Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Righting Wrongs - Yuen Biao (1986) - 23 La Salle Road, Kowloon Tsai

This is the second of my 'exclusives' for this film because I have managed to track down the house used for James Tien's property and the scene where Rothrock fights Biao after stumbling in and thinking he has just killed Tien's character.

The property was located in the Kowloon Tsai area of Kowloon Tong (this is the area to the immediate east of Waterloo Road). The area was developed from the late 1940s and early 1950s and many of the original houses show an art deco influence similar to those found in Yau Yat Chuen which was developed around the same time. Many have curved facades and extended wraparound balconies that are no longer in vogue.

The property seen in the film didn't have many curves (it had one, to be precise - see the third image below) but did have the large wraparound balcony and this is where the later action of the fight scene takes place. Sadly, the place has been demolished and replaced by four "luxury" houses called "Lancaster Place" (the Chinese name is 家蔚園). This might give you some idea of how big the plot was when it just had a single property on it and why we see the large garden in the movie as Biao jumps down from the balcony after handcuffing Rothrock to the railings. The address was 23 La Salle Road and it was most likley demolished in the mid to late 90s because its replacement was completed in 1999.

You can actually see this property's neighbour, number 25, over on Gwulo.com courtesy of Mike Cussans, who used to live at #27. Sadly, no images of this particular property, but you can see they are almost identical in design.

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