[A Hong Kong/Filipino co-production filmed in Hong Kong in 1973, Philippines release date 2nd March 1974. Released in the Philippines by Jowell Film Productions, and internationally by Intercontinental Films (HK); other sources suggest BCMP Films is one of the production companies, as well as International Films (possibly the name of the production wing of Intercontinental). Also released by Intercontinental as The Great Dragon Boxer. Released in France and Belgium as “Le Dragon Noir”, and in Brazilian as "O Grande Dragão Kickboxer"]
Director/Editor Lo Gio [= Law Chi, sometimes listed as "Joe Law Chi"] Story/Executive Producer Bobby A. Suarez Screenplay Lo Gio, Wong Yee Wah Producer Terry Lai Composer Ruben Sabiyano Music Director Bert Santos Camera Tsui Kam Yok Production Manager Wong Sai Lap Assistant Directors Joseph Lai, Lee Man Tai Special Effects Lee Chi Wah Makeup Artist Lai Siu Wah Wardrobe Lo Shiu Lin Assistant Cameraman Ku Lee Sheng
Cast [listed in the credits; *alternate Chinese name listed on the Hong Kong Movie Database] Tony Ferrer (Lam Chih Tong, aka Jimmy Lam), Dick Chan [=Ting Hon*] (Lam Chih Chau), Jimmy Lee [=Lau Kong] (Lam Chih Yat), Alona Alegre (Yun Lan), Tong Ching [=Tang Ching] (Black Dragon Master), Wong Loi [=Wang Lai] (Mrs Lam), Ko Yuen, Kiu Wan [= Roy Chiao Hung] (Inspector Pang), Pauline Chan [Bo-Lin] [=Chan Pau-Ling] (Chow Mai), Rey Sagum [as Reynaldo Sagum] (Black Dragon Thug), Lee Man Tai (Brother Dai, the Black Dragon Thug), Yau Keung Wah, Ma Kim Tong [=Ma Chien-Tang] (Georgie the Pimp), Yum Ho [=Yam Ho] (Black Dragon Thug)
Additional Cast [listed on the Hong Kong Movie Database]: Chow Siu-Loi (Brother "Baldy" Wu, the Black Dragon Thug), Ho Pak-Kwong (Corrupt Sergeant), Fung Ging-Man, Chin Chun (Joe the Dock Foreman), Hwang Kook-Ryang (Black Dragon Thug), Mama Hung (Birthday Party Guest), Lau Hok-Nin, Kwan Yan, Chai Lam, Lau Chun, Got Ping, Cham Siu-Hung (Black Dragon Thug), Cheung Hei (Mek the Dockman), Hoh Wan, Chan Kwan (Protection Money Collector), Wan Yiu-Cho (Black Dragon Thug), Ling Fung (Funeral Visitor)
KUNG FU
Excerpt from Andrew Leavold’s essay "Bionic Guts And Exploding Huts! The Filipino Pulp Factory of Bobby A. Suarez Part One" in Weng's Chop #8 (USA), October 2015, pp.25-38
Intercontinental Film Distributors' first official foray into film production, the Hong Kong-lensed martial arts film The Black Dragon (1973), starred Filipino action star Tony Ferrer. “Attorney Laxa," Bobby told me, "is the brother of Tony Ferrer. He approached me and said, 'Bobby, this market that you are selling these Chinese pictures in, why don't you buy our old X-44 movies?' I thought, 'I'm sorry, I cannot do anything.' How can I explain to them that the quality is not saleable?”
Laxa also asked Bobby to create an overseas vehicle for Ferrer, who was by then a veteran of almost a hundred local features but was, aside from a bit role in The Vengeance Of Fu Manchu (1967) with Christopher Lee, virtually unknown outside the Philippines. From his early days as supporting player in Fernando Poe Jr and Joseph Estrada action vehicles for his older brother Espiridon (a former lawyer, known affectionately as "Attorney") Laxa's Tagalong Ilang-Ilang Productions, he became a leading man in a series of James Bond derivations playing Tony Falcon, Agent X-44. Thick-bodied and thick-lipped, hair seemingly cast in polyurethane, his trademark white suit was ever-present in a series stretching over fifteen years and more than thirty film appearances. Astoundingly, X-44 became the most popular and enduring of the Pinoy James Bonds, and Ferrer feted himself as a real-life action diva and devout ladies' man to the point where the public and private personas became inseparable. The mid-Sixties spy craze gave way to the karate kick and from 1967 to 1969 Ferrer smartened his chops as a “karatista”. Along with brothers Roberto and Rolando Gonzales (sons of renowned karate instructor Valentino Gonzales) Ferrer redefined the late Sixties Pinoy action star as a flurry of lightning kicks and film titles such as Karate Kid (1967) and Blackbelt Avengers (1969). But despite a more-than-modest personality cult and several reasonably high-profile stabs at the international market, his non-Falcon roles never had quite the same impact.
