Hong Kong and Macau Film & TV Locations
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Cosa Nostra Asia - Chris Mitchum (1974) - Kai Tak Airport
The second sequence looks very likely it was shot from the top of Checkerboard Hill because it looks like the swimming pools in Kowloon Tsai Park at the bottom of the frame.
The final sequence was filmed from the north side of the runway with Hong Kong Island in the background.
Monday, May 20, 2024
Cosa Nostra Asia - Chris Mitchum (1974) - Hong Kong Harbour
Sunday, May 19, 2024
Cosa Nostra Asia - Chris Mitchum (1974) - Sai Kung
It's a weird film that is supposedly set largely in Hong Kong but appears to have been mainly shot in Taiwan, with a brief library shot of Chicago (as an establishing shot for the HQ of the Mafia) thrown in for good measure. To be honest, the quality of the copy available online makes it very hard to identify many of the locations, but there are enough to make it worth including. A big thanks to AP who was the one who made me aware of this movie last year.
The film opens with Chris (Mitchum) single-handedly raiding a drug warehouse before going off on his motorbike to spy on a drug exchange. I don't believe any of this was filmed in Hong Kong - at least I can't say with any confidence - but weirdly there is a brief scene as he makes his way through the mountains to the drug rendezvous that looks familar (regular readers might recognise it - see second image), as well as a brief view of the general area around the Tai Mong Tsai Road, north of Sai Kung town centre. I *think* it's Chris Mitchum riding the bike along these dirt trails, but it's too dark to be 100% confident.
YimTin Tsai and Kau Sai Chau in the background
Saturday, May 18, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Lam Tei Quarry, Tuen Mun
Friday, May 17, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Island House, Tai Po
It's a bit hard trying to figure out which property (or properties) was used for the interior of Lui Lok's house, seen when the gang leaders decide to take each other out during a supposed friendly "gong sau" meeting on neutral ground. However, the exteriors are a different matter and a hint is given in the acknowledgements as the filmmakers thank the World Wide Fund for Nature. It turns out that the location was Island House in Tai Po, now a WWF office and a place I am quite familiar with thanks to my 6 years living just up the road from here.
Anyway, this is the place where Big Sha and Ho fight off a horde of marauding triad gunslingers before being rescued on a motorbike by "Dummy". If you want a comparison, someone has kindly included a bunch of photo sphere's all around the property. This one relates to the bottom image.
Thursday, May 16, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - St George's Building, Central
Ng's right hand man, Wan (Waisee Lee) goes to the travel agent to book tickets for him and his family to Canada when things get a bit hot. The angle on the top image could only have been taken from the ground floor of the St George's Building in Central. I have no idea if there is/was a real travel agency in there.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Koshi Cottage, Perkins Road
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
The Night My Number Came Up - Michael Redgrave (1955) - Kai Tak Airfield footage
Just a quick post to show a brief video (<1 minute) that has been snipped from the longer 1955 movie The Night My Number Came Up starring Michael Redgrave and directed by Leslie Norman (Barry Norman's dad...and why not?). I know I have posted about this before, but it was just screen captures, this time it's the actual footage.Very cool.
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Hong Kong University Main Building
Monday, May 13, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Arbuthnot Road, Central
"Coitus Interruptus" is quite apt considering you can see the old Caritas Francis Hsu College building next door - Caritas being a Catholic organisation that runs schools and health facilities here.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Davis Street, Kennedy Town
Saturday, May 11, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Star Seafood Restaurant, Tai Wai Road
Friday, May 10, 2024
To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Lobster Bay, Clearwater Bay
The stony beach where I dived is the "Lung Ha Wan" (aka Lobster Bay) that lends its name to this whole area. It's the first beach you come to when heading down the end of Lung Ha Wan Road. Strewn allover the beach are the concrete fragments of a former ramp that, I was told, was a popular smuggling location for local triads until the army came and blew it up. It turns out the demolition took place in 1992 and there is is comment on Gwulo relating to this (I also posted a picture on Gwulo many years ago).
I had wondered what it looked like before the ramp was blown up, and now we need wonder no more because it appears several times in To Be Number One. It's quite the revelation because I wasn't expecting the ramp to be so big.
In the film we see this location on at least three occasions. The first time is when the newly-minted gangsters have enough money to finally smuggle their families into Hong Kong from China on a small sampan. In later scenes, this is also the same place where the gang pick up the opium blocks they have just stolen from a rival gang and, finally, where Tiger Lui's mistress is taken to and shipped back to China after she has been kidnapped by Ng.