Showing posts with label Annie Belle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Annie Belle. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Headquarters House, Barker Road

The final location from this brief delve into 1970s erotic cinema is a location on Barker Road, just around the corner from the Chief Secretary's residence. Although it is still marked as "Headquarters House" on some maps, this residence underwent a name change following the handover and is officially known as the "Commanders Residence". Before the handover it was occupied by the Commander of British Forces so it makes sense that it is now occupied by the Commander of the PLA's Hong Kong garrison.

This film appears to have captured the site before the house was built. This ties in with the information on Wikipedia that states the house was in use from 1978 onwards. Aerial images show an empty plot as late as June 1977. The podium terrace that the actors are standing on in the scene below was most likely already there for the previous occupant - a building called "Dunedin". If you look at image 3 below, you can see the edge of an empty patch on the left side of the frame, so it's possible the site had been recently cleared in order to make way for the building of the new house.

Prior to living here at 11 Barker Road, the official residence of the British Commander was Flagstaff House - coincidentally used in another mid-70s film of the same genre Emmanuelle 2 (the former resident of Flagstaff House at that time was kind enough to let me know that the interiors seen in that film were indeed the real interior of Flagstaff House at the time).

The property's driveway was also used as the driveway to the house owned by Angelo and Linda, Annie's obsessive friends, although the house in the film was definitely not one in Hong Kong. At the end of this scene, the friends are filmed coming down the driveway in their Rolls Royce as they chase her to the airport. Some geographical movie jiggery-pokery ensues as the Land Rover containing Annie emerges from the opposite driveway - the entrance to Bracken Hill (#12 Barker Road) - which is lower down the hillside from where she was supposedly picked up.

Podium of 11 Barker Road
Actually, this brief shot appears to have been filmed lower down on Barker Road
Empty patch on the left and Cragside Mansion in the background
Driveway of 12 Barker Road
Driveway of 11 Barker Road

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Port Shelter, Sai Kung

The boat travels all the way to Port Shelter where it puts down anchor in the water just to the north of Sharp Island. There's a brief shot of the boat with the Sai Kung mountains in the background and Tai Chan Chau to the right. A similar angle can also be seen earlier in the film when Annie first notices the group of monks and that appears to have been filmed on the rocky beach of Tai Chan Chau.

Sunday, April 3, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Victoria Harbour

Annie is getting a bit disallusioned with things and throughout the film keeps noticing a Buddhist nun. After the incident in the pool at Statue Square she spots the nun once again and this time follows her onto a boat. As the boat makes its way through the harbou we get some rather nice views of the surroundings, hence why I have included it. Feel free to comment about the identity of the ship if you know it.

Friday, April 1, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Cross Harbour Tunnel

Cheng takes Annie to an illegal gambling place where the forfeit of losing a bet is that Annie must sleep with the winner. The problem is he's a huge grotesque giant of a man with missing teeth, so she does a runner out of the door sans clothing and the pair escape on the motorcycle with Annie on the back in her birthday suit. The pair ride the motorcycle through the cross harbour tunnel.

Thursday, March 31, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Peak Road, Midlevels

Annie goes for another jolly on a motorbike, this time with her new found friend, Cheng (Charlie Chan Yiu-lam). They stop off at what appears to be Peak Road above Central, but looking over Wanchai - before all the highrises started to obscure the view.

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Ching Chung Koon, Tuen Mun

Annie gets invited to audition for a film and low-and-behold, in the middle of an erotic drama, we are treated to some kung fu fighting courtesy of Charlie Chan Yiu-lam (Chan should be familiar to anyone who has watched The Man with the Golden Gun - he's the kung fu dude in the black uniform that fights Roger Moore in the Thailand fight scenes). The premise is that Annie is wandering around looking at the bonzai trees when she is grabbed by a bunch of hoodlums and is about to be assaulted when Charlie jumps in and defends her honour. Charlie also gets involved in another type of "action" later on in the film.

Monday, March 28, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Deepwater Bay

The gang go on a junk trip to the outer part of Deepwater Bay (i.e. the part past Middle Island). There are a couple of shots that I can include here with some background greenery including (image 1) the distant Stanley Peninsula and (image 2) the northern tip of Lamma Island.

Sunday, March 27, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Yau Kung Tong, Yuen Long

We were here not so long ago for Snake in the Eagle's Shadow but it's a location that has been used in several foreign movie productions as well. It's the Tang Clan "Yau Kung Tong", a large historical clan hall near Ha Tsuen. In La Fine Dell'innocenza, the film crew also shot some scenes at the back of the building complex and in the small alleyways in between the various buildings/structures.

Saturday, March 26, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Beas River Country Club, Sheung Shui

Linda and Annie head to Beas River Country Club where Linda meets her lover for a quickie whilst Annie hangs out and eats an ice cream. We don't get to see the famous former Jardines front gate but we do see a bit of the grounds including a building with the zig-zag staircase that (I believe) now houses the club's gym (feel free to correct me if you know better).

Friday, March 25, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

This should be a familiar location for anyone who has read any of my old posts. It's the junction of Hollywood Road and Ladder Street. It first appeared in The World of Suzie Wong way back in 1960 as the location of the "Nam Kok Hotel", but has cropped up multiple times since thanks to the proximity of the Man Mo Temple next door. As you can see by the screencaps, the current bulding was already there back in 1976 with its familiar circular moon door entrance.

Thursday, March 24, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Annie's new best friend, Linda, takes her for a ride on her motorbike as she makes her way to a rendezvous with her bit on the side. Two of the main streets we see the pair riding along are located in Aberdeen. The first screen capture shows the motorcycle driving south (towards the harbour) along Aberdeen Main Street. The building in the far background is the Pui Tak Canossian College. The lower images show the view looking the other way as the bike drives back into town around the former curved section of the old Aberdeen Praya Road (before the area was reclaimed and the road layout changed).

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Aberdeen Harbour

Annie and "dad" go to a restaurant and before the food arrives, she decides to leave and go elsewhere with her new found frinds. The next scene shows them on board a few sampans with the various Aberdeen floating restaurants in the background.

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Furama Hotel, Central

The hotel that the pair are staying at is the Furama. Built in 1973, demolished in 2001 and was replaced by the AIA Central building (it used to be AIG Tower but has since been renamed). It was a popular hotel with its top floor revolving restaurant (see the lowest images). One of the things I didn't know about it was that it had a carved replica of the famous "87 Immortals Painting" above the front driveway. This was based on a famous Tang Dynasty silk painting (you can see an image of it the painting here). In 1976, the management of the hotel was taken over by Intercontinental, which is why you can see the name in the screen cap below.

The "87 Immortals" relief above the front drive

I don't have any stitching software on my laptop here in London, so here is my compromise below, showing the hotel in some of its former glory.


They also shot scenes in the revolving restaurant and in the hotel lobby.

Monday, March 21, 2022

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Harcourt Road, Central

Here's a nice view of Harcourt Road as the pair arrive at their hotel (the Furama, see next post). The interesting thing for me can be seen on the left hand side (lower image) where you can see the old dock buildings inside HMS Tamar that were replaced, not long after actually, by the former Prince of Wales building (now known as the "Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building"). On the right you can see the lower floors of the (now demolished) Hutchison House and Bank of America Tower (although at the time it was still called Gammon House).