The Yellow Muffler - Betty Ting Pei (1972) - Former Fire Brigade Dock, Tsim Sha Tsui

The stone pier where Pai-hung (Betty TP) is supposed to stunt-double for an actress and leap into the water was filmed at the old L-shaped govt pier near the old Fire Station. This pier has been seen before on the blog when it doubled for Hankow (now known as Hankou) in The Sand Pebbles. The Yellow Muffler scene was filmed at the right-angled part of the pier that makes up the L-shape.

The north edge of the pier has been incorporated in to the West Kowloon Reclamation, and the lower part of the L-shape was removed/remodelled. I don't think this part of the waterfront is open to the public due to its proximity to the China ferry pier and also due to the Fire Brigade seemingly still using it for their fireboat, but this image on GoogleEarth shows you what remains of the old structure (the right angle L-shape section was removed and replaced by a less acutely angled section. Look carefully at the image I linked to and you can see the granite blocks (on the pier edge by the concrete hut) that formed part of the original structure. That also happens to be where the right angled section of the pier started. There's a small semi-circle of bricks by there that marks where the turn was.

The Yellow Muffler - Betty Ting Pei (1972) - Ocean Terminal

This is where the girls see off (and welcome back) their father and youngest sister as the latter make their way to Taiwan by ship. It's been a while since I visited this place but I believe the area where the filming took place still looks more or less the same.

The Yellow Muffler - Betty Ting Pei (1972) - Shaws Movietown, Clearwater Bay

Continuing my wholesale appropriation of all the Shaw movies being posted to Youtube by Celestial Pictures (reminder), the next one I am looking at is The Yellow Muffler starring Betty Ting Pei. Proof, if you ever needed it, that she really wasn't a very good actress at all and just appears to have got through her career by pouting and fluttering her eyelashes.

The story revolves around three sisters who want to break into showbusiness but are held back by their ageing father who also happens to have his own magic show at a nightclub. He gets sacked (basically because he's a bit crap) and decides to go to Taiwan for work and expects his daughters to go with him, but they refuse and eventually only the youngest goes with him. The other two try to make a break on their own but bomb and are eventually offered help to get into the movie business. The film was shot in 1971 and released in January 1972. It does use a couple of outdoor locations but for many scenes it's quite obviously somewhere inside the Movietown complex.

As well as filling in for other locations, Movietown also features itself because of the girls trying to break into the movie industry, but in the film it has become "Golden Crown Studios". See below for some not so convincing matte glass paintwork effects.

Anyway, as with my old post for The Lady Hermit, I've tried to identify a few of the places we see with where they were located within the studio lot (I will try and do this with the old GH studio as well at some point). So it's time to break out my crayons again. The base image I am using is a b&w aerial image from 1982 courtesy of HKMaps.hk. Click on the image for a closer view.

Click to zoom in

The first spot is just after the girls leave the cinema and are walking home. This was shot at point A. I'm not sure what the building was though.

The next image is the glass painting effect I referred to earlier. It shows the real Movietown in the bottom part of the image (the gate and driveway and Shaw House) but for a weird reason has covered up the various warehouses on the hill with fake ones. The close ups were obviously filmed at the main gate (point B).

This building below is located at Point C on the main aerial image. If anyone knows what it was used for please feel free to comment. Those circular vents were quite distinctive and have cropped up in many Shaw films over the years.

Next up is this shot taken from the north side of the plot (point D). Note the previously mentioned building with the circular vents can be seen centre right, just behind Irene Chen's head.

The final bit of Movietown is when the father returns and is given a tour of the studios. The first image shows the covered walkway next to building the building at point E. The group then turn left (marked by the red arrow) and walk alongside the circular vent building at point F. 

Anyway, that's all I could see for now. If anything else pops up I'll be sure to add it.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Shaw Movietown, Clearwater Bay

Whilst we are getting rid of some old Bruce Lee and I locations, here is one that everyone should recognise: it's the old Movietown studios. The film was, after all, a Shaw production so it makes sense they would have used their studios for filming. The view in the top and bottom pictures is looking roughly NW towards Buffalo Hill (which can be seen in the distance). I'm not sure if these buildings are still standing as it is hard to tell from GoogleEarth.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Club Shangri-La, Hankow Road

A long standing mystery has just been solved courtesy of a picture from the always excellent image feed of FLICKR user HT Wong. Whilst tracking down locations for the (admittedly, abysmal) film, Bruce Lee and I, one of them caused a bit of confusion. The location was somewhere called "Club Shangri-La" and the club logo (and Chinese name) was the same as the Shangri-La Hotel chain run by the Kuok family.

The problem was that although the hotel chain had already been established in Singapore in the early 70's, it had yet to open anywhere in Hong Kong. This ruled out the location being part of the proper hotel chain itself but gave no clues as to what the place was. Anyway, after a long wait for more information to appear, it turns out that there was indeed a Club Shangri-La and its sign can be seen in HT Wong's picture of Hankow Road in Tsim Sha Tsui right here.

