The Tong Man

{{short description|1919 film by William Worthington}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = The Tong Man | image = Motionpicturenews-thetongman-advert-1920.jpg | caption = Advertisement | director = William Worthington | writer = Richard Schayer (scenario) | based_on = {{based on|''The Dragon’s Daughter''|Clyde Westover}} | starring = Sessue Hayakawa | producer = George W. Stout | cinematography = Frank D. Williams | studio = Haworth Pictures Corporation | distributor = Robertson-Cole Distributing Corporation | released = {{film date|1919|12|14}} | runtime = 5 reels | country = United States | language = Silent (English intertitles) | budget = | gross = }} thumb|thumbtime=3|''The Tong Man'' '''''The Tong Man''''' is a 1919 American silent crime thriller film directed by William Worthington and produced by Haworth Pictures Corporation.<ref name="Miyao2007">{{cite book|last=Miyao|first=Daisuke|authorlink=Daisuke Miyao|title=Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational Stardom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZ2wHVKG1HcC&pg=PA183|date=28 March 2007|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-3969-4|page=183}}</ref><ref name="Haenni2008">{{cite book|last=Haenni|first=Sabine|title=The Immigrant Scene: Ethnic Amusements in New York, 1880-1920|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cIhJji6i1bIC&pg=PA292|year=2008|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0-8166-4981-5|page=292}}</ref>

''The Tong Man'' survives and is available on home video.<ref>{{Cite web |date= |others= |title=The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Catalog: The Tong Man |url=http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.2408/default.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230516172049/http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.2408/default.html |archive-date=2023-05-16 |access-date=2026-04-24 |website=memory.loc.gov}}</ref> The film has long been preserved by the Library of Congress.<ref>''Catalog of Holdings The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress'', (<-book title) p.186 c.1978 by The American Film Institute</ref>

==Plot== As described in a film magazine,<ref>{{cite journal|title=Reviews: ''The Tong Man''|journal=Exhibitors Herald|volume=10|issue=2|page=62|publisher=Exhibitors Herald Company|location=New York City|date=January 10, 1920|url=https://archive.org/details/exhibitorsherald10exhi}}</ref> Luk Chen, whose heart beats for Sen Chee and for her alone, is commissioned by the tong of which he is a member to murder her father for failure to deliver her to Ming Tai, a power in San Francisco's Chinatown. His love proves stronger than his sense of duty and he fails to execute the command, so Ming Tai performs the duty in his stead. Ming Tai then abducts Sen Chee. Luk Chen affects a rescue and they conceal themselves in a dungeon belonging to Ming Tai. Their enemy discovers them and for a time it seems their end is only seconds away. They are then rescued and make their way by boat to China.

==Cast== *Sessue Hayakawa as Luk Chen *Helen Jerome Eddy as Sen Chee *Marc Roberts as Ming Tai *Toyo Fujita as Louie Toy *Yutaka Abe as Lucero (credited as Jack Yutaka Abbe)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category}} *{{IMDb title|0010791}} *[http://www.emovieposter.com/agallery/archiveitem/6692422.html lobby poster]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tong Man, The}} Category:1919 films Category:1919 American films Category:1919 crime films Category:1919 English-language films Category:1910s crime thriller films Category:American black-and-white films Category:American silent crime thriller films Category:American silent feature films Category:Articles containing video clips Category:English-language crime thriller films Category:Film Booking Offices of America films Category:Films about organized crime in the United States Category:Films directed by William Worthington Category:Films set in San Francisco Category:Films with screenplays by Richard Schayer Category:Haworth Pictures Corporation films Category:Surviving American silent films Category:Tongs (organizations)