Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

A  brief shot of Jack Palance riding in a rickshaw along Hanoi Road. The familiar sight of the Kam Lung Company in the background.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Aberdeen Dockyard, Aberdeen

If you want to see what the old Aberdeen Dockyard looked like then Gwulo is a good place to start. It looks as though it survived until the early 70's - so not long after this film was made - before falling victim to the usual rounds of reclamation. The Aberdeen Centre now sits on the same site. The dockyard had two dry docks and you can see them both (albeit partially) in the screen grabs.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Queen's Road West, Sai Ying Pun

The sequence when Aldo Ray and Jack Palance are sitting in the back of the truck and chatting was filmed along Queen's Road West just at the part before it meets Centre Street. In fact, the whole sequence also involves the truck turning down Centre Street before we hit and edit point and see the truck go past from an external angle.

Look carefully and you may spot some similar shop frontages that were also seen in The Last Grenade (and identified by Thomas at the time).

 Queen's Road West

Turning into Centre Street

Centre Street

And the final picture showing us looking up Centre Street.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Magazine Island, Aberdeen

It's been a few years since I last looked at Kill a Dragon, but I find it useful to go back over stuff every once in a while to pick up the things I missed or forgot about first time round. In this film I just noticed there is a scene at the very start of the film whereby a couple of the bad guys are spying on a junk floating into the west entrance to Aberdeen Harbour. You can see Magazine Island in the background (and Lamma in the far distance) as well as some of the reclamation work that was being done for the construction of the power station that opened the following year in 1968.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Oriental Ballroom, Pilkem Street

Following on from the last I Spy post where I managed to identify the Oriental Ballroom on Pilkem Street, it was pointed out to me by my good friend and cohort, AP, that the same place was also seen in Kill a Dragon. Although we don't see the outside like in I Spy, we do get a look inside and see the same stairs and red decor, leading us both to believe that the Kill a Dragon crew also came here for this scene with Jack Palance and Aldo Ray as the former tries to convince the latter to come and help him with the villagers. Same red decor, same bannister, same white bannister spokes.

There are two bar scenes in this film, this one and the second one at the "World of Suzie Wong" bar on Tonnochy Road (see this post). The interior of the Suzie Wong bar scene, where Palance plays pool with his girlfriend, I have recently found out was actually filmed at Shaw's Movietown in Clearwater Bay. By pure chance I got involved in a little chat with a lady called Caroline who was actually one of the extras in that scene and she confirmed the set was built over at Shaws. It's interesting for me to hear this because I hadn't realised at the time that Shaws obviously also rented out their studio space - I had always assumed they used them solely for their own productions. Well, you live and learn.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Shek O Beach, Hong Kong

Palance and his cohorts head to the beach local in order to resurrect the carcass of the boat that was wrecked carrying its cargo of TNT.

Of course, this being the movie world, rather than the beach being local to the village, it is in fact located about 10 miles to the south on Hong Kong Island. Shek O beach to be precise. Recognisable by the presence of Ng Fan Chau which is the small islet that sits directly off the beach.

Here it is on the film in the top picture.

Now, Shek O happens to be one of those places that I have yet to go to. Call it laziness or whatever, but I really haven't been arsed yet. I'm sure I'll make it some day but I have to build up any enthusiasm for it.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Stanley, Hong Kong

Back from my hols (hence the lack of activity here over the past few weeks) and here is one that for a while I was a bit flummoxed with until a penny dropped and then I just felt like slapping myself for being an idiot.

The scene is immediately following the scuffle at the bad guy's mansion (supposedly in Macau but actually close to today's Gold Coast development) when the heroes do a runner and hide in a local market. Only it's not really a local market but one that is actually located - as the crow flies - 30 km away!

It is of course Stanley, albeit a previous version which is virtually unrecognisable today.

This first shot appears to be the entrance road to what is now called Stanley New Street (perhaps it was always called this?) which leads into Stanley Market Road and Stanley Main Street.
the main. If you have ever visited Hong Kong and done the touristy thing, then chances are you will have walked down this little slip road because the buses drop you off just a little up the slope. In case you need a reminder, here it is today (courtesy of Streetview). Notice the retaining wall at the middle and back - I wonder if some of those large blocks are the same ones that are visible in the film? The slope has been remodeled of course, but there's no reason why the remodeling didn't incorporate existing features. Any experts out there - please feel free to comment.

Following on are a few shots of the small alleyways and streets that made up this part of Stanley. Looking at the white gate below I think I can just make out Stanley's Chinese name (赤柱) in small letters underneath the arch, but that just be my poor eyesight...!

The gang escape their pursuers by boarding their boat that is tied up, conveniently, on a little spur of rock that is still around but on the side we see below (as they are running down the steps) has been completely redeveloped to create the new seafront area.