This is the part of Hankow Road that is to the north of Peking Road. Peking Road is the bit at the bottom of the frame. Pretty much all of the visible buildings in that picture have been redeveloped, but it looks as though the club was located in the basement of the precursor to the Hong Kong Pacific Centre.

I think some of gweilo8888's observations from his research are worth preserving because it's quite possible one of the companies he mentioned in his original comments were behind the club. Here's what he had to say:

...Clearly from the identical font, if there *was* a bar / club / lounge of some kind before the hotel, it would have to be run by a related company. Although the hotel didn't exist as far back as the 1970s, related companies not surprisingly did. (They'd have had to exist in some form before design and construction of the hotel property started, of course.)
The earliest record I could find in the companies registry was for Shangri-La Hotel (Hong Kong) Limited aka 香格里拉酒店[香港]有限公司 (15-Aug-1972). The company itself still exists, but as of 04-Jun-1996 it had become Auto Plaza Limited. That's probably our best candidate. 

Our second-best choice would be Shangri-La Trading Limited aka 香格里拉貿易有限公司 (19-Apr-1974). They never changed name, so I can't definitively connect them to the hotel group -- it could just be a coincidentally-similar name -- and they've long since ceased business.

Anyway, here are the screen grabs.

That's Ho Pak-kwong as the doorman

It's also possible that the company responsible for this club was using the hotel name in a blatant case of trademark infringement. If so, then once the hotel was made aware I am sure the club changed name or closed down. If anyone remembers it, please feel free to chime in.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Clearwater Bay Road, Sai Kung

Here's one that has been eating away at me for a couple of years and I only really just solved it by being less stupid. The location had evaded me largely because of modern tree growth blocking the view, but a lucky peak of Razor Hill confirmed to me that this was filmed along the Clearwater Bay Road in Sai Kung in the section that skirts around the eastern side of High Junk Peak.

As you can see from the Streetview grab below, the right hand side of the road is now completely covered with high tree growth making the once clear and open view completely gone.

So the next best thing was to find a similar angle but with an open view and I managed to find it on a parallel road that runs on the other side of that tree line. So the bottom picture was grabbed from along Hang Hau Wing Lung Road which runs a little further down the hillside. The angle isn't an exact match to the film grab but you can quite clearly see the same hills in the background - the one dead centre is Razor Hill (it can be seen to the left of the car in the film). Coincidentally, in the top picture from the film there is a brown portion just above the car and I think this is actually part of the back lot at Shaw Bros Movietown - it's situated around that area at the bottom of Razor Hill.

Taken from Hang Hau Wing Lung Road

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Fei Ngo Shan Road, Kowloon

Here's a quick one I should've got last year but was confused by the contemporary tree growth that obscures some of the view. But seeing as other scenes were filmed up here, it makes sense that this was shot around the same time (it may have been for the same scene, I can't remember). Anyway, it's a nice view from the cutting that takes the road from Kowloon side over to the New Territories side.

Here is a reasonably similar view from Streetview - sadly the Google car cam doesn't go that low. But you'll notice the extra tree growth and the fact that the cutting has been subsequently shot-creted.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Ma Liu Shui, Shatin

Here's one that I suspected I knew where it was but had to play the patient waiting game of either someone confirming for me or finding a picture that provides corroboration for my assumptions.

The scene is when Betty and Bruce (played by Danny Lee) are walking along the KCR track and having a chat about life etc, and there is the distinctive shape of an old KCR railway tunnel. here's a reminder.

Currently there are only two remaining tunnels on the KCR that fit this profile, the first one is the original Beacon Hill tunnel, and the seocnd one is the original single track tunnel at Tai Po Kau. Both tunnels still exist, but only the latter is still in use as a rail tunnel (Beacon Hill Tunnel is now used to carry gas pipes and other conduits from the NT into Kowloon, and to accommodate a second track in Tai Po Kau, the KCR just drilled another tunnel next to the original) but the background we can see doesn't matches anything that can be seen at either tunnels' entrances.

So I pondered that there may have been another tunnel somewhere that fitted the profile. Only today I have had that confirmation courtesy of a photograph from the early 60's shared in FLICKR by our friend Doug. Here is the link: https://flic.kr/p/pjowTd

Look at the background in Doug's photo you can see the tunnel on the right hand side. How long the tunnel was I'm not sure but after a quick look on GoogleEarth it is quite obvious that then hillside in the background behind our two actors is the slope behind the modern day Shatin Hospital and A Kung Kok Shan Road.

Here is another picture of the tunnel courtesy of the CUHK website (it can be seen in the b&w picture at the top of this link: http://www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/english/publications/newsletter/article.aspx?articleid=54997

The tunnel has been demolished of course, probably due to the lack of space to build a second tunnel for a second track, so they just removed the whole hillside with the tunnel to make the extra space.

