The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Kai Tak Airport

Zhenzhen takes a break one day after feeling a bit frustrated with the way the couple have to keep their relationship underwraps so she heads to a nearby road (I think it's probably Jat's Incline) underneath Kowloon Peak and watches a plane land at Kai Tak Airport. An impossible view today, I don't mean because of the removal of the airport, but because of the amount of highrises that have since sprung up to block the view.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Good Hope School, Clearwater Bay Road

The school that becomes the focus of the film, because it's where Lin Min teaches and where Zhenzhen chooses to go to finish her schooling, is the Good Hope School at the bottom of Kowloon Peak on Clearwater Bay Road. Although originally a co-ed school (and it is also shown as being that in the film) the school has since become girls only. I believe the version we can see in the film, which is still around although greatly expanded, was built in 1964.

This bottom image shows the rear wing of the central part of the building, it has since been extended significantly with an extra two wings constructed parallel to the small road you see on the right hand side. Despite its location , the school is still within the district boundary of Wong Tai Sin.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Estoril Court, Garden Road

Lin Min has an apartment in Central in Estoril Court. This was the previous version of Estoril Court rather than the current one. The older version was built in the late 1950s and therefore has a bit more of an art-deco style look to it, as was popular in Hong Kong at the time, particulary with its circular balconies. The 1950s was definitely a good decade for interesting architecture in Hong Kong, and certainly a lot less generic than today's buildings.

The first two images show the roundabout where Robinson Road, Garden Road and Magazine Gap Road all meet. The entrance to Estoril Court was directly off this roundabout, the current entrance is in the same location but the roundabout has been removed and access to magazine Gap Road from Robinson Road is now via a flyover.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Gascoigne Road, Yau Ma Tei

As the newlyweds drive off, one of the roads we see their car driving down is Gascoigne Road. The view below is from the east looking west towards Nathan Road. You can just make out the rooftop sign for the "Fortuna Court" Hotel which was located where Hotel Stage now stands on the corner of Gascoigne Road and Chi Wo Street.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - St Teresa's Church, Prince Edward Road West

The pair are pressured to marry by Zhenzhen's grandma who is supposedly on her deathbed, but it turns out that by the time of the wedding she is back to full health. The wedding was filmed at St Teresa's Church on Prince Edward Road West. There is a very blurry vertical pan of the church tower that I won't bother including and by the time the picture sharpens, we are already looking at the main entrance, so this is the only image worth posting. Sorry.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Tai Po Market Station, Tai Po

Anyone who has visited the Railway Museum in Taipo will be familiar with the old Chinese-style station building, constructed in 1913. It was actually still a working station until up to the track electrification in 1983 when a bunch of the old stations were decommissioned and then demolished. Luckily, the ornate design of Tai Po Market station appears to have been in its favour and it was turned into a great little museum that is well worth a visit if you get the chance.

This isn't the earliest appearance of the station on the blog, that accolade goes to I Spy which filmed here in 1965 (see my old post here).

This is where Zhenzhen goes to meet Lin Min as he arrives by train to visit her at home.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Lam Kam Road, Lam Tsuen

Next up on my Shaw's hitlist is a 1971 film, The Merry Wife, about a young girl, Zhenzhen (Li Ching) who marries a school teacher, Lin Min (Ling Yun) but then decides to go back to school to complete her studies. The couple convince the husband's headteacher to accept her at his school and it is agreed to as long as they keep it a secret. What follows are some slightly unbelievable situations where their secret is slowly but surely discovered by her classmates and fellow teachers. It's an okay film, supposedly a romantic comedy, more of a drama though, and makes up for it's rather farfetched plot by showing us some great locations around 1971 Hong Kong.

First up is a place I am very familiar with because I spent a month living here at my friend's house on my very first trip to Hong Kong back in November 1995 - yes, I will celebrate a 30 year anniversary later this year. Doesn't time fly? Hard to believe that thirty years prior to that first trip takes me all the way back to the mid-60s before this film was made...(when you get to my age at 50+ years, it's this kind of stuff you think about a lot). Anyway, this is the Lam Tsuen valley in Tai Po and Zhenzhen is riding along Lam Kam Road to go and meet her (then) fiance at the train station.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Junk Bay, New Territories

One of the gang's favourite hiding places is in amongst the wrecks awaiting deconstruction at Junk Bay/Tseung Kwan O. The large floating gantry structure was one of the so-called "screed and lay" barges that was used to lay a flat bed of stones on the seabed for the large segments of the original cross harbour tunnel to sit on.

