Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Deepwater Bay

Wong meets up with Shen Yan during his training and they take a stroll along the beach at Deepwater Bay. This is a nice scene because we are treated to a quick view of the famous "Arrowhead" house that was featured in Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.

Just Heroes - David Chiang (1989) - 40 Island Road, Deepwater Bay

The main gangster house where they all meet for the will reading, and of course where the explosive finale is set, was filmed at what was #40 Island Road.

Past form on this blog has shown that when a film (specifically John Woo ones) uses a property for explosive shootouts (see Hard Boiled, The Killer), it was because the place was about to be demolished so no one cared what happened to it. It seems that this was also the case for this property as well until someone offered to buy it and extended it a lifeline, at least for a few years. The offer was by former model, Sally Mount and her investor husband, Duncan.

I have a book in my hand that claims the property was built in 1940 for Sir Run Run Shaw, but the timeline feels off for me as I don't believe Sir Run Run was in Hong Kong at that time, but I could be wrong. However, it does confirm some rumours I heard previously that Shaw owned a property in Deepwater Bay. This also ties in with the fact that this film was made to raise money for Chang Cheh, one of Shaw's most prolific directors. Someone mentioned on Gwulo that Lee Kuan Yew, the former leader of Singapore, used to stay here when he visited Hong Kong. Knowing Shaw's ties with Singapore this doesn't surprise me.

Sadly, the lifeline was only for a few more years as the Mounts sold up in 1996, following five or six years of renovations, and set a territory sales record for the property at HK$163million. Looking at aerial images, it looks like the property remained until circa 2000 before finally getting demolished and redeveloped into a row of much more valuable but aesthetically underwhelming luxury townhouses.

Whicker's Orient - Alan Whicker (1972) - Deepwater Bay, Hong Kong

The first interview Whicker does with one of Hong Kong's shipping tycoons is Y.K Pao. Pao was famous for partaking in a daily swim in Deepwater Bay not far from his home and this is where Whicker has to go in order to grab a short but sweet interview with the hardworking fella. It might be this love of swimming that triggered the naming of Aberdeen's public swimming pool complex after the old man. For a reminder of what I am talking about, it was one of the locations seen in Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon. Look carefully in the background of the images below and you'll see the VRC building. It's a very similar angle to this one filmed around the same time.

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.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Deepwater Bay, Hong Kong

Episode 9, The Turncoat, centres around a man who was one of the American "turncoats" following the cessation of hostilities during the Korean War i.e. defected and decided to stay in North Korea. In this episode he has had enough of his life and wishes to gain a passport/passage to another country in return for revealing the location of a drug haul he has been paid to bring into Hong Kong.

The show starts with a small boat off the coast of Hong Kong as he swims into Deepwater Bay. Look carefully and you can just make out podium wall of the famous "Arrowhead" house in the background (left). This was the property owned (and built) by Alfredo Alvares that featured in Love is a Many-Splendored Thing.

Red Dragon - Stewart Granger (1965) - 38 Island Road, Deep Water Bay

Following on from my last post for Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong, here is the same property ("Merachiaro") used a few years earlier for Stewart Granger's foray into German-produced thrillers. At the time I couldn't pinpoit the property but after looking at the more detailed online maps courtesy of the geoinfo map, the building shape (and that distinctive exterior covered walkway) are quite obvious. Google isn't so useful as it lacks the same detail. Never mind, it's nice to know such an old property is still around and looks really nice. If you own this property then you are no doubt already loaded, but can now add the additional boast that Stewart Granger has been to your house - albeit in 1965.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - 38 Island Road, Deep Water Bay

The main bad guy in the film, who also happens to be the father of one of the idle youths getting into trouble with the police, lives in a rather splendid property on the Deep Water Bay coastline. After a bit of digging around (plus some looking back at Stewart Granger's Red Dragon that used the same property) it looks as though the building is still around and stands at 38 Island Road. The house is called "Marechiaro". The build date for this house is 1945, which means it is actually pre-war as many records were lost/destroyed during the Japanese occupation and 1945 is given as the default date for anything pre-war.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong

We've already seen a little bit of Deep Water Bay from the grounds of 68 Deep Water Bay Road, but we also get a closer look as Fuchsberger escapes a junk to swim ashore. The structure in the background is the Victoria Recreation Club.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - 68 Deepwater Bay Road, Hong Kong

An easy one to get this one because we are given the address on film several times. The original building was redeveloped in 1978 - a few years after this film was made. The architectural company involved (AKAA) have a project page with a picture of the newer property: http://www.akaa.com.hk/kadoor01.html.

As suggested by the webpage above, the owner is Sir Michael Kadoorie - head of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Company and China Light & Power etc. Whether or not he owned it in 1972 is uncertain, but I do have a friend who has been lucky enough to visit here and describe the underground garage where Sir Kadoorie stores his collection of cars. Apparently it has a sort of 'rotary' lift whereby he pushes a button and keeps it held until his choice of car pops up. I'm not sure where he keeps his helicopter though...

The house's name is "Miramar" and Gwulo.com has a little bit of information about it here. Kadoorie was so keen to preserve the view from his house that he also bought #70 & 72 to stop anyone else from buying them and redeveloping.

There are a lot of great angles for this location, so this post may be a bit picture-heavy.

The bottom picture shows the view across the pool and over Deep Water Bay towards Middle Island in the distance. The house has been redeveloped,but it looks like the pool and view haven't really changed much.

We also catch a brief glimpse of #71 from the driveway. As far as I can tell that building has also been rebuilt at some point because the current version, despite it's art deco styling, doesn't appear to match the current one.

#71 Deep Water Bay Road

And there is also what appears to be a fake telephone box further down the road (on the lower side of #71).