The Terror of the Tongs is a 1961 British adventure film directed by Anthony Bushell, written by Jimmy Sangster and starring Geoffrey Toone, Christopher Lee, Marne Maitland and Yvonne Monlaur. Bernard Robinson was Production Designer, Thomas Goswell and Don Mingaye were Art Directors, Roy Ashton did Makeup and John Peverall was Assistant Director. [2] The British prints were released in Technicolor, while the US print were in Eastman Color.[3]
In 1910, Mr. Ming is an agent of a group which secretly fights against tongs, China's criminal organizations. To fulfill his mission, he takes a ship to Hong Kong. En route, he makes acquaintance with Captain Jackson Sale, a British sea officer who lives in Hong Kong with his teenage daughter Helena. Sale is indifferent about China's tong problem, as it does not directly affect him. Ming hides a note containing information about the Red Dragon, Hong Kong's biggest tong, inside a poetry book, which he gives to Sale as a gift to Helena, knowing that her servant is a secret member of the resistance.
Ming is later the victim of a ceremonial killing. In this type of assassinations, the killer murders their victim with a ceremonial axe and gauntlet in a crowded place, thus keeping the population scared of the Red Dragon Tong. Before dying, Ming kills his assassin. After searching Ming's body, the Tong do not find any incriminating note that could hurt their cause. To be sure, they decide to kill anyone who could have received that kind of information from Ming. Looking for the note, they search Sale's house, kill Helena, and eventually, also the servant. After learning of his daughter's death, Sale vows revenge.
He starts investigating the Tong on his own, despite the police's warnings. Because of this investigation, he gets into a fight with a Tong member. Sale is about to be killed when Lee, the criminal's wife saves him. Lee was forced to marry the man and, hating him, decides to aid in his demise before another innocent person is killed. Realizing the woman is in danger for defying the will of the Tong, Sale tells her to stay at his place.
Sale continues to investigate the Tong, who eventually kidnap and torture him, wanting to know what he knows. Sale is rescued by the Beggar, another member of the resistance. A beaten Sale is brought home to the care of Lee, who is developing feelings for him. While recovering, Sale starts a relationship with Lee.
The Beggar eventually visits Sale and offers him a choice: if Sale only cares about his own life, he should leave China; if he cares about bringing down the tongs, he should stay in Hong Kong, where he most likely will be the target of another ceremonial killing. If Sale survives the attack on his own, in front of a crowd of onlookers, that might be the spark of rebellion the Beggar needs to rile up the people against the Tong. Sale decides to stay and fight.
The night the hit on Sale is to be fulfilled, Lee suspects something sinister is going on and rushes to the port to save him. She ends up sacrificing herself to save Sale, who shoots her assassin down in front of dozens of onlookers. The Beggar takes advantage of this moment and incites a revolution against the Tong. The enraged crowd eventually reaches the headquarters of the Red Dragon Tong's Hong Kong division, wanting to kill its leader, Chung King. Before they can do so, Chung King immolates himself, hoping his ancestors will not be disappointed in him.
Cast
Christopher Lee as Chung King, Leader of the Red Dragon Tong's Hong Kong division and the primary antagonist.
Geoffrey Toone as Captain Jackson Sale, a leading figure in the colony and primary protagonist whose daughter is murdered by the tongs.
Yvonne Monlaur as Lee, a mixed-race serving girl and Sale's love interest.
Marne Maitland as the Beggar, an agent of an underground movement against the Tongs.
The Terror of the Tongs was filmed quickly from April 18, 1960 until May 27, 1960. It had a September 12, 1961 trade show at the Columbia, then opened at the Pavillion on September 29, 1961. It opened in the US in October 1961. The film is a quasi-remake of an earlier Hammer film, The Stranglers of Bombay (1959) directed by Terence Fisher. The setting is changed to Hong Kong in 1910 from India in the 19th century but the basic plot of a middle-aged, yet youthful hero attempting to uncover the crimes of a secret sect in a British colony is very similar.
The film is notable in that it is the first Hammer horror film to afford Christopher Lee top billing, although the script didn't give him much to do. The film's star Geoffrey Toone said "I didn't see a lot of Christopher Lee ....as he didn't have a lot to do on this film". Lee reported to work on the film after a vacation in Northern Italy with a deep tan, which was problematic for the make-up department since his character was supposed to have very pale skin. Lee later said in interviews that the make-up to make him appear Chinese in this movie was the most uncomfortable make-up he had had to endure up to that time. Legend has it that Christopher Lee's step-cousin Ian Fleming considered him at one time for the role of Dr. No when his eponymous novel was being filmed in 1962, but whether or not Lee's performance in the Hammer film influenced the decision either way is a matter for speculation.[4]
Leslie Halliwell wrote "Gory melodrama with dollops of screams, torture and vaguely orgiastic goings-on."[7]
In The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films, Barnes and Hearn wrote: "The Terror of the Tongs, perhaps thankfully a rarely-seen film, remains resolutely undistinguished in almost every department."[8]"
In Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography, Johnson and Del Vecchio wrote: "The Terror of the Tongs was a nasty entry in Hammer's move from Gothic horror to costume adventure... Unfortunately, as with Lee's later Fu Manchu series, he s given nothing to do except utter philosophy and look menacing.... Despite fine individual ingredients, the The Terror of the Tongs does not add up to much and cannot stand with similarly themed films like The Pirates of Blood River and Captain Clegg."[9]
Tie-in book
A tie-in novel to the film written by Jimmy Sangster and based upon his screenplay was published by Digit Books in 1961.
Cultural references
On the film's opening matinee showing in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, a crowd of rowdy teenagers and young adults both male and female ran down the street shouting "tongs" causing a melee in which the police had to be called.[10] To this day in Glasgow gang culture the cry of "tongs ya bass" can often be heard wherever youths come together to fight in a show of territorial loyalty.[citation needed]
References
↑ Johnson, Tom (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland. p. 184. ISBN 0-7864-0034-X.
↑ Hearn, Marcus; Barnes, Alan (2007). "The Terror of the Tongs". The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films (Limited ed.). Titan Books. p.55. ISBN978-1-84576-185-1.
↑ Johnson, Tom; Del Vecchio, Deborah (1996). Hammer Films: An Exhaustive Filmography. North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp.185–186. ISBN0-7864-0034-X.
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