What I do know is that a picture of it was posted up on Gwulo.com and couple of years ago and the poster was asking if anyone knew anything about it. It was only recently when reviewing these locations for Kill a Dragon that the penny dropped and I realised it was the same location used in this film as the bad guy's (played by Fernando Lamas) HQ. It was a rather attractive building, I feel, built in the "Chinese Renaissance" style.
As you can see it was a nice looking place (although perhaps the fake rocks hanging from the roof are a bit nasty), and sadly demolished. If you read the Gwulo entry on it (link provided above) the poster mentions it was destroyed in 1986 as part of some film production and then redeveloped into what is now a residential development called Bayview Terrace. I'm sure that it's no coincidence that the Chinese name of the new development (碧翠花園) uses the same Bik character that can be found in the villa's original name: 碧
I was wondering if the chase scenes set around the building were also filmed at the same location and it seems, judging from the following screencap, that it was. Look carefully in the picture and you can see Pearl Island with its causeway in the background.
Anyway, still a bit of a mystery as to the origin of the old villa so if anyone has any further information it would be great to fill in the gaps. It seems as though this part of Castle Peak Road was well known for its opulent villas. There were several, most of which have since been redeveloped.
19 comments:
I just added a comment here: https://gwulo.com/node/56077
thanks C, interesting background and nice to know it did indeed have an English name as well. I've already updated the page title on gwulo to reflect it. Phil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA2LhjY9d7Y
Blimey! I was looking through ATV's YouTube and saw this! It even shows the rozzers navigating the entire length of the driveway. What a historical gem from ATV.
I got the failed to publish error a few times, so if there are duplicates of this comment, just publish any one.
wow, great find Rodney. That's quite the driveway isn't it? So many great houses now gone. This was the only comment by the way.
I read online somewhere that the house, just prior to demolition, was used to film a long shootout for 'Rich and Famous'. The film was released May 1987 and occupation date of Bayview Terrace is listed as January 1989. The dates match, but I haven't the heart to watch even a trailer of the film to see the house blown up.
Someone did mention on Gwulo, many years ago now, that it was used for filming before getting demolished. You don't have to confine yourself to a trailer, the whole film is here (for now): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVyDdX6Fz78
having said that, the comment does mention the place was blown up for the filming, so I'm not sure "Rich and Famous" was the last film made there.
I haven't seen that comment on gwulo, but I reckon it was not completely blown up by the movie production. Perhaps it was like 'Death Wish 3', where actual buildings were damaged in filming, but not totally turned to rubble because they were to be demolished anyway. It was set in New York, but much of it was filmed in the really dodgy parts of London. The final shootout that saw Charles Bronson wipe out the baddies was filmed in Lambeth.
Speaking of Death Wish, I rewatched 'Parting Shots', which was Michael Winner's final film before he became a restaurant critic. The film was widely panned and considered one of the worst films ever, certainly one of the worst British films ever. However, I enjoyed it quite a lot once again, as it was the first time I searched for a location I saw on film. I was driving a colleague to her parents' home in Hampton Wick one day and thought their apartment block looked very familiar. There was no streetview then, so it took some time before I identified it and only after I saw the film on TV again.
you can read IDJ's comments below this image: https://gwulo.com/media/15072
He has about 4 images of the place including what looks to be during a shoot, as well as after it was demolished.
I have a real problem in that I simply can't watch a movie without looking at all the locations. Please help me...haha
Big fan of The Professionals and love seeing all the old London and southeast area locations.
IDJ's comments had exact dates for the filming, partial demolition and complete demolition. Since the picture for the filming was taken a night, that matches the actual shootout. The pictures also show Pine Hill across the road, which seemed more English in its design.
Nice spot. I had missed his dates. Which one was Pine Hill? I wonder how much longer those two places lasted. I did sort of quickly forward through the movie so perhaps I missed the big explosion...or maybe it never made the final cut? One to add to the list of films to do a locations delve into over the summer.
I noticed Tragic Hero, the sequel to Rich and Famous, was also shot there and you can see the place has been painted blue. So it looks like it was more likely to be that one that IDJ saw.
I also noticed that for some of the back garden scenes it looks like they used a different property - a place called Tip Choi villa located off Lok To Street- basically neighbours to your Adam Cheng house afew weeks back.
Yes, I just learned Tragic Hero was a sequel or was it a prequel? I didn't know there was a house in it, much less one so close to Adam Cheng's 'Instinct' villa. I shall take a look.
An aerial photo dated Sept 22 1986 showed Tsing Bik Villa still largely intact, including the pool, and that would have been after the few days of filming. Pine Hill was the larger of the two houses on the current Aquamarine Garden site and closer to Boulder Lodge. The other house is somewhat hidden in IDJ's pictures, but Pine Hill seemed to resemble a small English estate more than a Chinese Renaissance style villa.
Tragic Hero was a sequel, but for some weird reason was released first. But after watching it last night, it's quite obviously the film that IDJ witnessed as it involves Tsing Bik villa (painted blue) being stormed by Chow Yun Fat and Andy Lau and getting blown up. It looks as though Tip Choi villa was used in both films as Chow Yun Fat's residence and the only shot in R&F I think is Tsing Bik villa when Chow tells Alan Tam he is not fit to be a gangster and the latter walks up what might be the property's driveway. Other than that, all the garden scenes in R&F are of Tip Choi Villa.
I have definitely see Tip Choi Villa on TV and more than once, but it's just that I can't remember which series. In fact I am quite sure TVB used its interior instead of just its large garden. I really should write these down as I see them instead of relying on my memory later on.
Alex Man would have been familiar with Tip Choi Villa before his two films there because it was used in TVB 's 'The Feud of Two Brothers' from 1986. Man and Lawrence Ng were brothers or half brothers.
It must have been used in some other series because I have seen its quite modern interior. In the few episodes of 'Feud' I flipped through, the interiors were clearly sets. They even alternated exterior scenes at Tip Choi with No. 8 Cooper Rd, a property I mentioned in your post about Valley View, Jardines Lookout.
any idea whose house it was/is, Rodney? Looks like it hasn't changed externally in the past 30+ years. BBQ gardens seems to be a repository of famous peoples' houses...
An article I saw did mention some of the owners of villas at BBQ Gardens, but Tip Choi was not amongst those. Let's see if I have any luck searching the Chinese name. Don't count on it because luck has always been in short supply for me.
I keep forgetting to mention that Salon Films had a credit in an episode of an ATV series. Naturally, I did not write down which one.
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