The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - Unknown house in Kowloon Tong

This is the house where Tin-sang's biological father (Cheung Ying) lives, although no one realises this major connection in the film at the time.

I can't give you the exact location of this particular image, but I can tell you it was on the Kowloon Tong Estate. The reason I know this is because of the style of house you can see. These houses were a feature of every single road around the estate from the late 1920s and 1930s onwards when the estate was completed. Even Bruce's later house at 41 Cumberland Road was a remodelled version of this very type of house. Unfortunately very few exists today, so I very much doubt this one is still around.

I *think* the number on the wall outside says #31. Thirty something anyway? If I'm correct then this would mean it could only be Cumberland Road because it's the only road on the estate that goes beyond the twenties in house numbers. I won't speculate anymore because I could easily be wrong on this one, but I will say that the current #35 is an original house and has very similar, if not matching, design in the exterior stucco, which is another plus point for it being in this area. If anyone has better eyesight than me, please feel free to comment as it would be nice to narrow this one down.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - St Teresa's Hospital, Kowloon

It appears that the hospital in which Tin-sang was born is St Teresa's. After Ah Ngo alights from the bus along Prince Edward Road, we are shown an establishing shot of the old hospital building. The hospital itself is still around but this old building has long gone and been replaced by a much bigger and more modern version. Coincidentally, this is also one of the hospitals where Lee was sent in later life following his May 10th 1973 collapse and subsequent revival at Baptist Hospital, Lee was sent to St Teresa's for further check ups to try and determine the cause.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon

Another exterior shot from this film is featured when Tin-sang's mum, Ah Ngo (Yung Siu-yi), returns to the hospital where she gave birth, to reclaim her son. She has finally managed to save enough money to pay her hospital bill, only to find that the doctor has already sent him away as an adoptee.

The scene starts with a view along Prince Edward Road (now Prince Edward Road West) as a bus approaches and Ah Ngo disembarks. It's the #1 bus and as far as I know this travels the same route today - west along Prince Edward Road. The background view looks as though we are located somewhere around Short Street. There's still a bus stop there today. It's possible that the British Army Sergeant (Staff/Colour Sgt?) in the first image was based at Argyle Street camp (the camp was located behind the camera on land adjacent to Kowloon Hospital). If anyone knows which Regiment was based there in 1953, then feel free to comment.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - View across Kwun Chung

Continuing the early childhood movies of Bruce Lee,next up we have The Guiding Light (aka A Son is Born or 苦海明燈 in Chinese). Lee was 12 years old when he made this one and features prominently playing the central character of Tin-sang for much of the middle part of the story. It centres on an illegitimate boy born to a maid and her obnoxiously rich, married employer, who is then passed around like an unwanted gift as various people struggle with, or completely disregard, their responsibilities. He eventually finds refuge with a charitable family who run an eye clinic/women's finishing school and goes on to be a famed opthalmologist who manages to cure his friend's blindness.

Like other movies of the era, there are some outdoor location shots but they tend to be a bit fleeting. However, there is enough in the film to warrant coverage here so we'll start with one of the opening scenes of a view across Kwun Chung (the area people tend to mistakenly refer to these days as "Jordan" thanks to the name of the nearby MTR station). This image shows the cluster of tenements that were crammed into the blocks between Austin Road (on the left) and Jordan Road (off camera to the right). The large building at the far left was the northernmost block of the Canton Road Police Married Quarters. These were only just opened in February 1953 which means they would have been brand new when this film was made. They were demolished circa 1997 and replaced by "The Victoria Towers" residential development.