Lutheran School for the Deaf - Now and Then

If I have any Thai readers, they may remember the solitary Thai contribution to this blog is a 1972 movie called อ้อมอกเจ้าพระยา (or Aorm Aok Jao Praya for those who don't read Thai). One of the few local scenes was filmed on Cherry Street in Tai Kok Tsui at the north end of the old Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. In the background of the scene is a school building - the Lutheran School for the Deaf. I believe the deaf school has relocated to Tsuen Wan, but the school building is still operated by the Lutheran Church and is now called Sharon Lutheran School. The only change appears to be  an additional block stuck to the front of the old school facade (right hand side of my recent image).

Unfortunately, getting an exact match on the film still is impossible because this part of Cherry Street is now a busy multi-lane main road with no pedestrian access. I took the photo from the pedestrian bridge.

Wader Studios on Castle Peak Road - Now and Then

Here's another comparison that people might appreciate, especially those who were unaware of the whereabouts of Wader Studios (there have been a surprising number of inaccurracies over the years, most recently in the "World Film Locations: Hong Kong" book by Intellect Books which, weirdly, placed the studios in what I believe is Kwai Chung Park!).

Anyway, this is the view along Castle Peak Road just north of Shek Pai Street. The top image is a merge from the Thai film Aorm Aok Jao Praya supplied to me by my UK based friend AP (who has been instrumental in sourcing many of the films I have used on the blog at his own expense), you can see the original screencaps here. The old studios were replaced by the Wah Tat Industrial Buildings, two blocks of which can be seen on the left of my image below. The Now image was taken back in 2019 when a visiting Lee fan wanted to see where Bruce Lee had filmed the HK studio shots for The Big Boss. Sadly, there is nothing tangible left to show.

Aorm Aok Jao Praya - Arunya Narmwong (1972) - Mong Fu Shek, Tai Wai

I think this might be another first for this blog courtesy of this Thai film. This time it is an image of A-Mah rock, known locally as Mong Fu Shek (looking for husband rock). I must admit to being a bit confused about the angle of view (I think possibly from the East but I can't tell), but it is unmistakably the famous rock that sits in the hills above what is now Tai Wai. However, in the film, the two lovebirds are viewing it from a nearby temple. I don't recognise the temple and it makes me think that it may have been one back in Thailand, just edited in later.

Anyway, it's nice to see it finally feature in an international film, albeit very briefly. That's about it for this film, only a few locations but most of them never seen here before.

Aorm Aok Jao Praya - Arunya Narmwong (1972) - Cherry Street, Tai Kok Tsui

Our rich protagonist is taken to see a bgit of local life down at the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, however, this is not a usual view I have seen on film and is in fact the northern end of the old typhoon shelter that terminated in the area where Cherry Street ran across it towards the old Tai Kok Tsui ferry pier (you can see how that area looked just prior to redevelopment here).

The big giveaway here is the presence of the Lutheran School for the Deaf that can be seen in the background of the top image. This school was opened in 1968 but hs since moved to a new campus around 1990. However, this school building remains and instead is now the Sharon Lutheran School. It's had a bit of redecoration since 1972 but it's still recognisable.

The lower two images give a coupe of different views along Cherry Street. The second image shows the view looking towards the west and in the distance where it terminates at the bus terminus and ferry pier, whilst the lower image is the view looking roughly south west across the upper part of the typhoon shelter. Its also here where the female character persuades an old boat lady to pretend to be her mum.

Aorm Aok Jao Praya - Arunya Narmwong (1972) - Wader Studios, Kwai Chung

The best thing about getting my hands on this film is that it cleared up an old mystery that has been bugging me for a few years. This film provided the answer courtesy of this following location. This is Wader Studios on castle Peak Road just outside of Tsuen Wan. It was an independent company with three large sound stages and various post production facilities that made its money by renting out its facilities to other film companies rather than making its own movies. It's believed that more than 1000 films were made here during its 20 year operation until it closed in 1973 and was redeveloped into the Wah Tat Industrial buildings. There is a very detailed history of the place here, but I should say that the guy who wrote it is a d*&k for downloading my Wader screen grab (from Die Mädchen von Hongkong), cropping off the watermark and not even giving me a link back or reference. I had to add one myself in the comments...

Anyway, we've seen the exterior of the studio before. The building was used in Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong , Heisser Hafen Hongkong and Die Mädchen von Hongkong. At least these are the ones I have found so far, there may be more (like this one).

However, I had no idea what was on the other side of that building until this film showed me and I suddenly realised that this was the same location that this scene was filmed in Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong AND that Bruce Lee had been photographed at whilst completing pick-up shots for The Big Boss - you can see a large selection of those photos here, but in particular note this one (and similar) and this one. So another mystery eventually solved, completely by fluke.

On with our Thai film. Our heroine is being escorted around Hong Kong by a chaperone who takes her to see a film being made at Wader Studios. We get a nice shot of the car approaching and turning into the front of the studio along Castle Peak Road.

Once behind the front office, we come to the garden (for want of a better word) that separated the front building from the sound stages which can be seen in the background below. This is the area where Bruce lee was photographed and also where that earlier scene from Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong was filmed.

We then catch a view looking back up towards the main building and if you clicked on the second Bruce Lee photo link I provided above, you should be able to see that this is the same building that Bruce is standing in front of as he monkeys around for the camera complete with those rather unique red light posts. I'm glad to finally have this mystery solved.

Aorm Aok Jao Praya - Arunya Narmwong (1972) - View over Wanchai, Hong Kong

Aorm Aok Jao Praya (Thai: อ้อมอกเจ้าพระยา) is a Thai film made in 1972 and partially filmed in Hong Kong. I was first told about the film several years ago by Regis Madec who runs the ThaiWorldView website, it's just taken me a long time to get around to buying a copy (available here). So many thanks to him for making me aware of this.

The film centres around a girl (Arunya Narmwong) who is from a rich family but on a trip to Hong Kong she manages to elude her chaperone to spend some time amongst folks a bit less well off than herself. She pays an old boat woman to pretend to be her mum and then promptly falls in love with a lowly Thai boat captain who is in HK for a few days. Queue attempts by her father and chaperone to get her back. The first half of the film is largely centred on HK locations whereas the second half returns to Thailand as the characters head back to their homeland. There are a few places I've not seen on film before, but let's start off with the usual stuff. The establishing sequence is a quick pan from east to west starting at Happy valley (top image) and finishing looking over towards HMS Tamar (you can just see the naval basin on the far left of the fourth image).

Too much has changed to even start pointing out details, but what some may notice is that the Wanchai seafront reclamation was either still in process, or recently completed. You can see the strip of empty land along the coast. One of the reasons this view has changed so much is that thin strip of newly reclaimed land is now full of skyscrapers.