By 1973, even his domestic success as Agent X-44 was on the decline. “Now Tony is not up there anymore, he's kaput.” Bobby delivered on Laxa's request; Filipinos Ferrer, Alona Alegre, and Ferrer's frequent co-star, stuntman Rey Sagum, arrived in Hong Kong around May 1973 to begin work on The Black Dragon. Tony Ferrer stars as Lam Chi Tong aka Jimmy, one of three brothers investigating the brutal murder of their father, undercover cop Lam Senior. A tell-tale ring is left next to the body suggesting his death was the work of “the most ruthless gang in Asia”: the fearsome Black Dragon syndicate. Their goons operate on the waterfront where Jimmy's brother Lam Chih Yat (Jimmy Lee) works as a police informer, smuggling heroin in phony pottery. Middle brother Lam Chih Chao (Dick Chan) meanwhile defends a nearby neighbourhood from the mob's protection racket - they call it "squeeze", as in "Pay me some SQUEEEEZE…you bastard!" The Black Dragons' Master suspects either cops or a rival gang afoot, and orders his men to eliminate them. The brothers' superior, Inspector Pang (Kiu Wan), wants them all to go deeper to flush out the syndicate's leader, who may be one of his own policemen - or even the Police Chief (Tong Chin) himself.
Tony Ferrer karate-chops Rey Sagum to a bloody pulp
In retrospect, Bobby's official film debut is a competently shot if somewhat unremarkable and conventional karate thriller, directed by the film's Gatling Gun editing machine Lo Gio. All three leads share efficient fight scenes with Hong Kong's goons and random snatches of jazz and bombastic bongo-driven funk, and Ferrer, a veteran of the Filipino Action Film's trenches, more than holds his own in the combat scenes (a bloody beatdown with Filipino super-goon Rey Sagum is perhaps the film's highlight). Less convincing is his stint as dockside Lothario, literally sliding from one concubine's boat to another's (populated by Filipina sex kitten Alona Alegre) in one oily move. Alegre's racy nude scenes with Ferrer would have caused a riot in the Philippines, assuming it was allowed by the censors, due to the recently declared Martial Law outlawing all nudity - not to mention gratuitous violence, a staple in kung fu - from all local films.
International sales were negligible, mostly because it was a case of “Tony WHO?” “That is the problem with me. People buy my movies because I produce it. Suppose I open my movie like The Black Dragon, you don't know anything about it. Who is Tony Ferrer? I said, 'Look, for the whole of Scandinavia, I'm only asking $10,000. If you lose money, let me know and I will return it to you. You want to include it in the contract? Sure.' So people trusted me.”
Tong Ching [=Tang Ching] (Black Dragon Master)
THEATRICAL
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UK – released by Paladin as “The Black Dragon” as half of a double bill with Blood Of Frankenstein (aka Dracula vs Frankenstein, 1971), screened 1974-75
AUSTRALIA – released as “The Black Dragon” via Lyra Films, 1974 [the one-sheet was printed without an Australian rating for New Zealand theatres]
FRANCE – released via Mondial Film as “Le Dragon Noir”
BELGIUM – via Rossel Films as “Le Dragon Noir”
PAKISTAN – as “The Black Dragon”, distributor unknown
VIDEO
BRAZIL – VHS release via Reserva Especial Video as “O Grande Dragão Kickboxer”
...plus other artwork from unidentifiable releases
Original 1974 Hong Kong pressbook
Australian daybill poster
mp4 files [Bobby's original release, IFD re-release, and trailer]
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