Dimension 5

In this spy thriller from United Pictures and director Franklin Adreon, American secret agent Justin Power (Jeffrey Hunter) is teamed with Hong Kong agent Kitty Tsu (France Nuyen) to thwart a Red China terror group known as the Dragon from detonating a hydrogen bomb in Los Angeles. They must find the location of the mysterious crime lord Big Buddha (Harold Sakata), who is also an operative of Dragon, before it's too late.

This dollar store version of a James Bond movie is insipid, slow, and occasionally mildly amusing in its ineptitude. The film's big gimmick is the hero's use of cutting edge time travel technology to jump a few seconds or a couple of weeks forward or backward in time. He's warned by Donald Woods, playing the film's Bond boss M stand-in, that overuse of the time tech (housed conveniently in Hunter's wristwatch) could lead to a "time slip", a simplistic plot device to explain why time travel isn't used repeatedly to solve every little issue the hero comes across. Regardless, we never do see any suffer a time slip, unfortunately.

Harold "Oddjob" Sakata is an unusual boss villain, appearing in a motorized wheelchair, having all of his dialogue dubbed by Paul Frees, and, in one extended sequence, appearing shirtless. Lee Kolima, who looks a lot like Tor Johnson, plays big henchman Genghis, the kind of role Sakata usually played.

Justin Power (Jeffery Hunter) plays a guy who's supposed to be a super-smart secret agent. Then why is it once he's partnered up with Kitty (France Nuyen) he repeatedly blunders and is rescued time and again by this lady? It's especially amazing considering how often he acts like he is the super-spy and she is his acolyte?!

When the film begins, you learn that the Americans have a cool device that allows agents to jump back in time to the immediate past! They're using this to battle the ever-present Communist Chinese agents who seem bent on destroying America. Eventually he and his fellow agents learn that the Chinese have smuggled in parts to a nuclear bomb. Where in the US it's going to be detonated and by whom is something Power is going to need to discover--paired up with the Hong Kong-based investigator, Kitty. Can they stop the dreaded Big Buddha (Harold Sakata)?

I didn't mind seeing Hunter's character being out-thought by the female agent, but too many times he just seemed arrogant and really dumb...too dumb to live dumb! This is a weakness of the film. While she's obviously smarter than she is, at the end, Kitty is also a complete moron. And, so was Big Buddha for that matter!! However I did like how realistic and pragmatic the Power was, as he was not above slugging a woman or nearly twisting her arm off to get the truth--which makes since considering the Dragon organization is contemplating mass murder! And, I did like Big Buddha's style-- especially when one of his subordinates has the nerve to TELL him what he should do next! Overall, it's a film that had great promise but it really needed some editing to make the characters less like caricatures. I see this as a time- passer and not much more due to the inconsistent writing. In many ways, this plays like an old movie serial than a film that expected the viewer to take it seriously.

By the way, I saw this on YouTube and the print is badly faded--with the print looking sepia hued instead of in vivid color.

One of my sci-fi/horror/fantasy reviews written 50 years ago: Directed by Franklin Adreon; Produced by Earle Lyon for United Pictures and Harold Goldman Associates, released by Feature Film Corporation of America. Screenplay by Arthur C. PIerce; Photography by Alan Stensvold; Edited by Robert Eisen; Music by Paul Dunlap. Starring: Jeffrey Hunter, France Nuyen, Harold Sakata, Donald Woods, Linda Ho, Robert Ito, David Chow and Deanna Lund.

Foolish and cheap but slick sci-fi/spy film with the gimmick of Jeff wearing a belt which allow him to decompose and transport himself invisibly at will, in time as well as space. This allows him to change history at will. Hilariously dated: Chinese society called Dragon threatens to blow up Los Angeles unless all American forces are withdrawn from Southern Asia. One guy makes a flippant joke that is oddly prophetic: "You're as well protected as our president would be on the way to Peking".

Dumped Along-Side Piles of Low-Budget James Bond Trash.

This Embarrassing Miss-Fire with Jeffrey Hunter as a Blue-Eyed Lady's Man is Juvenile Junk that Meanders Along with Hardly a Scene that isn't Worth-Less.

Hunter as Justin Powers Super-Spy, Complete with a Time-Travel Belt that Looks like it Came From the Toy-Section at K-Mart.

The Snazzy Adornment with its Multi-Colored Dials is a Cumbersome Gadget that also Comes with a "Ring" Accessory.

None of this Means Much Because it is Underused and Unimpressive when it is Used.

There are a Myriad of Jet Airliners Taking Off and Landing and Helicopters Hovering Here and There.

A Couple of Fight Scenes are as Boring and Dull as Possible in a Film that Struggles Consistently to be Anything More than an Episode of a Mediocre TV Show.

There are Bond,eh, Powers-Babes Sprinkled Around Winking, Fawning, and Pitching-Woo, because that's a Trope of the Genre.

Beefcake and Oiled-Up Harold "Odd-Job" Sakata Shows Up as, get this, "Big Buddha", but for Some Reason is Confined to a Wheel-Chair.

Abysmal, Atrocious, and Skippable this is 1 Bond Knock-Off that is a Complete and Utter Fizzle.

I just pulled out my copy of Dimension 5 the other night and looked at it....as with other United Pictures films it was filled with B actors in starring roles, Jeffrey Hunter, France Nuyen, Donald Woods and Harold "OddJob" Sakata. B plot that doesn't make you think much but it kept the pace going. Many of the United Pictures films were quick paced, "Castle Of Evil", "Destination Inner Space" , "Panic In the City, "Money Jungle" and "The Destructors" so if you get a chance to get any of these, they are good for any sci-fi buff's collection...not the top of the heap but not as bad as things like Astro Zombies. Other familiar faces were Kam Tong who was "Hey Boy" In "Have Gun Will Travel", Deanna Lund who went on to be in "Land Of The Giants", Robert Ito who was in "Quincy ME"