Unicorn Fist – another ‘lost’ Bruce Lee location rediscovered (repost from 2011)

Originally posted on my old Wordpress blog (back in 2011), I noticed that one of my old posts pointed to this article, so, rather than just delete the link why not just republish the original post..and of course add a few updates where relevant (and removed quite a bit of my irrelevant ramblings). I was reminded as well by a recent video on the Stripey Rambles channel detailing a new magazine about the film and it mentions Pak Tam Chung. Seeing as I was the one who rediscovered the location, I thought a repost wouldn't go amiss. I also made it into the papers at the time for my nerdiness (see the SCMP article at the end).

Bruce Lee and I - one of the alternative titles of this movie

Yip Man's Grave, Fanling

Continuing the process of resurrecting my film- and Bruce Lee-related posts from my old, deleted history blog, here is a post I originally made back in 2011 about how to visit Yip Man's grave in Fanling. It's been a while since I made the effort to go (I think my last trip was around 2014?) but I don't believe very much has changed since then.

Yip Man has been very much in the public eye over the past decade or so thanks to the rather large number (relatively speaking) of films that have been made about him, including four with Donnie Yen, two with Dennis To, an effort from Wong Kar Wai starring Tony Leung, a mainland Chinese TV series, another film with Anthony Wong, and a plethora of cheap and quick cynical cash-ins from mainland China. First we had Brucesploitation and now we have Yip Mansploitation. If you're curious about whether the old master is spinning in his grave about all this, you can now go and check.

This photo is on Yip’s grave stone

Fist of Fury - Bruce Lee (1972) - Rua Da Barra, Macau

This location has long eluded me because I only had a very low quality image of the scene to look at, but thanks to AP for sending me an image, from what I believe is one of Steve Kerridge's books, I can now see that this was shot along Rua Da Barra in Macau. The turn into the side street is clearly marked by a street sign that reads "Travessa da Barra". I've included that image below. It's quite hard to believe how much Macau has changed since this film was shot, with all of the buildings in view being replaced by Macau mid-rise apartment blocks. The street is located in the São Lourenço parish and you can see the most modern view of it (well, from 2008...Google hasn't been back for years) here.

This is the second exterior location used in this short rickshaw sequence. I posted about the first street  way back at the birth of this blog in 2011. See here.

The location revealed by the street sign

Enter the Dragon - Bruce Lee (1973) - Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

My recent posts about Hankow Road reminded me that I had neglected, for many many years, to include this brief sequence from Enter the Dragon. I had posted about the Peking Road section many years back (2011), but for some reason never got around to including this one. So here it is. The location is looking south down Hankow Road towards the junction with Peking Road. The "Copacabana" sign being the main way to identify the location.

In Search of Bruce Lee's Last Filming Location

I was recently made aware that one of the extras on the Enter the Clones of Bruce Lee documentary is a small location video tour called Bruce's Hong Kong. The snippet I was sent included the footage of Ching Chung Koon followed by Bruce's fight against Sammo at the beginning of Enter the Dragon and basically saying that the fight scene was shot in a "still unidentified location". 

If only Frank Djeng - the creator of the otherwise informative film - had got in touch. I know my blog stuff here is a bit niche, but the location of the fight has been public knowledge since 2009 when I was first able to track it down. In fact, it was one of my first big location scoops and was what sent me down the path of finding all the other places that make up these (now numbering in the thousands) location pages for Hong Kong-shot movies.

In fact, my old (granted, now deleted) historical blog even had a page called Bruce Lee's Hong Kong on which I detailed a significant number of Lee-related Hong Kong sites. It certainly seems to have been useful to a large number of people coming to Hong Kong and wanting a consolidated list of places to visit. It also formed the basis for some walking tours that I have decided to reinstate here (see the right hand side bar of the blog). Even before that I had written an article for Time Out in 2011 that identified the site. So I am a bit confused as to why it still seems to remain a mystery. Especially since some other information I have documented publicly (such as the appearance of the original Jumbo back in 2011) did make it into that little 'documentaryette'. Well, anyway, regardless of the reasons, it seems like a good idea to revive an old deleted post, from blog v.2 (when I was using Wordpress) in 2009, that detailed the events surrounding the location's eventual discovery. 

