Dragon's Claws - Lau Kar-yung (1979) - Near Lung Mei, Sai Kung

This sequence below was shot in the area now occupied by a small village development called "Springfield Villas". Bruce Lee fans may recognise the location from his Game of Death New Territories outdoor footage which I believe (IMO - although I should really make another effort to really nail the location) was filmed nearby where Greenwood Villas now stands. In the background you would normally see a small row of houses belonging to Lung Mei but obviously this shot has been framed so they are obscured. You can still see the rice terraces in the background of this sequence - a familiar site in Hong Kong for many years and even now in some locations can still be discerned despite there being no rice cultivation in Hong Kong anymore.

This whole area has been redeveloped (Greenfield Villas, Jade Villa, Springfield Villas etc) and now the Springfield Villa development sits on this site.

Dragon's Claws - Lau Kar-yung (1979) - Chong Ha Ching Sze, Fanling

The "back of the school" scenes where we see the living quarters of the family were filmed at another location I identified a few years ago for Snake in the Eagle's Shadow. It's called Chong Ha Ching Sze and is a Taoist retreat/temple so I am not sure of how easy it is to enter. The exterior garden at least seems to be accessible to the general public. I have yet to go there despite identifying it several years ago.

In this night time scene it was the moon gate and adjacent windows that gave away the location. You can compare it to the screen cap from the link above.

Dragon's Claws - Lau Kar-yung (1979) - Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall, Lung Yeuk Tau

The headquarters of the Dragon Boxing Set (the style of kung fu practised by Lung Hsia and his family) is based at the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall in Lung Yeuk Tau. This is where Ling Ko-fung (Wang Jang Lee) goes to claim leadership of the sect by defeating Lung's father, the current master.

We've seen it so many times on this blog in local movies and the great thing is fans like us can still go and visit because it forms part of the Lung Yeuk Tau Heritage Trail in Fanling.

Dragon's Claws - Lau Kar-yung (1979) - Kai Ham, Ho Chung

The scene where we are introduced to the Dragon Sect's members as they undergo training in the hills was filmed close to a small hamlet called Kai Ham near Ho Chung. Although not shot in the hamlet itself, just up the main road was a flat area marked as a dumping ground on maps from the late 1970s that more or less corresponds to the location so I believe this is what we can see in the images below. The view in the distance is towards the north slope of Razor Hill and just nestled on the left are the smaller hillocks that mark the area where Clearwater Bay Road joins with Hiram's Highway.

Suffice to say the Ho Chung area, including Kai Ham, is much more developed these days and this area we can see below looks to have been abandoned and left for nature to reclaim. Still, it's a new location for the blog that I haven't seen before.

Razor Hill on the right behind Lau Hok-nin's head

Dragon's Claws - Lau Kar-yung (1979) - nr Wong Chuk Yeung, Sai Kung

The next film comes courtesy of a Youtube channel called Cinema No. 8 - HK Movie which has a ton of HK movies in HD to watch. I have no idea if it's a legitimate outlet for these movies but these channels appear to have better luck in avoiding the YT copyright algorythms than my own (I've had about 5 movies removed in the last couple of months, some of which have been up for several months). You can watch it here.

Anyway, this is a sort of cash-in on the style of movie made popular by Jackie Chan in the late 1970s, similar down to the use of Wang Jang Lee as the main antagonist. The main role is played by Lau Kar-yung - nephew of Lau Ka-leung - who actually does a fairly decent job in his role as a cocky son of a kung fu master who learns a new style of kung fu (from a beggar - sound familiar?) in order to defeat his family's mortal enemy. The best thing in this film, for me, was seeing a young Yuen Qiu do her stuff. She's really underrated and it's a shame it took until Kung Fu Hustle for wider recognition.

Also similar to those other films is the film's opening scene as Wang Jang Lee takes on an opponent at the familiar location near Wong Chuk Yeung in Sai Kung. It's been featured in so many films already and I am sure many more I will cover in the future. As I explained on other posts, I have been up to investigate this area but it is now completely overgrown and unrecognisable. In this film we see it for the opening and finale fight scenes as well as a mid-film scene where Lung saves a woman from being robbed and attacked by a couple of bandits.

Knockabout - Yuen Biao (1979) - Shap Sze Heung, Sai Kung

After redoing my Golden Studios post recently and learning that the "Chinese street" set (seen in such films as The Magnificent Butcher and The Young Master) was only constructed in 1979, I thought I would watch Knockabout to see if the set was being used. It turns out, no. Pretty much all of the scenes in this film look to be shot out and about in old buildings and villages in the New Territories - making it really difficult to track down the locales.

