User reviews

Terror of the Tongs is a largely unknown Hammer film and, as such, isn't one the great studio's best films. It is, however, a more than decent entry in Hammer's oeuvre, and is well worth seeking out for Hammer fans. The film takes place in Hong Kong, and director Anthony Bushell does a fairly good job of capitalising on the mystery of the eastern culture. The most prominent thing about this film is no doubt the fact that it stars the great Christopher Lee - as the Chinese head of 'The Tongs'! It's a hilarious performance, and while Lee doesn't exactly convince the audience that he's Chinese, it brilliantly shows off his charisma and ability to hold the audience's attention. The plot focuses on a secret Hong Kong society known as 'The Red Dragon Tong'. They kidnap the captain of a ship in Hong Kong harbour while he's trying to restrain the people who kidnapped his daughter. We then follow the attempt to free him from the Tong; but this isn't a group of amateurs, as the society is big and powerful and freeing the captain isn't easy.

The film actually isn't a lot like what I've come to expect from Hammer, as it's all played out rather seriously and there's not a hint of anything even resembling supernatural activity. The film doesn't reflect particularly well on the Chinese people - as despite being set in Hong Kong, there's hardly any natives on the cast list and the Chinese characters don't get to much that has any bearing on the plot. The atmosphere is nothing to write home about, although director Anthony Bushell manages to create just about enough tension to keep things ticking over. The acting is generally below average, with only Christopher Lee coming out of the film with any credibility - which is amazing considering the nature of his role. The film doesn't have a great deal of bite - in spite of a torture sequence and numerous scenes of drug use - although it mostly isn't boring. Overall, I can't say that The Terror of the Tongs is even near to being Hammer's finest hour, but it's a decent little rarity and worth tracking down for Hammer fans.

Surprisingly, I quite liked this atypical Hammer offering, which is basically a companion piece to THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY (1960) – with the setting changed to 1910s China, and the vicious “thuggees” replaced with the equally murderous Red Dragon Tongs. As a matter of fact, one might say that the script for STRANGLERS served as a virtual template for this one – to which Hammer then assigned Jimmy Sangster, their in-house scribe, in order to apply the necessary alterations (though, in the long run, the former still emerges as the better picture of the two)! With this in mind, THE TERROR OF THE TONGS likewise thrives on violent acts (with the exploitation factor increased a notch in this case thanks to the compulsively sleazy atmosphere of taverns and opium dens) – and the hero, too, is eventually subdued to excruciating torture but saved at the last minute.

Interestingly, Christopher Lee’s role as the Tong leader anticipates his later Fu Manchu characterization – which he played in five low-budget outings (of gradually decreasing merits) throughout the second half of the decade. While the gaunt actor is always worth watching, here he seems to be acting through his voice alone – as his character is usually depicted sitting down and ordering his underlings about (even when finally cornered, he keeps a thoroughly calm demeanor)! Geoffrey Toone is an agreeable hero, being unusually brawny: he goes after the Tongs after they callously murder his teenage daughter; later, he saves slave girl Yvonne Monlaur from their clutches – the French actress (who was also in THE BRIDES OF Dracula and CIRCUS OF HORRORS {both 1960}) is a delightful presence in the film, even if her role seldom rises above that of the ‘servile Oriental’ stereotype! Supporting characters include a crippled beggar (played by Marne Maitland, who was also in STRANGLERS) who’s secretly organizing opposition to the Tongs – and has no qualms about exploiting Toone’s personal tragedy to this end!; returning from the earlier film, too, is Roger Delgado – who virtually replicates his part of the chief villain’s closest henchman!

Ultimately, THE TERROR OF THE TONGS looks very good in color and is generally pacy at just 76 minutes; by the way, director Bushell had himself been an actor – numbering genre roles such as the bland hero of THE GHOUL (1933) and the ill-fated snobbish Colonel in the QUATERMASS AND THE PIT (1958) TV serial among his resume'.

To enjoy this movie you must ignore that most of the 'Chinese' are played by obviously English actors. That was how it was done back then. Hammer worked with limited budgets but almost always came up with suspenseful and colourful movies.

