemsi films he did in Germany in the late fifties and sixties, but considering his background and his intelligence it is a shame he was never able to convey more of that on screen.
He was never bad in films, he just seldom seemed relaxed and at ease even in a funny bit part in MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS A DREAM HOUSE or as one of Loretta Young’s brothers (with James Arness) in THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER.
I enjoyed many of Barker’s films both in Hollywood and later when he worked in Europe, but I wish he had gotten a little more at ease on screen.
Barry,
I love the Weismuller Tarzan’s including the RKO films too, though towards the end he was getting a little heavy for the loin cloth.
Some of the Barker Tarzan’s are quite good with fine villainy from the likes of Tom Conway and Raymond Burr.
The later Tarzan’s are a mixed lot, but I do think the two Gordon Scott films … GREATEST ADVENTURE and … THE MAGNIFICENT are the best adventure action films in the series though in their own way no closer to Burroughs than Weismuller or Barker.
January 21st, 2021 at 8:42 pm
David,
I read to Burroughs years ago, and they were perfect for filming. Never really happened although
Greystoke made a fair effort.