Code 7, Victim 5

Entertaining thriller,part adventures and part whodunit; nice cinematography with a good use of wide screen; the photograph trick is a variant on the "and then there were none" pattern but it provides private eye Barker with vital clues ;some scenes are pretty good for a B-movie: the prologue where the butler is pursued by three masked men who look like clowns is effective ;besides the directing takes advantage of the magnificent caves and the shadows on the wall increase the suspense ; on the other hand ,the cable car sequence is not fully exploited. The official cop serves as a foil to sleuth Lex.,then very popular in Germany thanks to the "Winnetou " movies.

Prolific producer & writer Harry Alan Towers concocted the story for this lightly entertaining, eminently forgettable action-thriller set in South Africa. Lex Barker ("The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism") stars as "Steve Martin" (!), an American private eye hired by copper mine owner Wexler (Walter Rilla, "The Scarlet Pimpernel") to find out who murdered his valet, and why. It turns out that the crime has a connection to the men in a key photograph left by the victims' body.

The main novelty here is the Cape Town setting. It's very attractively photographed by Nicolas Roeg, and the scenery is often breathtaking. The story is enjoyable enough, but nothing special. It doesn't help that the ending is kind of clumsy, as the antagonist basically reveals themselves in a rather abrupt manner.

Still, the second unit work is first-rate. Those scenes of driving by the sea are excellent, and the film actually stops cold for about three or four minutes for a major underwater sequence that, much like the scenes on land, is very well photographed. The jazzy score by Johnny Douglas is jaunty and fun to listen to.

The cast is enjoyable to watch. Barker is a charismatic hero who of course always has time for the ladies. But then, so does jovial police inspector Lean (Ronald Fraser, "Fathom"). Fraser and French babe Veronique Vendell ("Barbarella") are most amusing, with the latter playing Wexlers' hot-to-trot stepdaughter who practically throws herself at Steve. Danish beauty Ann Smyrner ("Reptilicus") is appealing as Wexlers' secretary. Dietmar Schonherr (who also acted for director Robert Lynn in "Mozambique") and Gert van den Bergh ("The Naked Prey") also co-star.

All in all, this is the kind of non-challenging, easygoing, amiable entertainment that you throw on if you just want to relax for an hour and a half.

Six out of 10.

The influence of Bond is writ large in this very cheap and Mystery Science Theater-worthy thriller (cf Agent for H.A.R.M.). Lex Barker saunters through most of the action as Steve Martin, hand in pocket, careful not to take things too seriously and mostly incredulous at the unmotivated action that unravels around him.

From the moment he disembarks at Cape Town harbour he is beset with snooping policemen, eager women and danger. As a Capetonian, it is really funny watching Helga (Ann Smyrner) drive Steve along the Atlantic seaboard while driving over picturesque Chapman's Peak (twice) which is on the opposite side of the mountains. Of course, the reason for this is to throw in an action-packed car-chase.

Seductive and dangerous woman (check), villain with a foreign accent (check), innovative but failed assassination attempts (check, including underwater scuba manoeuvre), dramatic exterior set-pieces (check, including unnecessary trip to the Cango Caves and game park), dangerous animals (check), racist exploitation of local scenes and people (check).

The opening scene (which uncannily foreshadows Live and Let Die)is great and gives viewers a chance to see District Six on screen. This was just before the apartheid government began its program of forced removals. The Table Mountain climax - the film's alternate title is Table Bay - is both laughable and spectacular, and so badly edited you wonder if everyone was enjoying Cape Town's beach action a little too much. Still, it's a curiosity for those keen to see Cape Town in a previous era, or to see the influence of the espionage genre in the wake of James Bond.

With a title that sounds more like the final score of a computer corporation's soccer match than a spy movie, CODE 7, VICTIM 5 takes the then-Sean Connery/James Bond blueprint into b-movie territory under flowing direction from Robert Lynn but more importantly with creatively maneuvered and vibrantly colored cinematography by future legendary auteur Nicolas Roeg, providing former Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller's replacement) actor Lex Barker on a case to discover who murdered a millionaire's servant at a bizarre South African parade...

But Barker's character Steve Martin (also Raymond Burr's name in GODZILLA before THE JERK comic became famous) is more busy with two lovely dames, equally alluring in their own right while following neo-noir cinema tropes...

As in, there's a good girl and bad (ie naughty/flirtatious)... with the millionaire boss's professionally-pretty assistant Ann Smyrner, who our handsome hero instantly takes-to like they've been in a five-year relationship, and scene-stealing cherub-faced Véronique Vendell, who previously appeared with Peter O'Toole in BECKETT...

The latter is the big man's extremely progressive niece... and while it's predictable that Barker (partnered with quirky woman-loving British cop Ronald Fraser) was hired by a not-so-honest client, what's truly entertaining are the creative ways he gets in and out of trouble in the African and British locations... from almost driving off a cliff to dodging bullets in an ancient cavern to dangerously snorkeling in a blue-green reef to avoiding an ostrich stampede... proving that the action/espionage genre's neglected vehicles can sometimes equal (or exceed) the blockbusters they're emulating.

Looks as if the otherwise meaningless 'Code Seven' in the title was there solely to try and tie this in with the then burgeoning spy craze, as producer Harry Alan Towers' script (as Peter Welbeck) is, for by no means the last time, in the mode of Edgar Wallace in a tale of murder and revenge. Some superb filming of the picturesque South African backgrounds from Nic Roeg is matched by the underwater photography of Egil Woxholt who worked on several of the Bond films. Lex Barker is ideal as the New York investigator looking into threats on the life of wealthy businessman Walter Rilla, Ronald Fraser is a quirky police chief with an eye for the ladies and Ann Smyrner makes an attractive heroine. Victim Five has no pretensions other than to be an enjoyable 'B' picture and succeeds.