Christopher Lee plays his role with his usual aplomb, whilst the rest of the cast made up of many familiar faces keeps the movie rolling along.

I first saw this movie over thirty years ago and it took me quite a while to track down a copy on VHS but to this day I still enjoy it immensely. Don't regard it as a piece of art. It's an adventure film in the same vein as Big Trouble in Little China, done very well for the small money and time they had to make it.

In 1910 Hong Kong Christopher Lee plays Chung King, an evil leader of tongs who will kill anyone who stands in their way of their slave and opium trade.

A sea captain (Geoffrey Toone) battles them when his daughter is murdered. Violence follows and then bodies begin piling up.

Unusual Hammer film--not really a horror movie--more like a violent action film. Lee is having a whale of a time playing King and Toone is OK in his role. Everyone else is pretty terrible--especially pretty Yvonne Monlaur and all the Asian actors. The low budget does show and the script is sort of scattershot.

I'm giving it a 7 because it's no longer than it needs to be (79 minutes), Lee is very good, there's some beautiful color photography and some pretty strong bloody violence for 1961--but then this IS a Hammer film.

Worth seeing on a slow day.

Sir Christopher Lee warms up for his later Fu Manchu characterizations by playing an Asian villain here. He's Chung King, the leader of the deadly criminal organization The Red Dragon Tongs in early 20th century Hong Kong. The Tongs reign supreme, and seemingly can't be touched, not by the underwhelming local police force, anyway. However, they make their biggest mistake when, in the attempt to obtain an all-important scrap of paper, they murder Helena Sale (Barbara Brown), the daughter of sea captain Jackson Sale (Geoffrey Toone). He embarks on a one-man campaign for revenge, taking on The Tongs almost by himself.

A good cast and a snappy pace make this fun. It's far from prime Hammer, but it is entertaining to watch. It's easy to feel uncomfortable in this day and age seeing so many obviously Caucasian actors and actresses playing Asians; unfortunately, it was a sign of the times. It is amusing to see the determined Toone take on all comers, assisted on occasion by a "beggar" (Marne Maitland) whose people are plotting an overthrow of The Tongs. Romance is also part of the mix as the young lady Lee (lovely Yvonne Monlaur, whose French accent remains intact), who's mixed up with The Tongs, falls for our stubborn hero.

As usual, James Bernards' soundtrack is enjoyable, and the sets are evocatively designed. Director Anthony Bushell, himself a former actor, does a decent job; the action builds towards a brief but diverting mass confrontation between citizens and criminals. Lee is authoritative, with his deep, rich voice being perfect for an unflappable antagonist. Also very good are Maitland, Brian Worth as the district commissioner Harcourt, Roger Delgado as the primary henchman, Charles Lloyd Pack as the sinister assassin Dr. Fu Chao, and the briefly seen Burt Kwouk as the brave businessman Mr. Ming.

Clocking in at 77 minutes, "The Terror of the Tongs" provides a modest diversion for Hammer fans.

Seven out of 10.

This deservedly obscure warm-up for Christopher Lee for the role of Fu Manchu marked the first time he received top billing on a Hammer production, and follows in the footsteps of 'The Stranglers of Bombay' in detailing with relish the sadistic activities of a ruthless tong able to operate with impunity in Hong Kong until a representative of the British Empire steps in to put a stop to it all.

'Stranglers' had been made in black & white to lessen the impact of the bloodletting, but 'The Terror of the Tongs' was (in Britain at least) permitted glorious early 60's Eastmancolor, thus heightening the visual impact of The Red Dragon Tong's penchant for cutting off fingers and killing people with axes, while also looking a treat as photographed by Arthur Grant, designed by Bernard Robinson and costumed by Molly Arbuthnot; as do the various exotic young women slinking about the margins of the action in slit-sided qipaos, or less (distinctly anachronistically for 1910)!