Bruce Lee's mysterious last filming location

An old article for Time Out

Seeing as I am going down memory lane with some of these posts (it's because I am hunting around for a decent film to delve into) then here is an old article I penned for the then print version of Hong Kong Time Out. It's unfortunate that my blog appears to have lasted longer than the print version of Time Out (it still publishes online though) but since I've been in Hong Kong many magazines and papers have gone the same way for various reasons.

Actually, this article was a product of the very first version of this blog over on livespaces. One of the magazine's editors saw some of my posts and asked me to convert them for print. This one was written not longer after I managed to track down the elusive filming location for the Bruce and Sammo fight at the beginning of Enter the Dragon circa 2009. I did a post on that epic search as well, so maybe I will resurrect that one as well. 

A Guide to Palm Villa and Enter the Dragon

One of the more popular posts from my old (deleted) history-related blog concerned the location used for filming the tournament scenes in Enter the Dragon. It seems that for a lot of people this topic never gets old, and the location still attracts a lot of attention, and misunderstandings, even though it has been completely transformed since the film was made.

So for future posterity, and hopefully to clear up some of the misunderstandings and myths surrounding the place, I have excavated the post from the depths of the internet graveyard and resurrected it here.

For those who are new to the Bruce Lee world, or at least not so familiar with the various Hong Kong locations utilised in the film (here's a collection of posts I have built up over the years), the tournament scenes were filmed on the, long since demolished, terraced tennis courts of a former grand mansion called Palm Villa, located in Tai Tam on the south side of Hong Kong Island.

A 1982 image showing Palm Villa and its tennis courts on the right

Lee Hoi Chuen's Grave, St Raphael's Cemetery

Lee Hoi Chuen (李海泉) was not just famous (in HK, at least) for being a Cantonese opera performer and comedic movie actor, he also gained significant fame in later life (well, perhaps posthumously) because he was the father of Bruce Lee.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - Unknown house in Kowloon Tong

This is the house where Tin-sang's biological father (Cheung Ying) lives, although no one realises this major connection in the film at the time.

I can't give you the exact location of this particular image, but I can tell you it was on the Kowloon Tong Estate. The reason I know this is because of the style of house you can see. These houses were a feature of every single road around the estate from the late 1920s and 1930s onwards when the estate was completed. Even Bruce's later house at 41 Cumberland Road was a remodelled version of this very type of house. Unfortunately very few exists today, so I very much doubt this one is still around.

I *think* the number on the wall outside says #31. Thirty something anyway? If I'm correct then this would mean it could only be Cumberland Road because it's the only road on the estate that goes beyond the twenties in house numbers. I won't speculate anymore because I could easily be wrong on this one, but I will say that the current #35 is an original house and has very similar, if not matching, design in the exterior stucco, which is another plus point for it being in this area. If anyone has better eyesight than me, please feel free to comment as it would be nice to narrow this one down.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - St Teresa's Hospital, Kowloon

It appears that the hospital in which Tin-sang was born is St Teresa's. After Ah Ngo alights from the bus along Prince Edward Road, we are shown an establishing shot of the old hospital building. The hospital itself is still around but this old building has long gone and been replaced by a much bigger and more modern version. Coincidentally, this is also one of the hospitals where Lee was sent in later life following his May 10th 1973 collapse and subsequent revival at Baptist Hospital, Lee was sent to St Teresa's for further check ups to try and determine the cause.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon

Another exterior shot from this film is featured when Tin-sang's mum, Ah Ngo (Yung Siu-yi), returns to the hospital where she gave birth, to reclaim her son. She has finally managed to save enough money to pay her hospital bill, only to find that the doctor has already sent him away as an adoptee.

