The Five Golden Dragons are an international criminal gold-trafficking secret society based in Hong Kong. They plan to quietly dissolve their operation by selling the entire enterprise to the Mafia for US$50 million, but the group’s inside power plays and backstabbing instincts quickly threaten to derail the deal. At the center of the tension are risks of greed and mistrust as each member contemplates their own stake, and the possibility that someone will try to betray the others to grab more wealth.
Visiting American playboy Bob Mitchell, along with the sisters Ingrid and Margret, unwittingly become targets of the dragon-tied killer Gert and his lethal accomplices. The duo of crimefighters—Shakespeare-quoting police commissioner Sanders and his meticulous subordinate Chiao—are drawn into the case as they trace a tangle of espionage, intimidation, and double-crosses that crisscrosses their paths with the Dragons.
The plot thickens as Margret sneaks into Mitchell’s hotel suite, rummages through his papers, and then reveals that she suspects he is really “Doctor Mitchell, graduate of Stanford.” She confesses that, as a stewardess, she was working for the Dragons but now fears for her life. The next morning, when Chiao comes to take Mitchell in for questioning, a door to the bedroom—where Margret had spent the night—opens to reveal her dead, her neck broken, draped in a Dragons cape. Mitchell’s peril is clear, and his life is suddenly enmeshed with the string of secret agents pursuing the truth.
Mitchell then moves to the Blue World nightclub, drawn by the chance to observe the club’s star singer, Magda, who performs with flair while the club’s shadowy manager Peterson keeps a watchful eye. In a bold display, he blurts out, “I sell chewing gum… confections…,” a line he uses to test Peterson’s loyalties and to plant himself inside Magda’s orbit. Magda spots him, sings to him, kisses him in front of Peterson, and ushers him toward her dressing room, where she asks him to help her change outfits before she returns to perform another number, “Five Golden Dragons.” The showmanship continues as the emcee introduces the night’s other guest, the Japanese singing sensation Yukari Ito, who performs a song in Japanese, further layering the intrigue.
In the officers’ world, Sanders wrestles with memory as Chiao helps by finishing a Shakespearean line, and the two trade quotes as the case grows more tangled. Mitchell, meanwhile, finds a hidden passage from Magda’s dressing room to Peterson’s office and escapes with Peterson’s briefcase, only to be intercepted by Chiao and his men and brought to Sanders’s office. Exiting, he spots Ingrid outside and they depart together, as Sanders closes the door and quotes Macbeth, act 4, scene 3, underscoring the ominous mood of the investigation.
The drama accelerates as the four Dragons arrive one by one in Hong Kong. The second Dragon arrives with a living embodiment of the organization, played by George Raft. The Dragons wear golden dragon-heads and carry keys to a cabinet, signifying their status within the secret society. In a pivotal moment, one of the Dragons is revealed to be Christopher Lee. The early sequence, with its four Dragons, sets the stage for a broader confrontation that pits Mitchell against the true leaders of the faction.
Mitchell learns that Ingrid has been kidnapped, prompting a tense debate with Sanders about whether to launch a rescue. He storms out as Sanders, left alone, recites another Othello line, while the clock ticks toward a confrontation that will decide everyone’s fate. The situation grows grimmer as [Gert] again asserts control over Ingrid, but Ah Sing—Mitchell’s ally—manages to free himself and ultimately strangles Gert, bringing a measure of justice to the perilous chase.
The climax revolves around a risky ruse: Mitchell arrives disguised as the fifth dragon, but a double-cross by Magda forces Peterson to swap places with him. Still in his mask, Peterson is fatally shot by a hidden gun inside the cabinet he opens, an act that inadvertently saves Mitchell's life. In the immediate aftermath, Sanders and Chiao descend upon the Dragons’ meeting room and arrest Mitchell, Ingrid, Magda, and the other conspirators, effectively ending the secret syndicate’s operation.
With the dust settling, Mitchell faces the camera and, asked about his future plans, mutters a hesitant response that hints at unresolved matters with Ingrid. As a plane lifts off from the airport, Sanders delivers a final, reflective line, quoting A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “That is the true beginning of our end.” The film closes on a note of unsettling ambiguity, balancing triumph over the criminal conspiracy with the suggestion that deeper complications may lie ahead for the couple and their allies.
> I sell chewing gum... confections...
> That is the true beginning of our end
