Tong Tin-Sze
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Biography
I first remembered seeing him in Karado, The Hong Kong Cat, and after that, the movie films I saw, the more often I would get to see some of his work. Not a fierce villain by any standards, but, he can be just as entertaining as the next one. He's what I'd like to refer to as a common "background" villain, in that he (like so many others), patiently waits in the wings, until it's their turn to get beaten up. He was another, in a long list of charater actors, who've gone through the Shaw Brothers studio. He's appeared in anumber of Shaw's earlier productions, more often than not, as a villain.
In The Young Dragon, he went and got the Kung Fu Finger Book, for his boss (Lo Lieh) and in the film Snake In The Monkey's Shadow, we saw Hau Sau-Seng use the Drunken Style, to humiliate him in front of his sons. He must have signed on to contract at the same time as Cheung Nick, as most of his earlier films were with him. His real moment to shine was when he played Tamo (the Buddhist priest) in the film Bruce Li, The Invincible (starring Bruce Li and Chen Sing).
Other than getting beat up, he usually does this little quirky movement of rubbing his head like Curly (from the 3 Stooges) or making his eyebrows move up and down - when he's about rush in and catch a punch in the face. He hasn't had any standout roles, that showed his skill in fighting (or acting) to a high degree, but, he has had opportunities where he helped to keep the action flowing. In Land Of The Brave and Oath Of Death, his roles weren't the greatest (they never were), yet, they gave him a chance to entertain us with the skills he did have. I always laugh, when I see him flex his Bicep, like that's gonna make the hero, just give up.
Like many, once he started working at Shaw studios, he was cast as a villain (probably), because of his looks. He landed roles in a few of their feature films, but found better opportunities, when he ventured out and started working for Independent studios. Films like The Big Risk and The 6 Assassins may not have put him on the map, but they did help him get noticed, when others couldn't land a contract with a major studio. No matter how small the role he took, he always seemed to standout (from the other villains). As these films will stand the test of time, kung-fu fans old and new, will (still) be able to view his work.