The scene starts with a view along Prince Edward Road (now Prince Edward Road West) as a bus approaches and Ah Ngo disembarks. It's the #1 bus and as far as I know this travels the same route today - west along Prince Edward Road. The background view looks as though we are located somewhere around Short Street. There's still a bus stop there today. It's possible that the British Army Sergeant (Staff/Colour Sgt?) in the first image was based at Argyle Street camp (the camp was located behind the camera on land adjacent to Kowloon Hospital). If anyone knows which Regiment was based there in 1953, then feel free to comment.

The Guiding Light - Bruce Lee (1953) - View across Kwun Chung

Continuing the early childhood movies of Bruce Lee,next up we have The Guiding Light (aka A Son is Born or 苦海明燈 in Chinese). Lee was 12 years old when he made this one and features prominently playing the central character of Tin-sang for much of the middle part of the story. It centres on an illegitimate boy born to a maid and her obnoxiously rich, married employer, who is then passed around like an unwanted gift as various people struggle with, or completely disregard, their responsibilities. He eventually finds refuge with a charitable family who run an eye clinic/women's finishing school and goes on to be a famed opthalmologist who manages to cure his friend's blindness.

Like other movies of the era, there are some outdoor location shots but they tend to be a bit fleeting. However, there is enough in the film to warrant coverage here so we'll start with one of the opening scenes of a view across Kwun Chung (the area people tend to mistakenly refer to these days as "Jordan" thanks to the name of the nearby MTR station). This image shows the cluster of tenements that were crammed into the blocks between Austin Road (on the left) and Jordan Road (off camera to the right). The large building at the far left was the northernmost block of the Canton Road Police Married Quarters. These were only just opened in February 1953 which means they would have been brand new when this film was made. They were demolished circa 1997 and replaced by "The Victoria Towers" residential development.

We Owe It to Our Children - Cheung Wood-yau (1955) - View over Cheung Sha Wan

Next up is another one of Bruce Lee's childhood movies, We Owe It to Our Children (aka 兒女債).
It was re-released in HK sometime ago with Lee as top-billing ("Brucesploitation" lives on in modern HK) even though his screen time is probably less than two minutes. The main star is Cheung Wood-yau (yes, Chor Yuen's father) who plays an office worker and expectant father until his wife (Tsi Law-lin) is involved in a car accident and loses the baby and her ability to have another one. 

Most of the story revolves around the couple's accommodation where they live in a cubicle room (the precursor to modern day sub-divided flats and cage rooms - most definitely still a thing in modern Hong Kong) in close proximity to a variety of neighbours. But there is also the odd exterior location shot which makes this film a bit more interesting for people like me. Lee, in a very brief role, plays the wayward son of one of their neighbours who appears at the beginning and end of the film.

First up is a view across Cheung Sha Wan from upon Tai Po Road. It takes an expert eye to see the detail but it's a similar angle to this 1954 view that recently cropped upon Gwulo. The view below was taken slightly further to the west, but shows in blurry detail the old army camp in Sham Shui Po as well as some of the old housing stock along Shun Ning Road. Believe it or not, some of the buildings I can see in the foreground below are still around.

The last image shows the view further west still - around Hing Wah and Cheung Wah Streets - with some of the old boatyards in view from around that time. I'm not sure if any of the building seen in that image are still around though. The angle of the view indicates that this shot was most likely snapped from where the Carlton Hotel used to stand up on Tai Po Road - although I don't think it had been built yet when this film was made.

My Son A-Chang - Bruce Lee (1950) - Tai Wai Railway Bridge

My Son A-Chang (aka The Kid or 細路祥) was one of Bruce Lee's early childhood films, one of around 20 that he featured in during his childhood in Hong Kong.

