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.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back to The Generation Gap and next up and we next see an "in-car" point of view as Ling Xi drives north up Nathan Road. Swindon Books had a shop on the east side of the street here since the early 1960s. It was located in Mirador Mansions. Just beyond the Swindon sign you can see the vertical sign for what I think is the Golden Crown Restaurant in Golden Crown Court. The writing is too blurred to read but the golden crown at the top of the sign is a giveaway.

Enter the Dragon - Bruce Lee (1973) - Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

My recent posts about Hankow Road reminded me that I had neglected, for many many years, to include this brief sequence from Enter the Dragon. I had posted about the Peking Road section many years back (2011), but for some reason never got around to including this one. So here it is. The location is looking south down Hankow Road towards the junction with Peking Road. The "Copacabana" sign being the main way to identify the location.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Following an altercation with Cindy's strict father, Ling Xi takes his car out for an evening drive and in these shots we see several images of Hankow Road. We are looking north from the junction with Peking Road. Several signs can be discerned - just about - including the Copacabana bar and Yellow Submarine Bar (the submarine shaped just above right of the car roof).

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Tate's Cairn, Kowloon

Ling Xi takes Cindy out for a spin in his car. The first image shows the car at the junction of Fei Ngo Shan Road with the Tate's Cairn radar control station on the hill in the background. This place is still around but I'm not sure of its current use - I imagine given the easterly approach to Chek Lap Kok is over here, then perhaps it is still part of the airport control system? Please feel free to let me know. The next image shows the pair as they walk up a slope, and this time the spherical globe of the Tate's Cairn Meteorlogical Station can be seen on the prominent hillock behind. This place is on the next peak over from the aforementioned radar station, but they are quite close together. The pair sit down for a chat overlooking a very empty looking (and therefore far more appealing to my eyes) Kowloon below.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - To Fuk Road, Kowloon Tong

Cindy lives with her parents at a property accessed from what is now To Fuk Road. I'm not sure how old this road name is because older maps don't show it and this was not the throughfare it is today, but more of a side street from the main estate. The entrance to the house tells me that the property was #10 Norfolk Road, although this was a side entrance as the main entrance is on the aforementioned Norfolk Road side. This property, like many others in the area (though not as many as there once was) currently operates as a Love Motel.

The first image we see is of Cindy walking home with her friends. The lower wall behind them belongs to 13 York Road and remains to this day although it has had some additional height added to it, the original section can still be recognised. Here is the current streetview for context.

Later in the film we get to see in the other direction as Ling Xi's brother (played by a bespectacled Ti Lung) tricks Cindy into going home and a fight breaks out between the two brothers next to the railway track. Note the no entry signs at the end of the road. These mark the boundary of the Military area that was located there. I believe it was the former Ordnance Depot of the army and contained St George's School, a UK army school for garrison children.

The scenes where Ling Xi climbs up the side of the house to Cindy's bedroom though, I believe these were shot at Movietown on a specially constructed facade. The house facade in the movie looks a bit too slapdash to have been real, and the environment doesn't look right for Kowloon Tong.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Shek Pik Prison, Lantau

Despite not being featured in the rest of the film, the opening scene of this film shows Ling Xi (Chiang) running down the entranceway into Shek Pik Prison. You may remember from a few posts ago that a similar view was used briefly in Police Force as Fung Hak-on describes a gang member (Fung also has a brief role in this film as a thug who tries to beat up Chiang in the middle of the film).

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Cairnmount, Customs Pass

Next up is The Generation Gap. A Chang Cheh modern drama about a young man, Ling Xi (David Chiang), from an obviously wealthy family, who has decided to drop out of his studies and hang out with his underage girlfriend, Cindy (Agnes Chan).

Things get out of hand and Ling Xi digs himself into a big hole when the two move in together against everyone's wishes and the whole affair leads him to turn to a life of crime.

Ling Xi is a fairly obnoxious character to be honest and I'm sure there is some cultural nuance I'm missing with regards to the fact that he is portrayed as some sort of rebel against the older generation when really he's just a kid with violent tendencies who has a thing for an underage girl. On the plus side, there are some great locations starting with the Ling family home.