The film's makers presumably knew what an authentic Chinaman looked like, because early in the film a young Burt Kwouk shares an important scene with hero Geoffrey Toone before being promptly killed off and replaced with British film regulars like dear old Charles Lloyd Pack and Harold Goodwin in the oriental speaking parts. (Where was Michael Ripper when they were shooting this?) The Calcutta-born Marne Maitland brings his usual polish to the role of an urbanely spoken beggar on crutches who proves to be more than he seems. Someone however must have drawn the line at attempting to pass off Yvonne Monlaur (who died just a couple of weeks ago) as Chinese, since she's given a line explaining that she's "an 'alf-caste". Elsewhere, Jimmy Sangster's script juggles occasionally intelligent dialogue with frequently clumsy plotting.

Director Anthony Bushell, after a long career as an actor (he had recently played Col. Breen in the original TV version of 'Quatermass and the Pit'), was at the time concentrating mainly on directing, but seems a strange choice for such a lurid subject. He certainly doesn't show any flair for staging action, and this proved his last feature film, after which he worked in television for a couple of more years.

It is still much better than nowadays films. I love these classics. I laughed a lot. Especially the fights scenes. Don't get it to seriously.

I fondly remember this film as it was the first X certificate film I ever saw.I was 14 at the time and I saw it in a double bill with Forgo at the ABC Golders Green.This is a Hammer film but not a horror film.It is set in a very studio bound Hong Kong.Nearly all of the main oriental characters are played by European actors.Christopher Lee plays the black hearted tong leader.He has a secret ally in the Hong Kong establishment.There is some violence,a torture scene which seems as if the torturer is an expert in acupuncture.There is also a great deal of Axe throwing.It is difficult at this distance in time to understand why the film was awarded an X certificate.The writer,the ubiquitous Jimmy Sangster,seems to included many plot elements from Charlie Chan and Fu Manchu films.

This film is a solid (decent pacing, some action, okay acting) Hammer entry. Lee plays a slightly toned down version of his Fu Manchu character-being in charge of a tong rather than a world threatening organization. His chief opponent, a rather clueless and lucky ship captain calls to mind many third rate serial heroes who are constantly being bailed out by others. A couple of amusing cast notes-we've got the Jon Pertwee "Master" villain from Doctor Who in here as Lee's right hand man, and the french lead from "Brides of Dracula" gives another lousy performance, here as a doomed half-chinese concubine.

Which brings me to the chief value of this movie-it really gives one a good insight into English attitudes towards the Chinese and their colonial possesion, Hong Kong. First is the fact that there are no major chinese characters *played* by chinese actors-not an uncommon occurance in this era, to be sure (John Wayne, for example, as Ghengis Khan!). Second, the chinese rarely take any direct action in this film, and they need a western "man of action" to get the people to topple the tongs. Third, Lee and many other characters are extremely fatalist. I do not believe the film was *meant* to come off as racist as it now feels-but that is a function of the times. This film is basically a rather dull adventure film, with a huge imperialist subtext, if anyone cares to notice.

Hammer Studios once again proves that they knew no bounds when it came to film making. Here we see a tale of corruption, torture, murder and revenge and it actually works very well for a studio renowned for it's horror films. Christopher Lee plays the leader of, *The Red Dragon Tong* in Hong Kong at the beginning of the 20th century, this organization used torture and murder to keep the people of the city under it's rule and when they kill an English sea Captain's daughter in an attempt to keep information from being brought before the authorities, the film becomes a story of revenge with scenes of torture and murder. Hammer Studios did a great job with this film and if you're a Hammer fan, this is definitely a film you'll want to see.

At the beginning of the century , in 1910, Hong Kong , there a secret society of the Red Dragon crushes millions of helpless people in its greedy powerful claws and no one is safe from its drug-crazed hatchmen , not even you ¡ . As some members of a secret Tong crime syndicate protect their identities by killing the daughter of a British sea captain called Jackson Sale (Geoffrey Toone) who vows vendetta . As he goes through the streets of opium dreams where terror stalks . Along the way the captain meets a sensuous pleasure-girl (Yvonne Monlaur) owned by the Tongs . Because the secret society led by a nasty murderous Chung King (Christopher Lee) is very powerful it is not easy to free him from their hands. Deadliest, Diabolical Brotherhood of Terror!Drug-crazed assassins carrying out their hate-filled ritual! Now you can see spine-tingling Tong terror ¡ The bone-bleeding needle torture by the Tongs ¡ They were the Oldest Secret Cult in the World... And the Most Fendish!The Silken Rustle of a Hong Kong Peasant Girl...The Menacing Shadows...The Muffled Screams...