It's been more than a decade since I last watched this, but I do remember these stills are from the very end of the film as A-Chang (Bruce) and his family head off into the sunset along the old KCR railtracks. I've got quite good at this stuff in the intervening years so I can now tell you with 100% confidence that I know exactly where the filming spot is/was. This was the rail bridge crossing in Tai Wai where the track crosses, what was, a small river but is now part of the much larger concreted nullah.

Surprisingly, the rail track hasn't moved much since the film was shot (at least not at this location) so the point where the rail bridge now crosses the waterway is basically the same place it crossed over in the images below. What has changed significantly of course is the surrounding area, that is basically unrecognisable. In most of the images below the low wall of the railway bridge can be seen next to the actors.
 

Walking towards the bridge. View looking NE towards Ma On Shan

SW end of the bridge looking back towards the gap between Beacon Hill and Lion Rock

Looking north, the flat area above now contains a small industrial estate

This image clearly shows the old river before redevelopment turned it into a nullah

The flat area behind is now the main area of Tai Wai

The final view looking NE from the bridge as they bid farewell

Once again the Google Maps marker gremlins don't seem to want to let me put a pin on the place where it needs to go, so in case it doesn't get rectified here is a nice view of the current version of the bridge, as viewed from the neighbouring road bridge.

An Orphan's Tragedy - Bruce Lee (1955) - Tai Po KCR Station, Tai Po Kau

Continuing with some local films, here is one I actually posted about many years ago but removed when I decided to concentrate of foreign productions. Anyway, here it is again.

This is one of Bruce Lee's childhood movies (he was 14 when it was made) loosely based on Dickens' Great Expectations. Lee plays the childhood version of the main characters, whose father has been framed and wrongly convicted of a crime but escapes and then helps his son study to become a doctor. Apart from a rather anonymous hilltop where the young Frank (Bruce Lee) runs into his (unbeknownst to him) biological father - an impossible place to find even for me - there are two scenes filmed on location at the old Tai Po KCR station at Tai Po Kau. The first scene is when Frank (Bruce) departs to go to study medicine. The second scene is when Frank returns after his studies and has morphed into the rather drastically much older, Cheung Wood-yau (father of Chor Yuen in case you didn't know).

Yes, prior to electrification in 1983, there used to be two Tai Po KCR stations. One of them, Tai Po Market station, was decommissioned in 1983 and subsequently became the Hong Kong Railway Museum*. The other was originally called Tai Po station and was located next to the ferry pier at Tai Po Kau. This station was also decommisoned in 1983, but was also subsequently demolished and redeveloped into a KCR staff quarters called Trackside Villas.

The name of this latter station appears to have caused some confusion when it operated, and so the name of the station was later changed to Tai Po Kau to reflect the fact that it wasn't really in Tai Po town. The station was really located here because it was a dropping off point for the nearby ferry pier that provided ferry services all over Tolo Harbour - once a very convenient way for outlying villagers to access the market at Tai Po.

Anyway, in 1955, as you can see from the screen caps below, the station was still called just "Tai Po".

Train approaching from Shatin direction

The view towards the north/Tai Po proper

The little girl is a 7 year old Josephine Siao

*It was at the museum that I first discovered this film because a short clip from it - showing the two scenes I have mentioned - is included in a visual display inside the old station building. For those interested, I did actually venture over that way once and took some photos of where the station used to be. Click here.

Game of Death - Bruce Lee (1978) - Rua de Sanches de Miranda, Macau

Another obscure Game of Death discovery to add to the list. It's a brief shot of the baddies car driving down a small road before turning right. It turns out the initial road seen in the first picture is called Calcada da Igreja de São Lazaro. If that name sounds familiar, well it should do because the part of the road is the upper section of a road I posted about all those years ago when first looking at this film.

Calcada da Igreja de São Lazaro (upper)

The camera pans to the left and we are now looking up Rua de Sanches de Miranda. 

Rua de Sanches de Miranda

If the camera had continued panning left then it would have seen this picture from the earlier pot I mentioned above. This tells me that the shot was probably taken at the same time because the camera position seems perfect.