Customs Pass used to contain a great many fantastic old 50's era mansions that, by and large, have disappeared. Afew are still around but most have since had their large plots redeveloped into small gated estates. One of these was a circular house called "Cairnmount" located at #2 Fei Wan Road - although the official address seems to be "1979 off Fei Ngo Shan Road".

In the film, this is where Ling Xi (Chiang) lives with his family and spends all day tinkering with his car in the garage.

I'm not sure when the property was demolished but the development standing on the site today, a small luxury townhouse estate called Ming Wah Yuen (明華園), was completed in 1990. It looks like it's possible the property was still there up until the work started for the new development (as opposed to being demolished and having the site left empty for years) and so perhaps demolished circa 1988/89?

This 1963 aerial image below doesn't include the swimming pool that can be seen in the screen shots. It was built later in the lower right hand side of the garden area.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Dragonara, 248 Tai Mong Tsai Road

The woman pulls into a large waterfront property. This is the base of the criminal gang that the killer of Liang Kuan works for. The property is located at 248 Tai Mong Tsai Road and is still around. It's called Dragonara and was recently sold (2022) for HK$181M (that's about $22M US).

The building has an occupation permit issued in April of 1974 - almost a whole year after this film was released. So it might have been newly finished when the film crew used it. It does appear that the interiors are also the same property rather than being a studio set.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Tai Mong Tsai Road, Sai Kung

The cops follow the woman into Sai Kung and along Tai Mong Tsai Road. This is the curve in the road right next to Tso Wo Hang.

The film is trying to draw out the pursuit for as long as possible because the next scene sees us looking at the same small stretch of road as the cars come back again.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Junction of Prince Edward Road West and Waterloo Road

The police follow the woman to a hairdressers on Waterloo Road and send in Shen Yan as a pretend customer to see what she does. There are some nice views around the area before the Waterloo Road flyover was constructed. I believe the orange/brown temporary east/west flyover that can be seen was part of the initial works to build the Waterloo Road flyover which now traverses the junction from north to south.

St Teresa's Church in the background

Looking down Waterloo Road from the junction

This looks like a temporary flyover on Prince Edward Road

In this last image there are two pale yellow mansion blocks located at 116 and 114 Waterloo Road. Built in the mid-50s, both of these blocks were still around until quite recently, however, 116 (above the red car) has just recently been knocked down for redevelopment.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Shek Pik Prison, Lantau Island

Through the dead body they have recovered, the police identify a woman who knew the deceased and have been tracking her movements. In this scene, Wong's side kick recounts how she has been seen leaving Shek Pik Prison and we are given some footage of that with Fung Hak-on superimposed onto it as he is the recounting her movements.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Pik Sha Road, Silverstrand Bay

The cops discover a dead body that appears to be linked to the guy who killed Liang Kuan. The lorry driver who witnessed the killers dumping it provides a photofit description that matches the elusive killer. The body is dumped near Bayside Beach in Silverstrand Bay. Note how utterly devoid it was of housing back in the early 70s. These days it is covered in small luxury, gated housing estates. The road the vehicles are on is today's Pik Sha Road, but I suspect it was nameless back then.

Bayside Beach in the background

Shelter Island in the background of this shot

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Lam Tin Estate, Kwun Tong

Next up, Wong goes on a one man raid against a group of gangsters who are tooling up on a rooftop. This was filmed on top of one of the blocks of the old Lam Tin Estate. The first image shows Wong and side-kick (Fung Hak-on) standing on Kai Tin Road with Block 11 behind them. The small block was the fomer Pooi Shing Primary School. 

Judging by the angle on Kwun Tong Police station - which also features in the sequence when a bunch of cops are sent in as backup - then it looks like the rooftop fight was also filmed on top of Block 11. The whole estate underwent a staged demolition that was completed by 2002 and new blocks built to replace the old ones. In terms of the current area, Kai Yan House of the Kai Tin Estate, and the neighbouring carpark occupy the site where Block 11 used to stand.

Kwun Tong Police Station

Kwun Tong Police Station top right