Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley

Here's another that had me scratching my head, on the positive side the place confirmed (again by Thomas, many thanks) was one I had pondered for many days but in the end gave up because the road layout didn't match despite it being one of only a small handful of places that have a single tram track.

Anyway, thankfully Thomas' rather more expert local eyes have spotted a shop sign that belongs to a dispensary that can still be found today: Regal Dispensary (義成藥房). So, here we are anyway at the intersection between Wong Nai Chung Road and Sing Woo Road next to the Happy Valley tram terminus.

The first shot shows the camera looking east along Wong Nai Chung Road with the prominent Salem advert to the right hand side (that marks the entrance to Sing Woo Road. Here is a modern day comparison and as you can see (and this is why I dismissed it initially) the road has been completely rerouted and shifted several metres to the north of its old position. The old position now nicely paved and our only clue to its relation to the film is the curvy white corner building just past the trees. Look carefully on the screen grab and you'll see it in the background, albeit shrouded in darkness.


The next shot has the car driving up Sing Woo Road. You can see the tramline in the bottom of the screen and look carefully to the right of the traffic lights poles and you can just make out the 'Regal Dispensary' that Thomas spotted and confirmed our location.


Once again here is a modern day comparison but taken much further from the north due to the limitations of Streetview (no, I haven't been to Happy Valley in about 5 years so have nothing in my photo collection that will help). Again you can see the extent of the road rerouting.


But where is Regal Dispensary (義成藥房)? Well, moving in a bit closer  we can see it on the right hand side (just to the right of the traffic lights) - seemingly occupying the same spot it did 20+ years ago when the film was made.


Big thanks go to Thomas.

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