The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Pathway next to the KCR track, Kowloon Tong

This location can also be seen in The Generation Gap. It was a grassy pathway running along the east side of the old KCR rail track. With the subsequent development of Kowloon Tong, this pathway became part of what is now To Fuk Road.

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - True Light Lane, Kowloon Tong

Before the MTR came along and built Kowloon Tong Station, True Light Lane used to run all the way down to Suffolk Road. There's no longer a #1 Kent Road because it was removed, along with the lower section of True Light Lane, to make way for the current MTR station, and True Light Lane now joins Kent Road through what was previously part of the northern section of that property. The image below shows you what True Light Lane looked like before it was redeveloped. The buildings in the background belong to the lower section of Beacon Hill Road, just above Cornwall Street.

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Tai Hang Tun, Clearwater Bay

Xiao Rong meets up with his fellow delivery riders to share their collective stolen goods. This is the pavilion located at Tai Hang Tun. This is the same pavilion that can be seen in Yellow Emanuelle. He returns at a later time to find out that his friends have been scared off by a bunch of gangsters who want him to help them steal stuff from the grocery store.

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Kent Road, Kowloon Tong

There is a large amount of this film shot in and around the streets of Kowloon Tong. In this next scene we are looking up Kent Road towards the junction with Somerset Road. You too can repeat this view today by simply exiting Kowloon Tong MTR at exit G and looking left.

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Waterloo Road, Ho Man Tin

I can't confirm the location of the grocery shop where Xiao Rong works (edit: see Rodney's comment below confirming it was at 63a Waterloo Road), but as he departs for his first delivery we can see this was shot on Waterloo Road opposite Ho Man Tin Street. The building with the curved facade in the background is Tsan Yung Mansion and is still located on the corner of Waterloo and Ho Man Tin Street. I removed my posts sometime ago due to low picture quality (taken from a VCD), but I had previously covered The Taxi Driver on ths blog and that building was the HQ of the Blue Taxi Cab Company who David Chiang works for in that film. I'll redo that film if it makes an appearance on the Shaw Bros channel as it had some interesting locations.

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Cornwall Street, Kowloon Tong

Our first proper outdoor location is Cornwall Street, and it's a road that crops up multiple times throughout the film, so I have tried to include all its appearances in this one post.

Our first view is along the north side as Gen Lai and Xiao Rong walk along as Rong takes his anger over his father's death out on other people's property. This initial location is next to what is now the Mormon Church at #2 Cornwall Street. For context, Gwulo has a great image of the older property here and you can spot the very same wall seen below. The gateway seen in the third image below is located at the very far left of the Gwulo image and corresponds to #4.

Block A of Baptist Hospital in the background has just been demolished (Dec 2025)

 

The next appearance of Cornwall Street is during a sequence when Xiao Rong attempts his first delivery "up the Peak". The section of the road he is on is the bridge that crosses the old KCR railtrack

Xiao Rong also makes a delivery to "Villa Cornwall", still located at #12 Cornwall Street.

Next we see Xiao Rong trying to bike away from pursuing bike-riding gangsters. This is a similar view (looking east) to one of the first images above showing Baptist Hospital in the background.

The final image below shows Rong fleeing on his motorcycle following his killing of the opposing gangster boss. In the background is Hillsea Court at #10 Cornwall Street (also still around).

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon

The next film is The Young Rebel, a 1975 Shaw Brothers movie directed by Ti Lung. Judging by the premise of the main character, Xiao Rong (David Chiang), it could be that much of his back story is based on Ti Lung's own personal experience in his earlier, pre-acting life as a grocery delivery boy who has lots of run-ins with local gangsters and learns kung fu to defend himself.

In The Young Rebel, Xiao Rong is a bit obnoxious, a bit like Chiang's character in The Generation Gap, but part of this is due to his father's recent death. Instead of grieving he just bottles it all up and takes his misery out on everyone around him, some more deserving than others. Rong's friend, Gen Lai (Ti Lung) gets him a job as a delivery boy at a grocery store, and then later introduces Rong to his kung fu sifu (played by Yuen Siu-tin) when Rong is beaten up by gangsters.

The film starts at the end, with Gen Lai, now a policeman, having arrested his friend for murder and he is taking him back to the police station in a car. The film then goes back to the events of Rong's father's death and the circumstances that led them up to that point.

This initial scene was filmed inside a car driving along Prince Edward Road West. Note that the second image shows that this was filmed when there was a flyover that ran from east/west at the junction with Waterloo Road. This flyover no longer exists and the current one runs north/south. You may recall other similar-era Shaw films showed the temporary flyover that we are driving over here (see here and here).

St Teresa's Hospital on the left

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - The Venetian, Macau

This is the last post for Ballad of a Small Player (unless I can identify some of the more obscure interiors). It's been a while since I stayed here (10+ years) but I think I recognise some of the interior at the Venetian including the food court where Doyle sits down and gets given a bit of reality by Cynthia Blithe (Tilda Swinton). The last time I was here it still had a Fatburger!

This is the small garden/putting course on the hotel podium

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Macau Light Rapid Transit Taipa

Doyle returns to Macau with Dao-ming's stash of money and we next see him riding the LRT line back to the casinos. This is another of Macau's recently added features that I have yet to experience (I've only been back once since the end of Covid).

Ballad of a Small Player - Colin Farrell (2025) - Sok Kwu Wan, Lamma Island

Doyle wakes up from his medical episode and is being tended to by Dao-ming on a small floating hut in the middle of Sok Kwu Wan (Picnic Bay is the English name for this place). They then spend the next few days (?) recuperating and bonding until Dao-ming mysteriously disappears again. Doyle then finds her huge stash of cash hidden in bags sunk in the water beneath the hut.