The Ghost - Julie Lee Wah-yuet (2001) - Prat Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

Some generic neon signs are always useful when you want to pretend your film is taking place in Hong Kong, so here is a brief view we get in the film before the camera suddenly edits to a street in Los Angeles (or wherever it was filmed). The large red sign at the top says (reading r-l) "奧運桌球會" which is basically a sign for a table tennis club that used to be located on Prat Avenue. This is a view of Hong Kong that no longer exists because the Govt had a blitz starting about ten or so years ago and removed all the old, and very cool looking, signboards all over the territory.  

The Ghost - Julie Lee Wah-yuet (2001) - Victoria Harbour

Welcome to the wonderful world of dodgy B-movies, not that I have ever really strayed too far from there. This one is utterly bizarre because despite its obvious low budget, it has a plethora of well-known actors who were already quite well known at the time including Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Michael Madsen, Brad Dourif, James Hong, George Chung, and Michael Paul Chan (I was a big The Closer fan). I suspect someone was calling in some favours somewhere. Oh, and of course no US movie with Asian gangsters is complete without the amazing and ubiquitous, Al Leong!

The premise is that a gang war is taking place in Hong Kong and a female Triad assassin, Jing (played by Hong Kong Cat III star, Julie Lee Wah-yuet), is tasked with putting a rival gang boss, who also happens to be Chief of Police, Chang (Tagawa), in his place. Chang wreaks his revenge and Jing has to flee to the US to escape his wrath.

What follows is a pretty awful movie to be honest, although the choreographed fight scenes and stunts actually show some potential. What is fairly hilarious though is that Hong Kong is shown via stock footage, but the film makers also threw in what looks like some stock footage of Shanghai showing trolley buses and the distinctive green uniform outfit of the mainland Chinese national police force, which they then have to stick on their US-based actors for continuity purposes. Oh boy.

The Chinese title for this movie (I guess it was released here because of the main star being local) is 霹靂女殺手 (aka Thunderbolt Female Killer). Oh, and I forgot to mention the double leg amputee kung fu master (no, not joking) played by someone called Henry Smalls. That bit reminded me a little of The Crippled Masters. 

You can watch the whole film here: https://youtu.be/yYcQ2VV8Rtg?si=dsuPDH-NjlCGt7Wp

Anyway, despite not being actually filmed in Hong Kong, I figured it was worth including the few shots of stock footage for completeness. The opening shot is this panning shot of the harbour.

Red Dragon - Stewart Granger (1965) - #10 Fei Ngo Shan Road

Another pandemic find that I neglected to post due to the fog in my brain at the time is this old property up on Fei Ngo Shan Road. It was previously located at #10 Fei Ngo Shan Road and can be seen as Michael Scott (Stewart Granger) narrowly avoids being assassinated by a man pretending to be blind whose white stick is actually a disguised gun. The failed assassin is then killed himself and the perpetrators flee in a car down Fei Ngo Shan Road.

The old house used in the film was demolished and redeveloped sometime in the mid-90s but the neighbouring house (#8), which makes a brief appearance as part of the backdrop, is still around (or at least was at the time of my initial discovery) and doesn't appear to have changed very much over the years - an impressive feat given the sometimes dizzying speed of redevelopment in Hong Kong.

Legacy of Rage - Brandon Lee (1986) - Petrol Station, Peak Road

Although it's been a year since I was looking into Legacy of Rage, here is a late addition to my already significant number of locations from that film. Stalwart blog supporter and fellow locations fan, AP, mentioned to me a while back that Frank Djeng had identified the petrol station (that's a gas station for the Americans among you) where Brandon was working following his release from prison. So credit where credit is due for this one. This is now a SINOPEC outlet, but the gazebo structures above the forecourt remain the same thirty years after the film was shot. You can see for yourself here.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - Portas do Cerco, Macau

I first thought this might be a replica of the border gate, but it looks as though it's the real thing. This is where Yao and May try to make a break for it after being chased by the police from the hotel. I haven't been through this border post since 1996 when it looked fairly similar to how you see. These days it's quite hard to believe how busy the border gets and the requisite infratstructure that had to be built to handle the Macau<>Zhuhai-bound foot traffic is immense. See here. I did a post a while back with some old photos from 1996.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - Hotel Bela Vista, Macau

Another place that has cropped up a few times on here over the years is the Bela Vista Hotel. It was a tourist favourite in the 80s and 90s and I even got a comment from the old manager many years ago on my old history blog - he tantalisingly asked me what I wanted to know about only to never return. What a pity because I'm sure he had some fantastic stories. The building is now occupied by the Portuguese Consul to Macau and has been that way since the Macau handover in 1999. Bruce Lee fans (who often read my blog) will probably remember it appearing briefly in Ahna Capri's home video shot during the filming of Enter the Dragon in 1973.

Anyway, this is where Yao and May go to celebrate Christmas before they are interrupted by the police.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - Cemitério São Miguel Arcanjo, Macau

We move to Macau now for Mr Kushido's funeral as a variety of people turn up to pay their respects. This was all filmed at the Cemitério São Miguel Arcanjo aka St Michael's Catholic Cemetery.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - No.8 Police Station, Sai Ying Pun

You may or may not remember that the police station where May is taken after the assassination at HSBC has been featured previously on the blog, although it is no longer in police hands. This is the same location that Chuck Norris is taken to in Forced Vengeance. It was one of my "pandemic finds" - those locations I found when I had very little else to do in hotel quarantine and lockdown. Anyway, as mentioned on that linked post, it is now the "David Trench Rehabilitation Centre" and has undergone some renovations including a large glass front entrance.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - HSBC Main Building, Central

Oops, I forgot the previous location. Mr Kushido is apparently based in the Norman Foster monstrosity otherwise known as "HSBC Main Building". Bring back the previous art-deco version of this building please because it was just so much nicer to look at.

Anyway, there are several shots of the building including the void on the ground floor. But most of the action takes place on the Queen's Road Central side (i.e. the main entrance) of the building which faces Battery Path. Look out for the old Hongkong Hilton and Beaconsfield House in the background as Yao leaps across Queen's Road Central. Both now gone of course.

Hongkong Hilton and Beaconsfield House in the background

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - Queen's Road Central, Central

We stay on Queen's Road Central for the next location but move down to the junction with Ice House Street as Yao and Teddy make their getaway on a motorbike. The old Govt West Wing building seen in the back of the top and bottom images is still around (renamed to Justice Place West Wing) but the Sing Pao Centre, seen at the back right of the bottom image, has since been redeveloped into 8 Queen's Road Central.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - St John's Cathedral, Central

Yao launches his attack on Mr Kishudo from the courtyard of St John's Cathedral. There is a brief scene there as he rushes past May again and then runs down Battery Path steps before jumping across the street for his attack.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay

Yao is first introduced to his assisstant, Teddy (also Yuen Tak) when he is attacked by the latter as some sort of skills test. Teddy breaks into Yao's apartment, which is supposedly located in the building at 60-62 Yee Wo Street (not sure if it has a name). They jump out of the apartment window and continue their fight along the top of the famous circular pedestrian bridge that straddles Yee Wo Street. This is the same walkway that was facsimiled and used for the finale of the live action version of Ghost in the Shell. They then run into Paliburg Plaza next door and this is supposedly where the 800 Dragon's have a base.

Jumping down from 60-62 Yee Wo Street

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Yao does his first major contract hit on a guy in Hong Kong as he is leaving the Peninsula Hotel. This is where May (Maggie Cheung) first thinks she sees him after not seeing him since he was kidnapped in Russia.