Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Dragon German Lobby Cards

AP was also kind enough to send over a couple of German Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story lobby cards.

The first one shows the childhood scene that were filmed over at Yau Kung Tong in Yuen Long. The second one of course is from the near final scenes of the Enter the Dragon set that was reconstructed over at Joss House Bay in front of the locally famous Tin Hau Temple. You can see all the Dragon posts here.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Shaw Brothers Movietown, Sai Kung

Okay, this one is my last one until I get some more identified after posting them on my Budding Sleuths page. This one shops a brief glimpse of the (now completely defunct) Movietown back lot.

Even though the studios had essentially stopped making films in the mid-80's when TVB became the main focus for Sir Run Run, the back-lot was still available for lease to whoever needed it - for example Jackie Chan built a massive period set here in 1988 for use in Miracles. Anyway, the Dragon crew also used the place for a very brief scene showing the filming off a kung fu film.

Shaws fans (at least genuinely geeky ones) will immediately recognise the giant wooden pai-lau (archway) that occupies centre screen. It has been a regular landmark in many a Shaw-produced movie.

This shows to me that some of the back lot was still intact even after the nearby University of Science and Technology (HKUST) was built in 1991 - it had taken up some of the Movietown land for development. Of course, now the studio premises are a complete wreck awaiting redevelopment. They have recently been given a Heritage grading but this means very little in HK and certainly doesn't prevent demolition  and redevelopment. However, I would hope that any new building here could incorporate the iconic Shaw House as part of the development and perhaps even turn it into a Shaws museum (I know a few people who would kill their grannies to get involved in something like that).

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Joss House Bay, Sai Kung

Okay, so I was a bit premature when I said the previous post was my last because I just found another one worth including. It's actually from the final scene when Lee walks to the top of a wall, supposedly during the filming of Enter the Dragon, and the white suited karate dudes all turn around and salute him.

This scene was actually filmed in front of the famous Tin Hau Temple in Joss House Bay. The large courtyard in front of the temple was the area where the extras were lined up and it looks as though a temporary wall was built for Lee to walk up. The Tin Hau Temple itself is just off-screen to the left.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Sai Kung, New Territories

Our final shot for this film is a nice look out over the northern part of Port Shelter in Sai Kung. Initially I thought it may have been taken from the garden of the Nam Shan Village house used in place of 41 Cumberland Road, but realised it was a little way north of there, slightly outside of the village boundaries - most likely from a smaller village marked as 朗尾 (Long Mei) on my maps - not to be confused with the nearby Lung Mei (龍尾) where the real-life Bruce Lee shot footage and stills for Game of Death.

In case you are curious, the small islands are Yeung Chau on the right, Cham Tau Chau (behind it and to the left) and the smaller one on the left of the shot is called Lap Sap Chau (lit: rubbish island).

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

A nice angle of Kennedy Town at the far west of Hong Kong Island taken from the harbour as a fishing junk sails by.

Some of the buildings we can see along what is Kennedy Town Praya are still around, but some have also been replaced since the film was made - to be replaced by even taller residential blocks.

One thing has has disappeared for good is the sight of these traditional fishing junks, however, our good friend wikipedia assures me that the one we can see above is in fact the Duk Ling, so you can still come here and actually get on board. Unlike its rather fake looking counterpart - the Aqua Luna - the Duk Ling does have an authentic history as a fishing junk before restoration.

I'm told (but can't confirm) that before the HK Tourist Board chartered the boat for actual cruises around the harbour, the Govt paid the owner a massive fee just to have the thing sail up and down the harbour front all week.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Mong Kok Kai Fong Association Chan Hing Social Service Centre, Tai Kok Tsui

One I almost missed because it involves an indoor location rather than the usual exterior shots. This didn't really take much identification because it is mentioned on the production notes that came with the DVD. It's the 陳慶社會服務中心, or for those that don't read Chinese it's the Chan Hing Social Service Centre at 45 Fuk Tsun Street in the Tai Kok Tsui area of Mongkok. Of course, this is also confirmed by looking at some of the Chinese on display in some of the screencaps.

Anyway, this is the scene where we are introduced to the grown up Bruce as he takes on some rowdy obnoxious British sailors (one played by Mark King - a fairly prolific gweilo actor in HK during the 80's and 90's).

 

In case you're wondering what the building looks like on the outside, here is the Streetview.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Tao Fung Shan, Shatin

The stand-in for Golden Harvest studios comes from Tao Fung Shan in the hills above Shatin. We see it a few times on film with the name "Pearl of the Orient" Studios.

By sheer coincidence...I have just re-posted an old blog post from my other site with a few more pictures of the place. You can see the post here and it mentions a real-world Bruce Lee connection to the location. Don't forget we have also seen this location previously courtesy of the Noble House mini-series where it stood in for Beijing.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - 180 Nam Shan San Tsuen Road, Sai Kung

Hmm, that address sounds familiar...well it should do because we have seen it before on this blog: it was the house owned by Chuck Norris' casino owning boss in Forced Vengeance. See the previous post on it here.

In Dragon: The Bruce Lee (made-up) Story, the house is supposed to be Lee's real address at 41 Cumberland Road. The filmmakers even went as far as to put a #41 on the main gate. Actually, it looks like the front gate had a whole new concrete wall built - but this have just been a prop for the film seeing as the property currently just has a chicken wire and metal gate.