Knockabout was apparently Yuen Biao's first starring role as a young 21/22 year old and tells the story of how he and his brother (played by Leung Kar-yan) are a couple of scam artists that eventually try to scam the wrong person (Lau Kar-wing). Impressed by their target's kung fu skills they force him to take them as his students and get embroiled in his rather not-so righteous life.

The film's finale (and a few of the middle scenes where Yuen Biao is training with Sammo) is about the only place where I can confidently say I know where it was shot: Shap Sze Heung. This is the large area east of Ma On Shan that incorporates locations such as Nai Chung, Three Fathoms Cove and Tai Tung Wo Liu, and was popular up until fairly recently because of its flat open views with Ma On Shan on one side and the sea on the other. That said, can you guess what has recently happened to the place? If you said "a massive high rise development" then you would be correct. Every bit of flat land between the few villages that were here is now being filled up by residential skyscrapers. Check out the latest Google Streetmap images. So another former (relatively) unspoilt location bites the dust as Hong Kong's money-grabbing property developers squeeze every last drip out of the place.

Actually, this is a good example of why finding some of the more obscure rural locations on this, or any other, film is really hard. You never know how long stuff was/is around for. Sometimes, with the lack of any distinguishable background features, you just have to rely on blind luck.

Anyway, rant over. Here are some shots from the film at this location. I think given the background cues, this was shot around where the golf driving range was (it's just been removed as part of this huge redevelopment) between Tseng Tau Tsuen and Che Ha Tsuen. Nothing lasts for long in Hong Kong it seems.

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Hollywood Road, Central

The last post from this film, this time not too far from a previous shot on Pottinger Street. As the mass is running away from the wave along Hollywood Road at the junction with Lyndhurst Terrace, it suddenly appears at the top and sweeps down the road. The curve here has changed much even though much of Lyndhurst Terrace seems to have been redeveloped.

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Connaught Road, Central

The tsunami strikes Hong Kong Island after it washes away most of the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. The first place it hits here is the waterfront between Jardine House and City Hall right smack on top of the Edinburgh Place carpark.

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Java Road, North Point

Another brief scene showing the screaming masses (actually, most look like they are having a bit of a laugh being extras for the day) was filmed at the junction between North Point Road and Java Road over in North Point. The buildings at the front have since been redeveloped, but the ones at the back AND the pawn shop (全興大押 ) are still around. I believe the pawnshop has recently replaced that large red sign with a smaller LED one though.

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Pottinger Street, Central

After seeing everyone rushing away from the typhoon shelter in Yau Ma Tei the next shot shows, supposedly, the same group of people as they rush up Pottinger Street in Central. I've got to admit, I think even with a tsunami bearing down on me I wouldn't be able to run even half as fast as they did to get there so quickly.

The lower photo shows the junction at Hollywood Road with the former Central Police Station compound in the background.

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

A second outing for Sean Connery on this blog although, similar to You Only Live Twice, he doesn't actually venture to Hong Kong in person. This film is a late 70's disaster movie which features Hong Kong as one of the locations around the globe that suffers the catastrophic affects of having small pieces of a larger meteor crashing into the sea just off the coast. Cue a massive tsunami that hits the territory and destroys everyone and everything in its path.

The Hong Kong scenes are basically just ones of mad panic as everyone runs away from the incoming wave. The first place to be hit is the old typhoon shelter in Yau Ma Tei. The top shot is the view looking north from the area of the Ferry Point Estate, showing the entirety of the shelter up to what was Cherry Street. The last two pictures show the southern end of the shelter with the Ferry Point Estate buildings in the background. Of course that whole area was reclaimed a long time ago and is now full of high-rise residential developments. 

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Jardine House, Central

The finale of the film takes place on what would have been the territory's highest structure at the time, the Connaught Centre, now renamed Jardine House. We get some great views from the top looking down onto the neighbouring roads, as well as a rather impressive shot or two of some intrepid (and sadly anonymous) stuntman crawling up the side of the building.

But first some establishing shots showing the area around the building including the various piers we saw in earlier posts.

Vehicular ferry pier bottom left

Blake Pier

Blake Pier and the later version of the General Post Office. Star Ferry at the back

The GPO and Jardine House next door.

Can you see the small dot on the side of the building? It's our intrepid stuntman, attached by wires to a cradle at the top of the building. We get a close up as well which reveals the concrete finish on the building before it was clad with aluminium tiles.

Definitely not Nichloas Hammond!

Once at the top, Spidey uses his radio transceiver to try and locate his buddy. Cue some rather spectacular views from the top of Jardine House.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Cross Harbour Tunnel Entrance, Hong Kong

Journeying back to HK from the far reaches of the New Territories, and the kidnappers naturally use the cross harbour tunnel to make their way back to Aberdeen.