Tong Man (Silent)

Only for Hayakawa fans,
If you are a fan of Sessue Hayakawa, this early movie is very well worth having, especially with urban location shooting, including rooftops.
If you could not care less about Hayakawa, this movie is not rewarding enough to purchase, and contributes very little to a library of cinema.

I have every Hayakawa movie available on DVD, and my personal favorite is The Cheat, from 1919.

Which edition of The Tong Man should you buy is the question.

For me top priority is given to the visual quality.

The visual quality of this edition is surprisingly very acceptable,
and the story STILL makes sense, and flows well
WITH
It's BIG BIG fault.
This edition has 10 minutes of it's original 58 minute running time missing!
Yes, it still has the "famous" scene of a man being hit in the face with a hatchet.
Actually, it is never glaringly obvious that the movie is missing so much footage.
Another fault is the poor...





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