A thrilling and mysterious film with plenty of action , fights , chills and violence . Dealing with a simple and plain plot about a secret society of Hong-Kong called "The Red Dragon Tong" kidnaps the officer of a ship in the harbour of Hong-Kong , subsequently a Capt. attempts to detain the killers of his daughter . Here the main baddie role named Chung King played by Christopher Lee bears remarkable resemblance to Fu Manchu-Christopher Lee series and based on Sax Rohmer's novels . In fact Christopher Lee played five episodes as the evil genius Fu Manchu who doesn't give up easily , and is usually out to destroy world or bent on conquering it . This was the first Hammer film for which Christopher Lee received top billing . Previously , he performed the monster in the Hammer film Curse of Frankenstein (1957) proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the was successful, leading to him being signed on for future roles in Hammer Film Productions. Lee's association with Hammer Film Productions brought him into contact with Peter Cushing, and they became good friends. Lee and Cushing often than not played contrasting roles in Hammer films , where Cushing was the protagonist and Lee the villain, whether it be Van Helsing and Dracula respectively in Dracula (1958), or John Banning and Kharis the Mummy respectively in The Mummy (1959). Lee continued his role as "Dracula" in a number of Hammer sequels throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. During this time, he co-starred in Hound of Baskervilles (1959), and made numerous appearances as Fu Manchu, most notably in the first of the series The return of Fu-Manchú (1965), and also appeared in a number of films in Europe. By the mid-1970s, Lee was tiring of his horror image and tried to widen his appeal by participating in several mainstream films. Co-stars Geoffrey Toone who is passable as Capt. Jackson , a man marked for violent murder by the Tongs. While Christoher Lee is his perennial adversary and arch-nemesis taking the center of attention. And of course, the gorgeous Yvonne Monlaur as the damsel in distress.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Anthony Bushell and shot in the months of April and May 1960. Anthony worked in Hollywood from 1929, he had key roles in Journey's End (1930), Five Star final (1931) and Vanity Fair (1932), before returning to England. A cultured performer with a penchant for playing military men, he had several more noteworthy roles, including that of King Arthur in Black Knight (1954), and as captain of the Carpathia in an early version of the Titanic called A night to remember (1958). He directed some films as The Long Dark Hall 1950 , The Angel with the Trumpet and number of television episodes in notorious series as The Saint , Sir Francis Drake , The Third man , Winston Curchill , The Scales of Justice until his retirement in 1964. Rating 6/10 , passable and acceptable .

Well, maybe not exactly "terrible", but not very good at all. It's nicely photographed, and Yvonne Monlaur--a French actress playing a Chinese girl--is hot, but those are pretty much the film's only good points. Everything else is subpar at best. Christopher Lee tries hard as the villainous leader of the murderous Red Dragon Tong, but he is sorely miscast, as is pretty much everyone else. The Chinese characters are, with a few exceptions, played by white British actors, and not played very well. The "hero", Geoffrey Toone, is stiff, dull and unconvincing and seems to be standing around waiting to be told what to do. There are a few perfunctory and poorly done fight scenes--although there's a somewhat better brawl on the docks at the end--and the script is predictable, anemic and lifeless. Many of the characters, especially Toone's Capt. Sale, act just plain stupidly--for instance, the Tong breaks into Sale's home and murders his daughter, then later sneaks into his home again and tries to murder him, but he takes no measures to protect himself (doesn't carry a gun, doesn't ask for police protection, when he hears a knock on the door he opens it without trying to see who it is first, etc.). The pace is leaden, thanks to Anthony Bushell's uninspired direction--it was his third and last film as a director, and I can see why it was his last--and the acting ranges from over-the-top ham (especially when the British actors try doing what they think are Chinese accents) to under-the-top inept.

