The Magic Stone -Nancy Kwan (1966) - Town Island

A final post (for the time being at least) for The Magic Stone and it looks as though the boat wrecking scene was filmed on the north side of Town Island, in a small rocky bay looking towards an islet called Kwong Tau Pai (光頭排). The bay is south east facing and so open to the rolling waves that can come in during bad weather.

The Magic Stone - Nancy Kwan (1966) - Ninepin Islands

To be fair, a large portion of the footage in this film includes a lot of rather anonymous looking coastline, but I thought a brief glimpse of the Ninepin Islands was worth including. The boat was probably in the outer reaches of Port Shelter when this was taken, so not really that far from land. The Ninepins are 3 miles from the mainland of Hong Kong.

The Magic Stone - Nancy Kwan (1966) - Lung Shuen Wan Tin Hau Temple

Just up the shoreline from Tung A is the Lung Shuen Wan Tin Hau temple. This is where the wife goes to pray for her husband and discovers a lode stone that helps him and the crew to better navigate their way home.

The Magic Stone - Nancy Kwan (1966) - Tung A, High Island

The main village that features in this short film is called Tung A and is located on the east side of the bay. Many of these buildings are still around, although I haven't been out this way for more than 5 years or so. Google wont let me place the marker on anything other than a building (even when I do it snaps back when I publish), but luckily it has defaulted to one of the buildings in the top image. However, several bits of Tung A are used, including the next cluster to the south (bottom image) of this location which is about halfway to the main village site. It won't let me pin a marker there though (see location markers).

The Magic Stone - Nancy Kwan (1966) - Lung Shuen Wan, High Island

Next up is one of the films I have been trying to track down for several years, ever since I first read about it in Peter Moss' excellent autobiography No Babylon: A Hong Kong Scrapbook. In that book he describes visiting the set in a helicopter and ruining it all as the chopper's downdraft blew all the carefully arranged straw all over the place. The book also details how Nancy Kwan came to be involved in this little production despite already being a major international star: T.C Wang, head of Salon Films, was the person responsible for introducing Nancy to the producer of The World of Suzie Wong, therefore helping launch her career. So her role in this short was very much the repayment of a pesonal debt. Chaplin Chang, credited as the AD on this, also filled in some details for me and told me that T.C Wang was a very good friend of Nancy's father, Kwan Wing Hong.

Foreign film fans may or may not be aware that Salon Films - set up by T.C Wang - was the local production house that had an exlcusive license for Panavision in Hong Kong. This meant that if you came to Hong Kong and used Panavision equipment, you would have to pay Salon Films a license fee - regardless of whether or not the equipment was hired from them. After T.C Wang's death, his son Charles took over. You may recall many years ago I had a post featuring Neil MacDonald, who worked with Salon on many of the films featured on the blog. You can see that post here. Salon were involved in many of the foreign movie productions that I have covered over the years. This film is hard to categorise: is it a foreign production or a local one? Strictly speaking it could be either, but I've added it to the list of foreign/overseas productions because it was aimed at an overseas market.

After looking high and low for this film, it has suddenly popped up on the Government Record Services webpage. This makes sense because it was a Government production aimed at stimulating some tourism. Anyway, you can watch it yourself by going to this page and scrolling down to the "Videos" icon. The film is the longest of four shorts to view. No doubt this link will break at some point in the future so catch it while you can.

The premise is simple and is just a retelling of the myth of A-Mah Rock (aka 望夫石 Mong Fu Shek - looking for husband rock). Nancy plays the wife and Ling Yuen plays the fisherman husband. It's basically a silent movie with some narration.

The main filming took place in and around Lung Shuen Wan, the main bay on the south side of High Island. It has changed surprisingly little since 1966, but this is true of many remote places in Hong Kong. I'll get into specific locations in the next couple of posts - sadly this film isn't going to provide much for the blog due to the limited number of identifiable places - so to start off here are some general views of the bay area.

Le Monocle Rit Jaune - Paul Meurisse (1964) - Chik Chuen Wai, Tai Wai

Also known as Tai Wai Village, Chik Chuen Wai (積存圍) is the original walled village on which Tai Wai is founded. It's such an obscure location for a foreign movie because it is hidden away, even today with all the subsequent development. Anyway, in the film the characters are still in Macau and are trying to get back to Hong Kong but are ambushed in the village by gun-wielding gangsters. You can see the aftermath in the final image. Surprisngly, or not, quite a few of the buildings on screen are still around as is the village gateway seen in the second image.

Le Monocle Rit Jaune - Paul Meurisse (1964) - Hiram's Highway, Sai Kung

Before I move on to a new film I still have another couple of "pandemic" finds from Le Monocle rit Jaune, courtesy of a revisit I did during those frustrating (and seemingly pointless) days of semi-captivity.

This one will be of particular interest to anyone who lives in Sai Kung because it shows the town-end of Hiram's Highway before the reclamation that the China Paint factories (and a few other developments) now sit on. In the film, I seem to remember the following scene - as Le Monocle (Paul Meurisse) catches a ride on the back of a tandem bike - was supposed to be in Macau.

Anyway, marvel at the open area in the background. If you are curious as to what the same place looks like now just click this link to GoogleEarth. The village in the low area in the first few frames is Fui Yiu Ha.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Victoria Road Squatter Village

One of the main effects in Hong Kong of the turbulance in post-war Mainland China was the influx of refugees who, with nowhere to live, set themselves up in small shacks all over the territory's hillsides. These were gradually removed by the Govt by rehousing people in resettlement estates but there were some long holdouts including places such as Tiu Keng Leng (Remmie's Mill), Stanley and this area on the west coast of Hong Kong Island, below Victoria Road. These days the area is quite well known locally for elderly swimmers who use the area as a staging post for daily harbour swims around the Sulphur Channel, but as you can see in the shots below, the place was full of squatter huts. It's here in the film that Dega and Tazzi set a trap for Marcone. And with that we bid farewell to International Prostitution!

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

It looks like the pair resort to enlisting the help of some local gangster in order to get their hands on Marcone. So they go to pay a visit to said bloke on his junk, moored in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - The Peak

Some rather empty looking views from the Peak by today's standards. You can barely see the harbour from here these days due to all the high rises.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - The Peak Tram

I recently went on here twice after a break of around 10 years. It was recently upgraded (along with the price) so I thought I would give it a revisit. Suffice to say it has lost its allure for me and a much more enjoyable ride, with equally marvellous views, can be had by catching the #15 bus instead (also cheaper). Anyway, Dega meets up with Tazzi here to discuss tactics for getting Marcone. I must admit that at this time of year in Hong Kong (winter, as I type), the views to be had from the peak tram are about the same quality as the ageing VHS scan I took the screen shots from. The pollution is now back at pre-Covid levels. Be warned, if you want a better chance of views, come between May and September.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Hoover Theatre, Causeway Bay

One of the more regularly-appearing cinemas on this blog is the old Hoover Theatre that used to stand on the corner of Pennington Street and Yee Wo Street in Causeway Bay. In this film, it's where Dega finally loses sight of Marcone as the latter slips inside the cinema and blends with the crowd. Note the marquee showing the film Thirst (怪血), released in Hong Kong in 1979. In a nice coincidence for the blog, this was a movie that starred Henry Silva (Foxbat) and David Hemmings (The Heroin Busters, Harry's Hong Kong and Spy Game).