Look carefully immediately behind the two actors and you can see what looks to be the start of the reclamation works that filled in the Shatin Sea to make way for Shatin New Town.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Fei Ngo Shan Road, Kowloon

One of Hong Kong's great roads that provides the best views over Kowloon and beyond (when the smog lifts that is...). It's a big favourite for film makers wanting a vista because it's open to traffic all the way up to Kowloon Peak (Fei Ngo Shan). Although it also starts as either Shatin Pass Road or Jat Incline depending on whereabouts you start the ascent. Well worth a visit. Anyway, here is a few grabs of our love struck couple. The top one shows the bare apron of Kai Tak on the left - everything else is not really defined enough to make out, but you get the idea.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Back Door Club, Lockhart Road

Part of the film revolves around Betty telling her life story to a bartender in somewhere called the "Back Door Club". It's not around anymore and initially I had thought that perhaps these scenes were filmed in a studio, but I don't think they are. Perhaps if anyone remembers going to the place they can either confirm or deny whether it is the actual place.

Anyway, it turns out that the club was located at 42 - 50 Lockhart Road in what looks to be the basement(?) of the building still known as "de Fenwick". The building itself is still around and was built in 1966. It's quite an attractive building.

 

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Cheung Sha Wan Beach, Lantau

Betty is feeling a bit unloved and so drives off to a beach. It's an impressive feat when you consider the beach is actually on Lantau Island and not easily accessed by car in the mid-70's.

The more eagle-eyed HK film fans out there may recognise this place from another film - albeit one made 30 years later. You can see this beach at the beginning and end of SPL: Sha Po Lang starring Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Donnie Yen. Dan's location blog has a post about it here.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Cornwall Street, Kowloon Tong

Here is an interesting scene, for me at least because I travel up here pretty much everyday. It's a shot looking up Cornwall Street very soon after the road was actually completed.

Cornwall Street now runs from Waterloo Road, all the way up to the Chak On Estate near Tai Wo Ping, however, originally it only ran as far as the lower section of Beacon Hill Road (which for some reason is completely disconnected from the upper part where Betty used to live!) - which is basically where the closest traffic bollard is in the above screen grabs. Even by 1973, just a few years before this film was made, the western end of Cornwall Street had been laid out but the Govt had yet to make the two ends meet across the railway track near the Beacon Hill Tunnel - this is essentially the section we can see above. Look closely and you can see where the bridge over the track is/was.

Of course the bridge is still there even though the track has now been moved, but the old trackway still exists and so the bridge still needs to be there. Anyway, here is a modern comparison and yo can see how much has actually changed. That's where Beacon Hill Road (lower section) starts on the right and marks the initial extent of Cornwall Street before its extension.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Lion Rock Tunnel Road exit ramp, Kowloon

At the end of the film we see Betty wandering aimlessly and for some strange unfathomable reason, walking up the exit ramp towards Lion Rock Tunnel Road. Coincidentally (or not...really), this circular exit ramp that takes traffic just exiting from the tunnel into Kowloon down onto Lung Cheung Road just happens to be situated right next door to where the old TVB studios were on Broadcast Drive. In fact the whole thing sits above what is now known as Broadcast Drive Garden.

On the screen grabs you can see the undulating ridgeline of Beacon Hill in the low background (look closely enough and you might be able to make out the older - now defunct - Civil Aviation Department radar dome).

Had the camera panned to the right you would have seen the old TVB studios. TVB was of course created by Sir Run Run Shaw and the studios were based here on Broadcast Drive from 1967 to 1984 when they moved over to Movietown in Clearwater Bay. All of Bruce's Enjoy Yourself Tonight appearances would have been at these studios on Broadcast Drive. Streetview below.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Whitehead Point, Ma On Shan

A long time ago, before the current golf driving range and even before the area was turned into a Vietnamese refugee camp (one of many) there was a quarry at Whitehead Point which was used on many occasions for filming. Nearby is the site of what was the location for the finale of Drunken Master and I also previously posted about this being used in The Young Master.

Anyway, here we see Bruce accepting a challenge from some dude he met in bar and he proceeds to knock seven bells out of the guys and his axe-wielding buddies. As a result we get some really good shots of the Tolo Harbour and Channel areas, including the Plover Cove Reservoir Dam wall.

Above. Looking NW from Whitehead Point. The ridgeline in the background is Wong Leng, along the same ridge that eventually becomes Pat Sin Leng (off camera to the right).

Two views of the point of Ma On Shan in the previous pictures. Below we are looking north east and can see the dam wall. The most striking thing though is the clear air and green hills.

And a look further to the east.

Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - South Lantau Road, Lantau Island

It's not often that Lantau Island has been seen on this blog (other than the Chi Ma Wan peninsula in Double Impact), but here we see Betty and Bruce (i.e. Danny Lee) walking along the dam wall of Shek Pik Reservoir. There is a road that runs along the top, South Lantau Road according to GoogleEarth. I've yet to go but then again I am yet to go to so many other places as well. One day...

Sadly no Google Streetview for this location - most likely because in order to drive in this section of Lantau Island you need to possess a "Lantau Closed Road Permit" - so, probably not available to drivers of Google cars.