Yes, this was when Stanley Bay had a proper beach. All the sand has pretty much been built on by now to facilitate the extension of the road and seafront into the bay. Anyway, the opposite headland that we can see in the shot below is part of the Chung Hom Kok peninsula. Still looks pretty much the same in terms of shape but of course has the inevitable addition of residences now.

And for the shot below we can see the Stanley Peninsula behind Jack Palance's head. There's a big residential complex there now called Regalia Bay and beyond that (hidden from view) is the Stanley Fort barracks - now a PLA barracks.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Tonnochy Road, Wanchai

Jack Palance's character has a girlfriend who works at "The World of Suzie Wong Ltd" nightclub - in fact a real place that was situated on the corner of Tonnochy and Jaffe Roads. The truck is Leyland FG, apparently.

Anyway, Palance decides to pay her a visit at the bar and finds her trussed up by the baddies, but before we get there we catch some great late 60's glimpses of the area.

Red truck...er...I mean, a Leyland FG

 Yes, it was a real bar.

Gilman Motors next door along Jaffe Road

Now, Doug Price, possibly the world's expert on Wanchai girly bars and sometime poster on this blog, has a great little map from one of his many matchbook/bar card pictures on FLICKR that show a nice map of this place: https://www.flickr.com/photos/58451159@N00/13232118423/

Note that Gilman Motors is also marked on the map, but if you see the comment I also put on the picture I mention that AA Hall can still be seen in the signage. AA Hall was the name of this bars precursor and I guess the new management either couldn't be bothered or weren't able to remove the previous bar name.

The change that has undergone this whole area is, as expected, huge. The girly bars as well as general drinking establishments are still to be found, but the whole character of the area has changed and all these older buildings have been replaced. Check out the modern view of Tonnochy Road courtesy of Streetview.

And here is the view of the space once occupied by the bar and Gilman Motors next door. Note that the Gilman Motors place is now a Volvo showroom, it's more than feasible that the same company that owned Gilmans also owns the local Volvo franchise - that tends to be how things work here in HK.

By the way, does anyone know why Jaffe Road was blocked off in the screencaps? I am guessing it may have been a temporary precaution related to the proximity of Wanchai Police Station and the 1967 communist riots in HK.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Hongkong Hilton, Central

As mentioned in a previous post, Aldo Ray's character is a tour guide for the Hilton Hotel and so we get to see him taking some hotel guests on a boat trip followed by bus journey back to the hotel. In this post we get to see the bus arrive back at the hotel.

Now, unfortunately my first visit to HK was too late for me to have seen the Hongkong Hilton Hotel when it was still standing (when I arrived for the first time in Nov 1995, the site was already razed and the pile drivers were hard at work knocking in piles for what was to become the Cheung Kong Centre), so I can't confirm whether or not this was the entrance. However, my gut says it probably is - after all, the hotel seems to have been very cooperative by lending their boat out for use, so letting a film crew shoot some scenes at the entrance doesn't seem like too much of a stretch (and it seems to be a great way to advertise given the proliferation of product placement in movies).

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

On their way back from their boat trip to Aberdeen, the hotel guests are on a tour bus taking what must be the worlds longest detour, because they are actually travelling down Nathan Road (in Kowloon) on their way back to a hotel that is actually on HK Island.

How do we know it's Nathan Road? Well, one of the buildings we pass is the instantly recognisable Sun Ya Hotel. We've seen this place before on this blog courtesy of Golden Needles. It was located at 639 Nathan Road.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Aberdeen Harbour and the Wan Fu

More nostalgia for those of a certain age who may remember the boat owned and operated by the HongKong Hilton Hotel. It was called the Wan Fu - apparently a reproduction of an 1840's British Brigantine - and used to take hotel guests on fully-catered harbour and island tours.

It seems as though the film makers of Kill a Dragon couldn't be bothered with organising their own boat tour and instead decided to hijack an existing one. I guess it is fair enough though because the character played by Aldo Ray in the film is actually a tour guide for the hotel.

Yes, the Wan Fu was a real boat and it was operated by the HongKong Hilton - no need to create fake boat names and signposts for these shots.

A few familiar shots of Aberdeen Harbour above (that's Also Ray with the red blazer). In the following shots we catch a small glimpse of both the Sea Palace and Tai Pak floating restaurants.

Here are a couple of further pictures that show the Wan Fu circa 1990 - just a few years before the Hilton was demolished.

http://www.hkmemory.hk/collections/hkplaces/All_Items/images/201107/t20110722_41676.html

http://www.hkmemory.hk/collections/hkplaces/All_Items/images/201107/t20110723_43123.html