Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - View from Hotel Lisboa

The group are staying at a hotel and return to their room after hitting it big. I can't say for sure if the room is real or a set, but the view from the window is definitely the view you would have seen from the original Hotel Lisboa block back in the 1970s. It's a view that disappeared in the 1991 when the second hotel block was completed. The initial image shows a close up of the top of the St Paul's Church facade peaking out above the main block of the neighbouring "Colegio Mateus Ricci". That angle gives us a triangulation point that points all the way back to the Lisboa.

I'm not sure what the long yellow building in the second image is, but I believe it was removed to make way for the visual atrocity that is known as the Grand Lisboa. This latter construction, that I used to refer to as "Stanley Ho's catheter", is the main reason for the lack of a view today, but it was also blocked by the second, round block of the Lisboa mentioned earlier.

In the lowest image, Ching Li has the Club Militar behind her head. It's painted a pastel red colour these days and has had a bit of a facelift. Despite the mess that is the Cotai Strip, Macau in general has a bit more veneration for its built heritage.

So, is it a real hotel or just a studio set with back projection? I'm still unsure.

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Rua das Lorchas, Ponte No.16

Another of the Macau establising shots is an oblique angle of the famous Ponte No. 16 along Rua das Lorchas. This structure was built in 1948 (by Fu Tak Iam I believe - the controller of the original gambling monopoly before he was ousted by Stanley Ho and Henry Fok et al). Thankfully it's still around, or at least was the last time I was here about 3 years ago.

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Avenida do Dr. Oliveira Salazar, Macau

This road isn't known by this name anymore - it has since been split into Avenida Doutor Mário Soares and Avenida da Amizade, I'm just not sure what year that happened. The section youv can see below is now the Avenida da Amizade part. Anyway, the group of friends decide to head to Macau for some gambling and end up losing all their money before pawning their watches and winning it all back again, and then some. I'm not convinced how much of the Macau scenes were actualy filmed there but this image below is one of the shots in the middle of the sequence. The silhouetted building in the distance is the Hotel Lisboa. For a comparison of the same view before the hotel was built, you can see this page (second image down showing a similar aspect).

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Fei Ngo Shan Road

The group decide the only thing for them to do is to go up Fei Ngo Shan Road. However, it's here where they suffer a double puncture and have to push the car all the way back into town. I walked this road just a few weeks ago as part of the Wilson Trail Stage 4 (which is why I was able to make this post, it's basically the same road even though the name changes at the junction with Jat's Incline).

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Clearwater Bay Road

Now unable to go to either Stanley, or back to Fanling, the group instead decide to head into Sai Kung Tai Au Mun. This is basically the area where all the Clearwater Bay beaches are located. To get there they have to drive back into Kowloon and get on Clearwater Bay road. The images below show the section where it joins Fei Ngo Shan Road (you can see the signpost for Gilwell's Camp). In the film, they are stopped once again, this time by the police who tell them the road ahead is blocked by a truck.

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Lion Rock Tunnel Road, Shatin

After turning back on their journey to Stanley, the group then head back through the Lion Rock Tunnel towards Fanling. It's here where they are told there is also congestion in that direction as well!

The initial image below shows Lion Rock, but it's a view not many people are familiar with because it's from the Shatin-side of the hills. As the camera zooms out, you can see that we are at the tunnel toll booths. The booths are still marked on Google Maps but were removed circa 2023 when the Govt implemented a fully comprehensive electronic tagging system for vehicles entering/leaving the tunnel. The same system has been applied across Hong Kong which is why you no longer have to stop to pay a toll on the way to/from the airport.

This last image was taken on the Shatin-end of Lion Rock Tunnel Road where it intersected with Tai Po Road. Turn left and you head back to Kowloon, turn right and the road takes you past Shatin. The cars in the backgrpund are on the Tai Po Road, but behind them would be where the KCR rail line ran alongside the road. For modern context, this area is more or less the same one where Lion Rock Tunnel Road ends today, at the junction with Tai Po Road - Tai Wai section, but closer to the "Scenery Court" development. 

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Cross Harbour Tunnel Road

The group of friends decide to go to Stanley for the day, only to have to turn back due to congestion. This image is interesting because it shows the beginning of the construction work that would become Hung Hom Station. The ramp on the right is the ramp that connects Hong Chong Road with the podium/bus terminus area of the current station. So this 1973/74 image fits nicely with the 1975 opening of the new station. The camera is located on a pedestrian bridge. The bridge is still there but has been heavily developed since then. It's the one that connects the station to the PolyU site.

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Tai Lin, Nathan Road

Chan's (Yueh Hua) dad is the manager at the Tai Lin Radios store on Nathan Road. This was a real place and a real business that sadly went into administration following the 2008 financial crisis. Despite this the large Chinese sign outside the shop stayed in place for many years and was a sort of local landmark - knowing its location (at #310) has certainly helped me locate a few places on the blog in the past.

Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui

Following on from his huge success with The House of 72 Tenants, Chor Yuen (perhaps known better to people who come here as the head bad guy in Police Story), Hong Kong 73 was a follow up that includes one of the biggest ensemble cast I have ever seen in a movie. The roll call is so large the film is still introducing them (via on screen titles of their names) right up until the end. The film is a satire  and the plot follows a closeknit group of residents along "Hong Kong Street" and sees them dealing with a variety of issues in Hong Kong at the time: gambling, the stock market, poverty, success, hospital queues, poor housing, suicide, typhoons etc. As a current Hong Kong resident, a lot of these problems resonate with modern Hong Kong as well, so they are not really things that have ever gone away. A film like this could never be made today. If it was the cast would be blacklisted, the director would be tried for endangering National Security and the film would never get through the current censorship regime.  

Yueh Hua and Ching Li star as the main characters. A couple who work as a security guard and high school teacher respectively, and the story revolves around them and their various family members and acquaintances. The film starts off with some nice views of the Kowloon Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui as seen from the rooftop carpark of Ocean Terminal.

The Brain Stealers - Lily Ho Li-li (1968) - Diamond Hill Cemetery, Kowloon

Pretending that their father has been killed, the siblings go through a mock funeral for him to throw the kidnappers off his scent. This scene was filmed at the Diamond Hill Cemetery.

Tsz Wan Shan Estate (Blks 51 & 52) in the background