If you want to know where this place is then just click on the link to the Forced Vengeance post, this saves me repeating myself but does beggar the question: who actually owns this place? I would hazard a guess and say that perhaps someone at Salon Films owns (or owned) the place or at least someone who knew Charles Wang, the boss at Salon.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Biblioteca Pública da Associação Comercial de Macau, Macau

This place also goes by the English name of the Macao General Chamber of Commerce Public Library - or more often than not the 'Octagonal Library'. It's a rather striking small pavilion, built in the 1920's, that used to be part of the adjoining gardens before road widening works moved it to it present position sometime in the 1930's.

We also get to see it in the film as Bruce (Jason Scott Lee) is carried by his adoring fans out of the Cineteatro and down through the streets to celebrate his new film The Big Boss.

Whenever I've passed this place it's always been shut, but it sounds as though this place opens regularly in the evenings for the local elderly contingent to come down and read the various papers and magazines stored inside.

I should really have included this in my previous post about the Cineteatro because it's just in front of that cinema, however, I feel this place deserves a post of its own.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Cineteatro, Macau

Having returned from Thailand (a.k.a Ma On Shan), The Big Boss premiere is being shown a local cinema. In reality, The Big Boss premiere took place at the Grand Ocean Cinema in Tsim Sha Tsui (still around but in a much reduced form). In our film the cinema used is the Cineteatro on Rua de Santa Clara in Macau.

Now, I've never been to this cinema in Macau and can't say whether or not the interior scenes were really filmed there, but I will err on the side of yes because until the 90's the cinema had a large 1000 seat auditorium with a balcony - just like in the film. My other argument is from a logistical point of view - why take a crew out to Macau and film an exterior when you can do the interior at the same time. If anyone can confirm the interior scenes are real and not a sound stage it would be much appreciated.

The some more scenes outside as the audience decides to put Bruce on their shoulders and carry him around in triumph.

And finally a quick glitchy grab from Streetview that shows the cinema building in its entirety.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Nai Chung, Ma On Shan

Off we go to Thailand to catch up with the filming of The Big Boss (that's Fists of Fury if you are from the US). Except that we don't travel to Thailand but just head out into the New Territories to a place called Nai Chung. We've visited here before, sometime ago now, with Shaw's Shaolin Temple but this time we are a few yards back from the mudflat and on an area of land next to Nai Chung village. The hills in the back are the same ones we can see at the end of The Prodigal Son (and a host of other films according to Andi's Hong Kong Movie Tours blog).

We can almost exactly see where we are because the top screencap shows that the camera accidentally caught a village house in the bottom right part of the picture. This house is actually No.22 Nai Chung village and still looks the same today (although I don't have a picture of it).

Anyway, I'm sure that this isn't the first time this area has stood-in for Thailand and I think we may see it in a later blog whenever I get around to looking at Jean-Claude Van Damme's original outing as Kickboxer.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Man Shing Ferry

Continuing our recent spate of ferry-related posts, here is one from Dragon that shows us the Man Shing (民昇).

From what I gather from various Chinese websites, the first generation Man Shing was decommissioned in 1969 and I suspect the one we see above was the next generation that was commissioned in the following year. However, I could be wrong - perhaps there was another generation of ferry after the 1970 one? Man Shing did do the trip from Central to Ping Chau at one point, but the one above was one of the HYF ferries plying the route between North Point and Kowloon City.

Man Shing was one of three boats owned by HYF - all with a 'Man' name. They were sold in 1998 and two are rumoured to be still plying their trade in Thailand.

Anyway, I am pretty sure someone out there (nudge nudge, wink wink gweilo8888) can be more specific about the history so in the meantime I can mention that the background in these shots is once again North Point. You can see both ferry piers in the background as well as the old North Point Estate (the lower buildings closer to the shoreline).

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - North Point Bus Terminus and Ferry Pier, Hong Kong

As Bruce is preparing to go home, he is chased down by a movie producer (I guess it is supposed to be Raymond Chow). But first we see Bruce approaching the ferry pier. The background is the now demolished North Point Estate. This is where the film makers made a better decision in their location choice because this estate was completed in 1957 (along with the adjoining piers) and was definitely of Lee-vintage.

The metal struts you can see are the supports for the pier roof. The pier itself is also featured as Bruce boards a ferry (in this case the Man Shing) before he is waylaid by the film producer. There are in fact two piers at north point, an East and a West one. I believe (although I'm not sure) that the one we can see below is the west one because it still has the light brown tiles covering the various pillars. However, I've never been to the pier so I can't be sure. If anyone has caught the Bauhinia harbour cruise then this is where those (ex-vehicular) ferries leave from and berth.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Tsuen Wan

For the scene for Bruce's dad's funeral, we return to a familiar cemetery for this blog. It's the
Tsuen Wan Chinese Permanent Cemetery that was seen previously in Yellowthread Street and also Contagion.

On this occasion we see the eastern slope overlooking the Tsuen Wan Road. Again, this is another scene where the director didn't seem too fussed about the buildings in the background because we get a quick glimpse of the Chun Shing factory building on the opposite side of Tsuen Wan Road.

Chun Shing factory building on the right

In reality, Bruce's dad is buried not too far from this location (about 3km away) at the St Raphael's Catholic Cemetery in Cheung Sha Wan. I actually went there not too long ago to visit the grave and I suppose these terraced graveyards are quite similar in appearance given the geographical constraints of Hong Kong.