In 1910, Hong Kong, under the rule of the British Empire, is a prosperous and bustling city, but, hidden in the shadows of its many narrow streets, the hideous members of the Red Dragon gang, a branch of the evil Chinese secret society of the Tongs, lurk and murder those who oppose to their tyranny, which thrives on vice, crime and the fear of the weakest.
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Simply Perfect
Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
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.
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.
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.