Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Marine Police Harbour Division Headquarters

The police station where Inspector Shek (Sean Lau) is based is actually the Marine Police Harbour HQ, located on the waterfront in Shau Kei Wan. It's basically like a beefed-up version of the standard ferry piers.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Jardines Lookout

I'm currently on the tail-end of a month-long sojourn to Europe (currently in Finland), but whilst in London visited my favourite Oxfam shop in Strutton Ground where I have picked up some bargains (books, music and DVDs) over the past few years. This time I managed to grab myself a copy of the English dub of Black Mask, starring Jet Li. 

The film is about a former member of a group of crack, bio-engineered, soldiers, known as 701 Squadron. They're a group of mercernaries who have decided to go their own way, under the control of their commander (a really creepy looking Patrick Lung), and remove the drug kings in Hong Kong so they can step in as the go-betweens for the South American cartels and greater China. Black Mask (Li) has already gone his own way and now works in a library to forget about his past, until his cop friend (Sean Lau) is put in danger when he investigates the drug killings.

The opening shot of the film is a helicopter shot (no drones in those days) over the peak of Jardines Lookout on Hong Kong island. Apparently, the helicopter was originally hired to do some close-up shots of the Bank of China tower but the plan was abandoned when the filmmakers thought they might get into trouble, so they settled for something a bit more discreet. 

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - Aberdeen

In another bit of geographical gymnastics, although not quite as weird as merging Victoria Peak with Sydney Harbour, the back of Tiger Balm Gardens apparently leads directly into Aberdeen Harbour as the pair run away from the henchmen by diving into the not-so-clean waters of Aberdeen. This is the eastern end of the harbour because, low-and-behold, in the background of several shots is the dilapidated carcass of the original Jumbo restaurant. Old readers may remember years ago (2011) when I first identified the old Jumbo in the background of a shot from Enter the Dragon. It seems that at least one narrator (I'm looking at you Frank Djeng) had picked up on this for the recent Enter the Clones of Bruce - Enter the Dragon locations featurette, but failed to look further into the location of the Sammo fight. Shame on you. 

Anyway I digress. If anything, it was just an indication of how long the burnt out wreck was left to fester at the side of the harbour since it tragically caught fire in October 1971 i.e. the best part of two years at least.

We see it again, albeit in low-res, during the Aberdeen harbour sequence. The first image below shows Terracina braving the harbour waters to escape the henchmen and, in the second image, you can see the old Jumbo on the left hand side. This shot was taken from the promontory where the Aberdeen Seminary is located. Even in low-res it looks like a sorry sight. In image three, you can see its collapsed roof in the background.

Anyway, that appears to be all from Ming, Ragazzi! aka Mr Hercules Against Karate. The final scenes appear to have been shot at a sort of Chinoiserie-style building, but it's not somewhere I recognise and it wouldn't surprise me if it was in Thailand or the Philippines. If you know better then feel free to let me know (remember, I posted the film link in the first post).

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - Tiger Balm Gardens, Tai Hang

I don't know why they boys come to Tiger Balm Gardens, but at every step they are being followed and chased by the very inept henchmen of the main bad guy. The place, with its colourful statues and grottos, has been showcased far better in other films so I won't inundate you with low resolution ones from this film. Suffice to say everything you see here, other than the mansion, no longer exists.

I tell a lie, this tiger now adorns the layby in front of the old property on Tai Hang Road.

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - Chatham Road South, Tsim Sha Tsui

The hotel where the boys are staying is the Empress Hotel on the corner of Mody Road and Chatham Road South. There are a few shots done outside the main entrance and surrounding area throughout the film. What I will say is that the hotel interior was not filmed here.

The images below start with a view of the overhanging signs along Mody Road before pulling out to reveal the front of the hotel and its characteristic crowned 'E' symbol. The last image is from a sequence where the camera pointed at the opposite side of the junction and you can see the empty space (Chatham Road Military Camp) of what would become East TST in the background.

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - Central Vehicular Pier

The crew disembark from the ferry at its logical end, Central. Not much to be seen on these low quality grabs but worth including regardless. There's not a great number of locales included in the movie. As a reminder, this pier, which was still in use into the early 1990s, was located (more or less) where 1 IFC now stands - on the waterfront in front of the old Fire station (now the Hang Seng HQ). You can see the aforementioned station in the background of the third image.

