The Terror of the Tongs (1961)

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1961
Running Times: 75 mins (Germany, Norway)      80 mins (USA)
Format: colour     35mm
Ratio:
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Hammer Film Productions Limited
Executive Producer: Michael Carreras
Producer: Kenneth Hyman
Associate Producer: Anthony Nelson Keys
Production Manager: Clifford Parkes

SCRIPT
Script: Jimmy Sangster

DIRECTION
Director: Anthony Bushell
Assistant Director: John Peverall

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Arthur Grant
Camera Operator: Len Harris

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Supervising Editor: James Needs
Editor: Eric Boyd-Perkins

MUSIC
Music Supervisor: John Hollingsworth
Music: James Bernard

SOUND
Sound Recordist: Jock May
Sound Editor: Alban Streeter

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Roy Ashton
Hair: Frieda Steiger
Costume Designer: Molly Arbuthnot

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Bernard Robinson

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Tilly Day

CAST
Geoffrey Toone (Captain Jackson Sale)
Christopher Lee (Tong leader)
Yvonne Monlaur (Lee)
Brian Worth (District Commissioner Harcourt)
Ewen Solon (Tang Hao, Tong leader's aide)
Marne Maitland (Tong resistance fighter posing as beggar)
Marie Burke (Maya)
Richard Leech (Police Inspector Bob Dean)
Charles Lloyd Pack (Dr Fu Chao)
Barbara Brown (Helena Sale)
Burt Kwouk (Mr Ming)
Bandana Das Gupta (Anna Chang)
Roger Delgado (Tang Hao)
Andy Ho (Lee Chung)
Tom Gill (Beamish)
Eric Young (Confucius)
Julie Alexander (uncredited)
Johnny Arlen (uncredited)
June Barry, Mary Rose Barry, Audrey Burton, Ruth Calvert, Marialla Capes, Katy Cashfield, Patty Dalton, Louise Dickson, Pauline Dukes, Hazel Gardner, Valerie Holman, Julie Shearing, Valerie Shevaloff, Barbara Smith (Tong room girls - uncredited)
Harold Goodwin (uncredited)
Peter Gray (uncredited)
Michael Hawkins (priest at Anna's house - uncredited)
Ronald Ing (uncredited)
Jules Ki-Ki (uncredited)
Arnold Lee (uncredited)
Sui Lin (uncredited)
Michael Peake (uncredited)
Walter Randall (uncredited)
Milton Reid (Tong guardian - uncredited)
Poing Ping Sam (uncredited)
Ann Scott (uncredited)
Steven Scott (uncredited)
Cyril Shaps (uncredited)
Santso Wong (uncredited)
Vincent Wong (uncredited)

PLOT SUMMARY

In Hong Kong, 1900, the Red Dragon Tong kill Helena, the daughter of a British sailor, Captain Jackson. Seeking vengeance, Jackson begins to track down the shadowy organisation via one of its 'collectors'. Eventually he traces the gang to its lair but is captured by its evil leader, Chung King and is tortured. He is rescued by an undercover anti-tong agent but is a marked man, uncovering Tong corruption in even the upper echelons of the East India Trading Company.

Dull action adventure from Hammer with little of either. Lee makes a fine Oriental menace but he barely gets up from his chair. Only made to utilise sets from Visa to Canton (1961) which makes the film very studio bound. Too much time wasted following the stiff upper lipped (actually just plain stiff) British hero. If you think this will be a Hammer horror featuring Lee dominating as a proto-Fu Manchu prepare to be very disappointed.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Finland
Rating: banned in 1961

Germany
Rating: 18

Norway
Rating: 16

UK
Rating: X

USA
Rating: PG

1960
April
19: UK - principal photography begins

May
30: UK - principal photography ends

1961
March
15: USA - theatrical release

April
7: West Germany - theatrical release

September
29: UK - theatrical release

1971
October
14: Norway - theatrical release

Terror stalks the street of opium dreams...

They were the oldest secret cult in the world - and the most fiendish!

L'empreinte du dragon rouge - French title
Geheimbund Hongkong - German TV title
Terror der Tongs - German title
El terror de los Tongs - Spanish title
Il terrore dei Tongs - Italian title

BOOKS

The Hammer Story pp.54-55
illustrated article (by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes)

KEYWORDS

hong kong, tongs

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009