Felicity - Glory Annen (1978) - Neon Bar Signs, Various Locations

I'm a big fan of the neon signs that were once prevalent along Hong Kong's night streets, so here are quite a few from Felicity.

Pussy Cat Club was on the corner of Fenwick Street and Lockhart Road. Originally just occupying 34-38 LockHart Road, the club expanded to take over the corner plot as well (so, occupying 34-40 Lockhart Road) as can be seen from this grab from Felicity. This site is now the Empire Hotel.

We saw the Diamond Steakhouse sign quite recently as well, so you should now know it was on Lockhart Road on the other side of the Fenwick Street junction (in fact, in that link, you can see the arches of the Pussy Cat Club on the right of the third image).

Club Subway was at 53-55 Lockhart Road. I think that Subway occupied the basement of the same premises as Club Highway. It would make sense given the names of each. We last saw Club Highway during my Spearhead posts.

Staying on Fenwick Street for the next image and it's of the An An Topless Club and as you can see next door was Club Mikado. This little stretch of Fenwick Street was also seen on Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon.

Last but not least the last image is from a place that is a little more recent in Hong Kong history although it now appears to have disappeared for good. The Bottoms Up Club was on Hankow Road for many years (although for some reason in The Man with the Golden Gun it was moved to Hanoi Road - I am still not sure if this was in reality or just for the sake of the film. I suspect the latter). A few years ago the club moved over to Wanchai (coincidentally, to Fenwick Street) but now appears to have completely disappeared. Its original location, in the basement of a building that stood on the corner of Peking and Hankow Roads, was demolished circa 2014 and a new building, Prince Tower now stands in its place. This new building also has a basement and it's currently occupied by a Starbucks.

Felicity - Glory Annen (1978) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Welcome to what is essentially the Australian version of Vanessa. Felicity stars Glory Annen as a convent girl going to Hong Kong to stay with her sister and doing rather a lot of *ahem*, growing up, in the process. Despite some rather racy content, the film still has some locations worth looking it.

I'll forgo the usual airport shots for a change and kick off instead with a view along Peking Road showing the various neon signs to the nightclubs and bars that once lined the streets. As well as the old Hyatt Regency in the back of image one (demolished in 2006 and replaced by iSquare).

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Mong Fu Shek, Tai Wai

Well, after never having seen Mong Fu Shek throughout 100+ foreign movies over the 8 years of this blog, all of a sudden it pops up twice in quick succession (the recent other occurrence here). This was part of a sequence showing Vanessa and friend returning from the plantation via a muddy road. I'm a bit stuck for the right angle on this but I think it is being viewed from the north east. This means the muddy track you see could very well be the forerunner to the current concreted catch-water that makes up part of the Maclehose Trail Stage 5.

On that note, I am still on the lookout for locating a copy of Brian Salt's 1960's Mong Fu Shek film starring Nancy Kwan, so if anyone has any leads please feel free to share via comments or email. 

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the few brief outside street scenes in this film is a shot taken at the southern end of Nathan Road at the junction with Peking Road. Larry jewellery (see back of centre image) appears to have occupied the same site for many many years (since 1967 according to their website) and was still at this location even when I arrived full time in 2006. However, only just a few years ago it shut up the Kowloon shop and I can't remember what has replaced it (probably another jewellers).

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Chung Hom Kok Road, Chung Hom Kok

Towards the end of the film, there is a scene where Vanessa's friend, driving the yellow Mini Moke, almost runs into the plantation manager on a thin coastal road. This was filmed on Chung Hom Kok Road just outside of Stanley. Very little has changed other than the sea-side road embankment being levelled (I'm not sure if this was done by nature or by design). The beach on the right is Chung Hom Kok beach and the camera is looking west towards Ap Lei Chau and Ap Lei Pai in the distance (i.e. the east entrance to Aberdeen harbour).

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

There is quite a lot of the film shot inside Aberdeen Harbour. Vanessa heads over there to meet her uncle's family and spend the day on a boat.

 We also get some close ups of the Tai Pak.

And there is also a close up of a building that used to stand on the corner where the praya turns into  Aberdeen Main Road. Vanessa is told that this is one of the brothels she has inherited. The building has since been replaced, but surprisingly the taller one to its left is the Kam Heung Building that is still around (it was built in 1972).

