The Terror of the Tongs *** (1961, Christopher Lee, Yvonne Monlaur, Geoffrey Toone) – Classic Movie Review 3300

NOW YOU CAN SEE SPINE-TINGLING TONG TERROR! Director Anthony Bushell’s 1961 British thriller stars Geoffrey Toone as British sea captain Jackson Sale, a brave merchant seaman who attempts to discover the murderers of his daughter and his servant, with the help of sexy slave Lee (played by Yvonne Monlaur). In so doing, he uncovers and eventually destroys a group of Hong Kong members of a secret Tong (a crime syndicate of secret societies) led by the evil Chung King (played by Christopher Lee).

The Red Dragon Tong kidnaps the ship’s captain in Hong Kong harbour as he tries to detain the killers of his daughter, who have murdered her protect their identities. But the Tong is so powerful it proves tricky to free him.

Written by the prolific and talented Jimmy Sangster, this is a creepy, busy, atmospheric Hammer period chiller, set just before World War One in 1910, and featuring relatively graphic (for its day, that is!) acts of sadism in keeping with the Hammer horror ethos.

If it’s all a bit unnecessarily lurid, as befits the studio sensibilities, Bushell and Sangster manage to keep it on the rails, with the usual stalwart help of Lee and a clutch of solid performances from a fine support cast. They include Brian Worth, Richard Leech, Marne Maitland, Ewen Solon, Burt Kwouk, Barbara Brown, Charles Lloyd Pack, Marie Burke and Roger Delgado.

Of course it goes without saying that the casting of Lee (whose parents were Contessa Estelle Marie Carandini di Sarzano and English soldier Geoffrey Trollope Lee), New Zealand-born Solon, Delgado (born of a Spanish father and French mother in Whitechapel) and East Londoner Pack as Tong members may raise eyebrows now.

Thank goodness then for Burt Kwouk as Mr Ming! Born on 18 July 1930 in Warrington, Cheshire, but brought up in Shanghai until he was 17 when his Chinese parents returned to England, he was made OBE in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to drama and was still busy working in his 80s. Burt Kwouk died on May 24 2016, aged 85.

Christopher Lee died of heart failure on June 7 2015, aged 93.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3300

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