Here's another one of those large houses that are a pain in the butt to pinpoint because most have since been sold off and redeveloped into several smaller (but equally expensive) properties. I'm left with small clues in the surroundings and a headache from squinting at old aerial images. This particular mansion took several days to track down and it wasn't until I saw an old image from a previous film (Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine) that I finally knew I had found the right place.
In the movie it is the location of the fight between Bruce and a challenger in the shape of the very awesome Chiu Chi-ling. It's based on the supposed real-life challenge match that took place between Bruce Lee and Lau Dai-chuen at the luxury mansion of corrupt Police Inspector, Tang Sang. Did it happen or didn't it? There are a surprising number of sources that say that it did but because it was done in secret no one has any proof other than hearsay.
Well, in the film, instead of Tang Sang's unknown mansion (somewhere in the NT, near Fanling, was the last I heard) we are taken to another rather impressive mansion with some rather nicely landscaped gardens. After searching so many places where I thought it might be it turns out it was a large property located at #6 Stanely Beach Road.
I have no knowledge of who owned the place (and can't be bothered to spend the HK$25 to find out to be honest) but it had a certain art-deco/Bauhaus style that was popular in HK during the post war years (pillars and curves) and it's a great shame that the plot now consists of some underwhelming three-storey cookie-cutter houses. Whenever I get a location like this - nice and gone - I like to include as many pics as possible. So here they are.
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