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Joss House Bay, Tseung Kwan O

At one point in the film, Vanessa and her new friend from the house go and do some naked sunbathing on a secluded beach. It took me a while to find this place because it has really changed beyond recognition. This was a beach at the very tip of the Tseung Kwan O peninsula that is currently part of the so called Area 137 Fill Bank - an area of recently reclaimed land between Junk island (Fat Tong Chau) and Tit Cham Chau. In fact, a tiny part of Tit Cham Chau can just be seen poking into screen from the right in the top screen grab. The large island in the background is Tung Lung Chau and the smaller islet just beyond the beach is Kwun Tsai.

Sadly, the beach is no more and has been absorbed into the reclamation to become a concrete hard standing with a pier on it. But the outlook hasn't changed much. Sadly, these are the only images I can show that keep the blog within the "safe for work" category. There are some other grabs that show the view back towards HK Island.

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - The Repulse Bay Hotel, Repulse Bay

The Repulse Bay Hotel crops up a few times in this film as the mansion that sits inside the plantation owned by Vanessa's Uncle.

On the image above, behind the fountain and you can see the word "Seaview" backwards. This is the building that sits behind the beach. It was built in 1954.

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, Lam Tsuen

Not only has Vanessa inherited her uncle's chain of brothels and his house, he also owned a plantation has fallen into her ownership, much to the anger of her uncle's illegitimate son who currently runs the place. In reality the plantation is the Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden out in the Lam Tsuen valley near Tai Po.

The farm was created in 1956 by the then Kadoorie brothers, Lawrence and Horace (Lawrence was the father of the current Kadoorie family head, Michael, who in turn is the uncle of the current farm boss, Andrew McAulay) as a site to assist and train poor farmers in the area. It's well worth a visit if you get the chance (catch bus 64K from Tai Wo East Rail Station).

We get quite a few views from half way up the farm's higher slopes (in reality, the lower slopes of Tai Mo Shan) as well as a major scene filmed at one of the farm's picturesque pagodas, the Rainbow Pavilion.

The Rainbow Pavilion sits next to a waterfalls and although it's a long time since I visited (+10 years) I seem to recall the name is because of the rainbows that can sometimes be seen in the spray from the water. Anyway, there is a later scene filmed there when Vanessa's uncles son (who runs the plantation) tries to *ahem* convince her to let him keep it.

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Harilela Compound, Kowloon Tong

One of the more surprising locations from this film (or any film for that matter) is the use of the Harilela mansion/compound as the main filming location. In Vanessa, the titular character's deceased uncle owns this house and Vanessa has now inherited it. We go back to the property several times throughout the film and are a variety of views inside and out.

The house is one of Kowloon Tong's more famous (and certainly larger) properties and sits on the corner of Waterloo and Durham Roads. The Harilela family have interests in a diverse range of businesses but are probably most well known (in HK anyway) for owning the Holiday Inn Golden Mile on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. The (recently deceased) family patriarch, Hari Harilela, started off in Hong Kong as a humble tailor before making some rather astute investments and diversifying into other areas. It was he who had this house built in 1967 (to his own specifications) with a view to having the whole family (numbering around 100 members) living under the same roof. The place is huge as a result - 82,000 sq ft - and it appears it's still not large enough for everyone as there is an annex next door used by the younger family members. You can see the GoogleEarth 3D rendered version of the property here. The SCMP also did a recent article on the house which can be viewed here. The video is worth a watch.

In the film, after being driven around most of Hong Kong by what she thinks is a taxi, Vanessa is dropped off in front of the building and our initial view is of the front drive as seen from the slope that comes up from the underground parking garage. There are a couple of striking wall mosaics on either side of the front door which can also be seen in the following images.

On entering the building, we catch of glimpse of the entrance hall with its domed ceiling and adjacent courtyards. These are details that can be discerned on the roof of the 3D rendering I linked to earlier.

At the other end of the hallway is the curved staircase to the next floor with a statue in the centre.

There are a few scenes filmed in other rooms as shown below. The first one is the Mogul room. It's the main entertaining area and has 32 gilded arches and a couple of huge dining tables. Apparently it's on the ground floor just to the right of the entrance hall. The second image I am assuming is from one of the bathrooms as it has a sunken bath.

The final image below is of the outdoor pool that sits in the south west side of the property. You can see the front drive with its mosaics/wall friezes in the background.

So, my only question is how did the film company get to use the property and would Mr Harilela have been so accommodating had they known what was going to be filmed in some of the rooms? If anyone knows the story behind the property in this film, please feel free to leave a comment.