My Three Sons - Fred MacMurray (1965) - Aberdeen Harbour

Here's an obscure one that, not being American, I had never heard of until recently. My Three Sons was a fairly long-running comedy drama show starring Fred MacMurray as the widowed father-of-three young sons and the show followed them through their daily lives. It ran from 1960 through to 1972 over 12 seasons.

For the purpose of this blog there is a single episode from Season 6 (broadcast in 1965) that featured Hong Kong as the setting. Episode 12 is called The Hong Kong Story and details how the main character, Steven Douglas (MacMurray) travels to Hong Kong with his sons and their Uncle Charlie for the purpose of business. Uncle Charlie is an ex-sailor who met and fell in love with a local girl when he was in Hong Kong and he hopes to find her despite 35 years passing. George Takei (pre-Mr Sulu) even makes an appearance as a local Chinese business associate who greets them at the airport.

Sadly, as with many low budget shows, the episode only features library/stock footage of Hong Kong for its various establishing and transitional shots, but there are some interesting views to look at and I am including the show for completeness more than anything else. If anyone is interested in watching the episode, Knack Entertainment on Youtube has Season 6 loaded up as one long video on their channel.

The episode starts its journey to Hong Kong by showing us what we think is the plane's view of its approach to Kai Tak, but in fact is just a helicopter shot of Aberdeen that takes in the cemetery, town, and then harbour.

(above) Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery

Look carefully at the bottom of this last image and you can see the old Aberdeen dry docks where Nam Ning Street now runs.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Another snippet from the pilot show's opening credits shows us a few shots taken around Aberdeen. In the top image you can just about make out the Chinese Permanent cemetery on the hillside in the background. The bottom image shows the small promontory with the Holy Spirit Seminary rooftop sticking up above the tree line.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Aberdeen Harbour, Aberdeen

From one harbour to another, Aberdeen features quite a few times in this film, largely because the film makers want us to believe that the murder victims rather plush house (we'll get to it in the next post) overlooks the Aberdeen Harbour.

There are some views of the floating restaurants in the opening credits (which also borrow footage from the earlier 1960's German productions we have already looked at), a nice sweeping view taken from the western end of the harbour entrance - most likely from Shak Pai Wan Road, and also some views of the Chinese Permanent Cemetery taken from the same direction. 

The HK Electric coal fired power station (now moved to Lamma Island)

Aberdeen Fisheries and Marine Office, lower right

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Aberdeen, Hong Kong

There are a couple of scenes filmed in and around Aberdeen and its famous harbour. Some interesting angles that I haven't seen too many times including a view from the top of the building that used to stand on the corner of Aberdeen Main Road as it turns past the old restaurant pontoon area. See below. I'm not too certain about where this building would have been relative to today's configuration, but perhaps it was where the rest garden now stands on the corner of Old Aberdeen Main Street - or whether it's where there is a row of new buildings on the corner of (new) Aberdeen Main Street?

 And then moving down to ground level for some familiar scenery around the waterfront area such as the pontoons for the restaurants, the cemetery in the background and of course the distinctive shape of the (new) Tai Pak that had been installed just recently (sometime after 1960 but before 1962).

Jaguar Lives - Joe Lewis (1978) - Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Aberdeen

Despite being in the background of most Aberdeen scenes featured on this blog, the Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery has only been properly used once before on these pages - by Robert Clouse for 1974's Golden Needles.

Anyway, here is where Joe clandestinely meets up with a local contact providing some information. The top (and second) photo show the old Shek Pai Wan Estate which was found to have stability issues and redeveloped in the 1990's.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Aberdeen

Okay, I will go out on a limb here because I can't confirm 100%, however I am 95% sure that I have the correct location here at the Aberdeen Cemetery. It's the scene when Joe goes to meet the daughter of his former partner to try and dig into a bit more about the mystery behind the golden statuette.

The cemetery is one of those few locations where very large plots have been bought by the wealthy and there are several of these scattered around taking up quite a large space. If you look in the top two pictures you can see an ornate wall behind Joe Don Baker which marks the back end of one of those plots. Without physically going there I can't check my hunch, but I'm fairly confident (famous last words...).