Terror of the Tongs

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Audience Member It's been quite a while since I've seen so many non-Asian actors playing Asian characters. Usually old films have one or two Asian characters at most and often played by an anglo character. This still happens and happened as recently as Cameron Crowe's "Aloha" when the redheaded Emma Stone played an Asian character. But in this film, set in China, it appeared that just about every Asian character was a heavily made up anglo actor, which was pretty distracting. Anyhow, despite the blatant racism, this was a pretty entertaining little potboiler about a sea captain investigating the murder of his daughter and ends up taking on the titular Hong Kong crime syndicate, lead by the inscrutable oriental Christopher Lee, who's quite good as the villain. And for a film made in 1961, there are some surprisingly gruesome moments, though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised since Hammer frequently pushed the boundaries of sex and violence in their films of the 1960s. Overall, there's nothing all that special about this film, but is entertaining enough. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A good Christopher Lee role though not as iconic as Fu Manchu. The plot is alright, though a bit jumbled at times with a few too many characters. Nonetheless there are good thrilling moments and fun scenes. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member Best white person playing Chinese: Christopher Lee who manages to play the Fu Manchu role without resorting to being Fu Manchu. Worst white person playing Chinese: that frigging French woman who plays the love interest Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member Christopher Lee dons a droopy moustache and delivers such lines as "have you ever had your bones scraped?" with a deliciously Grand Guignol relish in what today would be a very un-pc Boy's Own adventure indeed. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Once you get past the European actors unconvincingly playing Chinese (Yvonne Monlaur in particular doesn't even bother to shake her French accent) this is a modestly entertaining pulp adventure from Hammer. The production values are the usual Hammer high-quality - particularly the set design - and Jimmy Sangster's script is fast-paced and original, but it just never generates the suspense it needs to be really compelling. And Christopher Lee's part is much too small. Another excellent score by James Bernard - he really should get more recognition for his impressive body of work. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member A pretty solid murder/revenge story from Hammer, and a fun flick for a rainy afternoon. Christopher Lee, as always, makes for a fantastically despicable villain. If you're a Hammer fan, or a horror fan in general, definitely check this one out - it's pretty good. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Terror of the Tongs

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