Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Lord Jim - Peter O'Toole (1965) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Yau Ma Tei

One of the great logistical problems of this film was keeping out of view all of the modern anachronisms that would ruin the Victorian era within which the film (and book) were set. I spoke to Chaplin Chang about this because he worked on this film as an Assistant Director and he told me Richard Brooks (the director) largely overcame this problem by having large number of fishing junks in the background - the intention being that the open sails of the junks could be placed in front of items that might otherwise ruin the shot.

To a large extent it does seem to have dealt with the problem, but you will notice in the film that it didn't work every time and in particular with the shot below looking west from Yau Ma Tei, the film makers decided the only thing to be done was to superimpose a large building at the back. My guess is perhaps it was done to obscure a modern warship docked over at Stonecutter Island?


The curved breakwater seen mid-picture is the old breakwater, now buried under several bouts of reclamation, that ended down next to the site where the Ferry Point Estate was located. You can see it on this picture here. The pointy hill behind the fake building is Sam Chi Heung on Tsing Yi island.

No comments:

Post a Comment