Overall, despite a few small--VERY small--pluses, it's really not worth your time.

Geoffrey Toone, as the hero in Hammer's THE TERROR OF THE TONGS, is an extremely passive one, and displays extremely sparse emotion, even after his daughter's killed by the titular menace played by an "Asianized" Christopher Lee, who also does surprisingly little except for - like many all-controlling-heavies - sitting in a large chair giving orders...

It's Marne Maitland's undercover Beggar... providing Toone's British captain in Hong Kong expository information of what to do and when... working the hardest. That's if you don't count the also British-turned-Asian Yvonne Monlaur, who headlined Hammer's previous years' BRIDES OF DRACULA and becomes Toone's faithful, lovely yet equally tough/resilient Geisha girl; and future NIGHT CREATURES bald giant Milton Reid as a precursor to the James Bond GOLDFINGER henchman Oddjob...

In fact, there's a Bond vibe a year before Bond movies existed, but with Toone's sophisticated aura it's more Moore than Connery and, despite the flaws, TERROR is a worthwhile action-packed experience, lacking the thriller-style of the non-horror Hammer entries, replacing suspense with a myriad of fist fights...

With little downtime, our intrepid dandy wanders throughout Hong Kong, avoiding various murder attempts from Lee's Tong henchmen while showcasing the terrific looking sets that bring the Asian port-town to splendid reality, the same way Hammer made Victorian-era Europe it's own colorful, timeless playground.

As another reviewer has said, this is unusual Hammer fare - instead definitely action movie. The X certificate was not out of place at the time of its release - it is fairly graphic quite sadistic. One of Christopher Lee better roles as the much feared traditional head of a Chinese criminal cult operating in British ruled Hong Kong. But Geoffrey Toone (Captain Sale)is the brave and undaunted hero around whom the action revolves. The film assumes that the audience will empathise with Sale and admire his great bravery. It's evident that quite a few reviewers were indifferent even finding it funny. I once saw director Anthony Bushell waiting for a bus in Oxford and had a short conversation about his career as I then knew it (Col Breen in Quatermass and the Pit). In WW2 he'd been a tank commander I read later

After his daughter is murdered, a sea captain seeks revenge against a powerful organized crime group known as the Red Dragon Tong.

The Terror of the Tongs isn't the kind of film you normally think of when Hammer Films comes to mind. There is nothing supernatural, there is no gothic atmosphere, and this isn't a recycled Universal horror film. What you will find instead is a reasonable dose of that infamous Hammer blood, England standing in for a foreign land (Hong Kong in this case), and Christopher Lee. So while it may not be typical Hammer, it is still undeniably Hammer.

Overall, the movie is reasonably entertaining. The revenge story moves at a good pace with plenty of action. It's all helped by a relatively short runtime that works in the movie's favor. I'm not sure the story could have sustained another 15 minutes. The sets, although stage-bound as you'd expect with Hammer, do evoke a different place. And the acting, if you can get past the yellow-face, is about what you'd expect. Lee may be the known quantity, but in all honesty, he doesn't do that much. The film is held together by Geoffrey Toone's performance. He's quite good as the man on a mission.

6/10

Christopher Lee stars as the leader of The Red Dragon Tong, a secretive cult/business venture in 1910 Hong Kong that specializes in crime and vice. When the tong kills the daughter of a sea captain, he vows revenge, becoming determined to take it down by any and all means possible, but the Tong isn't so easily defeated or intimidated, and begins a retaliatory campaign against him, costing many lives. Future "Doctor Who" star(as the Master) Roger Delgado costars as a ruthless Tong enforcer. Nicely filmed in color, but Christopher Lee is miscast as an Asian(!) A fine performance, but makeup is unconvincing, and film ultimately too routine and predictable to succeed.

