Richard Chatten This deservedly obscure warm-up for Christopher Lee for the role of Fu Manchu, set in Hong Kong in 1910, 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 foreign cult able to act with impunity 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.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 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.

bugsmoran29 I recently watched this movie along with 2 other similar Hammers Productions film ('She" and "Fu Manchu") and this was the best of the 3 in my opinion. Christopher Lee plays the kingpin of a criminal organization in Hong; his character was sinister and sly. The big, burly Englishman who played Captain Jackson Sale was an effective hero who held his own against the gangsters. I enjoyed watching the martial arts fighting scene where the actors were mixing a Chinese fighting style with Japanese judo. The woman who saved Sale's life was a living doll. I suppose one can take exception to white Europeans playing Asian characters. All in all, it was a fun movie.

malcolmgsw 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.

mark.waltz A distasteful, violent muck of a thriller, this returns to the days of the "Dr. Fu Manchu" movies with its one dimensional vision of "Orientals" as evil murderous torturers. You can forgive the memories of the Warner Oland and Boris Karloff portrayals of Fu Manchu because they come from an era where society was unaware of the offense made by Caucasians playing other races in stereotypical fashion and with mean-spirited evil or idiotic, buffoon like characterizations. While Asians did not get slammed as much as blacks and Hispanics, when their portrayals did show up with white actors in outlandish make-up playing them, it seemed even more over the top with their characterizations turning the Asian characters into monsters, not human beings. When Peter Sellers played his various made-up characters, audiences for the most part laughed because he played it for comedy. However, in the characterization of "The Red Dragon", here played by Christopher Lee, Asians had every right to take offense, as there is nothing redeemable about his character.Garish color photography gives the disturbing portrayal of Lee's Chung King an almost devilish presence that is difficult to stomach. The attacks on Tong victims with a hatchet are garishly bloody, and even an innocent young girl is brutally murdered because of the Tong's search for secret documents that were hidden for her father (Geoffrey Toone) to find. Ironically, the messenger who also gets a horrific death scene is Burt Kwouck, best known as Peter Seller's valet in the "Pink Panther" series. I half expected him to scream in his Japanese accent, "Inspector Clouseau", but he played the role very serious even though he didn't look any different. The film is truly distasteful on almost every level, and if it is indeed classified as a "horror film", that is mainly because the true horror comes from its upsetting premise. While the Hammer horror films were usually pretty chilling, this one just ends up being a head scratcher because it utilizes themes which I had hoped disappeared with the end of the certain discriminations and the onslaught of common sense and political sensitivity to other races. As it is, I could barely make it through this without becoming completely disgusted.