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - Jordan Road Vehicular Ferry Pier #2

 After arriving at the airport, the pair are picked up by a friend and driven to the former "double-deck" vehicular ferry pier at the end of Jordan Road. This one was specifically used for the double-decker ferries that allowed smaller/lighter vehicles to park on the upper deck. In relation to today's geography, it was located at the far end of Man Wui Street in front of the westernmost section of the Man King Building (which you can see behind in the top two images) - part of the Ferry Point Estate. Once again, the Google marker doesn't allow me to be exact, but you can clearly see where it was located in relation to the aforementioned building.

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - Kai Tak Airport,Kowloon

Despite having already included a scene that was unmistakeably shot in Hong Kong, we now move to the bit where the pair arrive in Hong Kong officially to undertake their rescue mission. There's a nice sequence of a plane landing at Kai Tak that pans across and ends on the terminal building. Pity the quality isn't better.

Mr Hercules Against Karate - Alberto Terracina (1973) - The Peak

Next up is another Italian production, Mr Hercules Against Karate (original title: Ming, Ragazzi!), that appears to have been shot in Sydney, Hong Kong as well as some other unknown places that are beyond my remit. The story follows a couple of oil workers who are hired by an Chinese restaurant owner, in Sydney, to go to Hong Kong and rescue his young son, who has been kidnapped by the usual meglomaniac gang leader (played by George Wang). I don't know much about Italian cinema, but the pairing of these two seems to be a cheap knock-off of the pairing in the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies. With the 'Bud Spencer' role (superhuman strength, big bushy beard etc) being taken by Fernando Bilbao. 

Anyway, weirdly, part of a Sydney-shot sequence, as the pair walk up by the side of the Sydney Harbour bridge, was partially filmed on the Peak in Hong Kong. The scene has been edited together so that when Terracina looks off camera (in Sydney) to his friend, his point of view is looking at Bilbao at the peak as he rips a safety rail off a bus he was about to board. It's an odd combination of locations having the Sydney Harbour bridge in one direction and the Peak viewing tower in the other.

The film is available to watch on Youtube here (no doubt it will disappear at some point), but it's pretty poor quality, both in terms of resolution and entertainment.

Anyway, here are some screen captures from the 'supposedly still in Sydney' scene. The Peak Cafe is the location of the Chinese restaurant where the guys are hired by the owner.

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Fanling Highway, Kwu Tung

The rather violent denouement to the film takes place on the side of a road embankment somewhere in the New Territories as Yung tries to finish off the newly married couple. This was filmed on a stretch of the New Territories Circular Road (Fanling Highway section) just outside of Fanling. In the film the embankment (thisis the one on the north side of the road) is just a grassy slope in the film, but these days it is covered with mature tree growth. The section we are on is right where the highway goes over the old Castle Peak Road at Kwu Tung. The view inthe background of the top images is looking east back towards Choi Po Court. The last image is looking west towards Ki Lun Shan.

Choi Po Court in Fanling can be seen in the background of the above images

Yung's car crashes under the flyover. Castle Peak Road at the lower level.

View looking west towards Ki Lun Shan in the distance

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Broom Road, Happy Valley

Despite the fact that Lam and Mak had parked their scooter down on Wong Nai Chung Road, when they jump back on it to give chase to Yung, the shot of them driving off was shot upon Broom Road with #7 in the background (before it was given a jolly good spruce up). I'm not sure why this was done but most likely it was a shot that took a few takes and was more easily done away from the main road? Just a guess. You can get a pretty good match up on GoogleEarth here. I guess the filmmakers thought the retaining wall was a good match for the one down on Wong Nai Chung Road.

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Wong Nai Chung Road, Happy Valley

Lam and Mak pull up and park their scooter in the small car park on Wong Nai Chung Road, opposite St Paul's Primary Catholic School. Yung and the hitmen park their old red Jaguar not far away near a circular tree planter. In the film this is supposed to give them a view up to the church, but in reality is at least 100m up the road from where the church is located on Broadwood Road. In the last image you can see a low canopy in the top right of the frame.This was located in the playground of the school and was still there until just a few years ago. It was removed sometime between 2016 and 2020.

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Wanchai Police Station

On the day of the wedding, the gruff Inspector Cheung (Danny Lee) gets picked up by a police car and taken to the church so he can continue his threats against Chai. But to be fair, considering what's about to happen, that's the least of Ah Chai's worries. I'm not sure what'sgoing on with this old uilding at themoment, the last timeI saw it (a few months ago) it was covered in scaffolding - usually an indicator of a revamp.

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - St Margaret Mary's Church, Happy Valley

Ah Chai and Carina get married at St Margaret Mary's Church (often abbreviated to just "St Margaret's") on Broadwood Road in Happy Valley. The long set of stone steps up to the churchs front making a great location for a bit of a brawl and Yung and his hired, Filipino hitmen start shooting indisciminately.