Calcada da Igreja de São Lazaro (lower)

Game of Death - Bruce Lee (1978) - Kowloon Funeral Parlour, Maple Street

Not only was the film exploitative enough to insert real footage of Lee's funeral at the Maple Street funeral parlour, but it looks as though the 1978 film crew went back to the same location for some authentic reproduction. The first screengrab is from the 1973 funeral, the second is from 1978 with Colleen Camp stumbling out of the same place in a daze as she still believes Lo to be really dead.

Although often referred to as the Maple Street parlour, the entrance (which is behind the flower banners in the lower picture) is actually located on the corner of Bedford Road and Tai Kok Tsui Road and is just a stone's throw from Bruce's old school - St Xaviers.

Game of Death - Bruce Lee (1978) - Minden Row, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another Game of Death post included for completeness more than anything, however I can't take credit for identifying the location as that accolade goes to Andi over on Hong Kong Movie Tours.

In a real world Bruce Lee connection though I should point out that the building in the background of the lower two screengrabs is the Mariner's Club building. Readers of my Bruce Lee walking tour of TST (link here) may remember that Bruce used the telephones here to make long distance calls back to the US.

Game of Death - Bruce Lee (1978) - Rua do Patane, Macau

Welcome to the first post of 2018. Things will probably slow down a bit on the blog as I run out of films to view or take longer sourcing them. There's still a few out there to get but it may take sometime. In the meantime I have been looking back over past films and seeing if there are any locations I missed the first time. One of my first tasks was to re-watch The Game of Death (I know, the pain I endure for everyone's entertainment!) and lo-and-behold managed to squeeze a couple more places out of the general mess of the movie.

Case in point, the following scene in Macau showing a lion dance. Rewatching a DVD (though it was the Cantonese version that was missing several scenes and the best part of the film - the opening credits) meant the street sign in the following scene was easier to read, and therefore locate.

The baddies are stuck behind a lion dance troupe as they make their way to their hideout. It turns out that the road is Rua do Patane - identification aided by the aforementioned street sign that reads "Rua dos Curtadores".

By the looks of it the wall on the left hand side of the screengrab was replaced by a residential building but the small single-storey buildings in the background have so far managed to avoid the redevelopment.

A Queen's Ransom - George Lazenby (1976) - 41 Cumberland Road, Kowloon Tong

Two houses are used in the film. One of them (yet to be located) is the hideaway where the criminals are holed up as they instigate various parts of their plan. The second house is the house where Tanny Tien Ni (last seen in this blog starring alongside Tamara Dobson in Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold) lives. This latter one is in fact 41 Cumberland Road aka Bruce Lee's old house in Kowloon Tong.

However, there is an odd bit of editing going on because in one scene where the criminals are all chilling out in their back garden and Yang Sze (aka Bolo Yeung) gets into a fight with Wang Yu. The fight starts off at the criminals house but then for some odd reason there is an edit and the fight continues but this time, and quite obviously for anyone familiar with Bruce Lee's old house, in the garden of 41 Cumberland Road. These are the screen grabs I've put up below - you can recognise the "Roman" wall frieze on the garden wall and the old Japanese bridge.

The fight then cuts back to the original house where the crew are staying. But Bruce's house pops up again as Charles Heung (yes, THAT Charles Heung) goes to visit Tanny under some some of protection detail. While he is there she gets a visit from the Wang Yu et al and Heung hides on the balcony. Again, all this was filmed on the first floor balcony of Bruce's house.

Believe it or not, those columns still exist but have been integrated into the house when it was concreted over into its current box shape. What a pity because it was a really nice looking house. Anyway, then we get a view down to the driveway from the balcony as well as a quick look inside the bedroom as Heung re-enters once the baddies have gone. You can just see the famous entrance gate through the gap between Heung and the screen door.

And finally, although I have no proof, I think this last shot shows the internal staircase. I guess this must have not been long after the place was bought by Yu Pang-lin.