I had a chat with Tymon who wrote that linked article (he is also responsible for the HKmaps.hk website that has been a huge help to me over the years) and he told me this was a very specialised job so the structures were basically custom built for a one-off use. This also explains why it couldn't be reused and was sold off for scrapping in Junk Bay.

The name on it is Severn River Trans-Harbour Construction Ltd. 

Following immense reclamation in the bay, that structure marks the location of what is now Pui Shing Garden next to the Ming Tak Estate in Hang Hau.

Anyway, it features prominently in the film as the location of Ling Xi's final battle against his fellow gang members as he finally realises he has spun out of control and no longer wants to be a criminal.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Shaw's Movietown

It wouldn't be a Shaw film if it didn't have at least one recognisable bit of the old Movietown complex. This location is where the gang rob a currency exchange. If you remember my The Yellow Muffler posts, this is the other side of the building I have marked as point A on this post, and is the same location I featured recently for Police Force.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Kwun Tong Police Station

Following the altercation with his brother, Ling Xi tries to break into Cindy's house but is caught by the police, assaults them and is arrested. He spends the night at Kwun Tong Police Station where he meets one of the gangsters whose gang he later joins.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Pathway next to the KCR track, Kowloon Tong

Ling Xi's brother has tricked them both into returning Cindy home and a fight ensues between the two brothers. Surprisingly for a Chang Cheh film they both keep their shirts on, but the fight carries on along a small bridal path running alongside the old KCR track. This was when the track was still single-track and yet to be electrified. The wooded hillock on the left of the top image is where Festival Walk was later constructed. The area behind Ti Lung in the centre image is the former British garrison Ordnance Depot which contained St George's School (and apparently a primary school called St Andrew's). These days there is a cluster of Govt offices and schools on the site including Yew Chung and the Australian International School. Once again, the google marker is playing up and snapping to nearby buildings, but basically this area where the filming was done is between today's To Fuk Road and the railway track just opposite Yew Chung International Secondary School.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Bayside Restaurant and Night Club, Chungking Mansions

Anyone familiar with my Bruce Lee stuff may recognise the name of this club as Bruce supposedly went to it (at least once, I guess). I can't confirm that, although it would've had to have been when he returned to Hong Kong in either 1963,  1965 or post 1970, but what I do know is that Mona Fong, girlfriend and later wife of Sir Run Run Shaw, was a club singer here in her earlier career. The interior is obviously a set but the exterior can be seen in several shots of the movie as Cindy's family try to track her down. The club was located in the basement of Chungking Mansions.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Sau Chuk Yuen Road, Kowloon Tsai

 One street over to Nga Tsin Wai Road is Sau Yuen Chuk Road and we see the pair walking along here just as Ling Xi's brother (played by a bespectacled Ti Lung - who, incidentally, I passed on the escalators the other week at Festival Walk) stops in his car and convinces them to get in. The initial shots are of Sau Chuk Yuen Road, but the later ones are of College Road.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Nga Tsin Wai Road, Kowloon Tsai

The couple rent a rundown flat somewhere in the vicinity of Nga Tsin Wai Road in Kowloon Tsai. The flat interior is obviously a studio set but there are a few scenes shot outside on the street. The images show the viewing looking east towards Grampian Road.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Lung Ha Wan Road, Clearwater Bay

Ling Xi has some sort of dream of them both riding along on a motorbike. This was shot along Lung Ha Wan Road in Clearwater Bay.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon

The next sequence is a bit of a sappy one as we see the two out together enjoying themselves whilst an Agnes Chan song plays along. Initially we are looking north up Waterloo Road from the junction with Prince Edward Road. The orange flyover ran east/west on Prince Edward Road and was constructed to allow work to start on Waterloo Road for the permanent flyover that now runs north/south over the junction.

The last image is basically looking in the opposite direction as the pair walk back up towards the same junction from the south. In the far distance, between the trees, you can see the two blocks of Nairn House. As usual the Google marker wants to snap to the nearest building.