I have been a fan of Hammer most of my life, since I first set eyes on stills of the likes of Dracula and Frankenstein when I was a young child. Hammer is mostly associated with horror movies but Terror is not one of them. It is a drama set in Hong Kong about a British ship captain, whose daughter is murdered by the evil Tongs, a Chinese criminal gang. He sets out for revenge and justice. I have just watched this on British TV, it came with a warning that the film "contains outdated racial representations and discriminatory language". One such example of the latter was the captain telling his daughter to "thank your lucky stars you're English". However it was the racial representations that let the film down for me. There are Asian actors among the cast, but mainly in the background. Most of the main characters that are meant to be Oriental are white actors in very unconvincing make up, with equally unconvincing accents. Including Christopher Lee, but to be fair he does play his part with menace. The sets are rich in colour, something that Hammer excelled at during this period. Good musical score. And the film is pretty violent, lots of people being hacked, shot and killed, plus there is a bone scraping torture scene. Yvonne Monlaur adds a nice bit of glamour. Not a film for everybody but essential viewing for those with an interest in Hammer.

This is Hammer Studios version of a Fu Manchu movie. It even has Fu himself, Christopher Lee appear as the Chinese master criminal in this one, as the head of the Tongs crime syndicate who make the mistake of killing the daughter of a British merchant who makes it his mission to enact revenge on the criminals and bring them down. Geoffrey Toone plays the hero and it has to be said that he makes for a pretty dull presence on the whole. Lee is unexpectedly much better in an over-the-top performance. He, like many of the cast are European actors with heavy make-up to make them look Chinese, which I guess makes the film somewhat an anachronism and culturally insensitive. But it also gives it a clunky charm of sorts, given that it clearly is not trying to cause offense but is merely an example of its era. The film as a whole, benefits from the usual nice colourful set design which typified Hammer's output. But also, like many other Hammer movies it also is extremely routine and devoid of any surprises whatsoever. Consequently, this one is another effort of theirs which is more solid than inspired. Its probably best remembered now more for its of-its-time racial stereotyping than anything else. Overall, a decently entertaining time-capsule bit of hokum.

The Terror of the Tongs is a companion piece to Hammer's earlier The Stranglers of Bombay, both films dealing with murderous secret societies operating in British colonies: in Stranglers, it was a Thuggee cult that killed in the name of Kali; in The Terror of the Tongs, it is the Chinese Red Dragon crime syndicate in Hong Kong, dealing in white slavery, extortion and opium.

In both films, the majority of the Asian characters are played by white actors wearing make-up, which some viewers might find objectionable; I give Hammer a pass, since I imagine that Berkshire in the early '60s probably wasn't rife with Indian or Chinese actors (was Burt Kwouk the only Chinese thespian in the UK back then?). In Tongs, it is none other than Christopher Lee who plays the chief villain, the legendary horror actor getting in some practise for his 1965 turn as iconic Asian despot Fu Manchu.

Geoffrey Toone plays the hero of the film, steamer captain Jackson Sale, who seeks revenge for the murder of his sixteen-year-old daughter (played by Barbara Brown, who is clearly not a teenager), the girl killed by the Red Dragons during their search for a list of names that could lead to their downfall.

Writer Jimmy Sangster takes the plot for Stranglers and gives it a Far Eastern makeover, and if you've seen the earlier film, The Terror of the Tongs will feel very familiar, right down to the torture of the hero by the baddies, and the finale, in which good triumphs over evil and the secret society is defeated. And like Stranglers, Tongs features some gratuitous eye candy: tasty French actress Yvonne Monlaur plays Tong babe Lee, who is ever so grateful to Captain Sale when he frees her from slavery (unfortunately, a happy ending is clearly not on the cards for the character).

While certainly not very original, nor particularly suspenseful, this film is still well worth a go for Hammer fans thanks to a great 'boo-hiss' turn by Lee (the actor receiving top billing for the first time), the colourful cinematography, and some memorably nasty moments, including victims of the Red Dragons having their fingers chopped off, some bloody deaths by hatchet, and the notorious 'bone scraping' torture scene (although the film's more graphic scenes were heavily edited by the British Board of Film Censors, the excised footage now considered lost).

6/10. I wish the film had been made a decade or so later: it would have probably been passed uncut and would've included some kung fu fighting and a funky soundtrack.