Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Museum of Coastal Defence, Shau Kei Wan

This post has been several years in the making. Back in 2016, I was doing a deep dive into the filming locations for the 1965 Jean-Paul Belmondo classic, Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine (aka Up to his Ears), and hit upon a place that I was finding it difficult to identify - so I put a picture upon my (now defunct) "help me"page. The location in question appears during the Lai Chi Kok prison sequence (see here) and is supposed to be the interior of the prison/police station.

Common sense told me that the prison interiors were probbaly not the real interiors because the prison was in full-time use at the time, so I wondered where these interior shots might have been filmed. A regular reader at the time, Arthur Yau, suggested that the interiors might be at the old Lei Yue Mun Fort - now more commonly known as the Museum of Coastal Defence in Shau Kei Wan. This made sense given the amount of filming that took place at the nearby former battery.

Here are the screen captures of the interior shots.

Anyway, lots has happened since then. I was fully intending to go and checkout Arthur's hunch and was just mustering the motivation to go when the museum closed for refurbishment (in fact a complete re-fit) late in 2018. Of course then Covid came along and everything in Hong Kong was shut down (you name it - restaurants, malls, sports centres and even peoples' common sense). I also got stranded in the UK (twice) and couldn't get back anyway even if it had reopened.

Anyway, I finally made it there this month (August 2023). It's been open now for nearly a year and the refurb looks pretty good (although in one of the displays there is a rather dubious claim that implies China single-handedly defeated Japan in World War 2 - but this might just be a poor English translation).

One of the best displays (for me at least) is an array of before/after images that show various parts of the complex before and after the initial creation of the museum. One of the images is below and it basically helped me to confirm Arthur's rather astute guess.

In case you can't see it, this corner of the redoubt - now the main section of the museum - was the same one seen in the screen shots above. The police office is the room on the left with the two small rectangular windows (in the top part of the comparison) and to the right is the arched casemate entrance where Belmondo and co and being kept behind bars.They are then ushered through the small arched doorway between those two places. My own photo below shows how they look now with galleries inside the rooms. The small rectangular windows on the left have been covered up and these rooms now contain galleries dedicated to the East River Column and the Japanese invasion.

Anyway, it's only taken me nearly 6 years but it's nice to have another location finally identified, and a big thanks to Arthur. Feel free to visit the museum, it's free of charge but is closed on Thursdays.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Kau U Fong, Central

I just mentioned my neglect of Kau U Fong in my last post, so instead of forgetting about it again, here is the related post that was supposed to be published a couple of years ago when I took advantage of the pandemic to relook at several older movies.

In the movie the street appears in some sequences set in and around Aberdeen and is the location of the club where Alexandrine (Ursula Andress) works. However, the same area was also used for the latter part of the scaffolding chase seen later in the film. In the lower 2 images below, you can see the old faded yellow building with the painted Chinese characters that used to occupy the corner where Kau U Fong meets On Wo Lane.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Lai Chi Kok Prison, Butterfly valley

Well, after much to'ing and fro'ing behind the scenes I can confirm that the exterior prison location from Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine has been successfully identified as the old version of Lai Chi Kok prison at the bottom of Butterfly Valley Road in Lai Chi Kok. I have Thomas to thank once again for his tenacious approach to these matters. Here is a reminder.

There are a few clues that have been picked up once Thomas had identified Lai Chi Kok as the area with the most potential so I'll go through a few of them. First off is the hilly terrain and the shaved slopes in the background. The shaved slopes are actually the area cut out to accommodate Cheung Hang Road which winds its way up the slope. The road the trucks are coming down is Butterfly Valley Road but it is hard to recognise it now due to all the roads that have been constructed here. The major one is perhaps the Tsing Sha Highway who's flyover now covers this whole area even up into the valley beyond.

The village that can be seen on the far side of the road in the second picture is Wai Man Village. It sat on the other side of a waterway which is why you can see a crowd piled up against a railing in that same picture - they couldn't get any closer without falling into the unseen water. Sadly, the village was removed soon after this film was made to make way for the construction of the Ching Cheung Highway (circa 1967) that now snakes around the side of that slope.

The white industrial building in the background of the lowest picture used to sit on the corner of Kom Tsun Street and the very end of Cheung Sha Wan Road but has since been replaced by another one called Grandion Plaza. The only anomaly I can find in all this is a missing building that should be this side of it called the Tong Yuen factory Building. According to building records (Centamap) it was built in 1963 but is obviously missing in the picture above so I can only surmise that perhaps that date reflects when construction commenced rather than when it was finished. Either that or the supposed filming dates for the film are wrong (I doubt it though - see bottom of page here). I am inclined to think the build date was wrong simply because I am not sure that industrial/factory buildings are issued with an occupational permit which normally forms the basis for the build date on residential buildings. I am willing to be proven wrong though so feel free to comment if you know what the deal is.

Anyway, you can look at the following Streetview to see how the area has changed. The picture below shows us looking up towards the hills in Butterfly Valley similar to the second and third pictures above. The prison was redeveloped into its current "correctional Institute" sometime in the late 70's/early 80's.

With regards to the interior of the prison, I am still awaiting confirmation but believe Arthur may have identified it correctly as the current Museum of Coastal Defense in Shau Kei Wan. I just need to make a trip there to size up the angles. Stay tuned (Edit: Arthur was correct, see here).

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Return to Sai Wan Fort, Shau Kei Wan

After posting about Jean-Paul Belmondo's and Ursula Andress' trip to Sai Wan Fort for Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine I mentioned I would try and get up there to take some comparison pictures. Well, today was the day and here are some of the results.

The first picture shows the slope going up to the top of the fort structure. The slope is still there but it now has a set of steps cut into the middle and as you can see the external slope has been shored up by riprap.

At the top of the slope, the view is changed mainly due to the amount of tree growth that has occurred. As a result the lower area seen on the centre left of the next picture is no longer visible from the same place. The structures seen in the film are still fairly intact, the one exception is the large building seen in the top picture: it has been knocked down at some point and replaced by a small rest garden and a rain shelter (the structure with the orange roof in the lowest picture below.

The next picture is the view looking over towards the island formerly known as Fat Tong Chau. It's still called that but has been reclaimed and is now part of the Clearwater Bay peninsula. Both pictures (the film  grab and my own) were taken from the very top of the slope. Actually, if you look closely at the wall in the film grab you can see a circular dent in the cement on the right - you should be able to spot the same dent in my picture.

 For the next picture we move around to the east facing side of the fort. The top of the fort has since been turned into a radio transmission station and the top is completely fenced off. This section of the fort is also marked as prohibited to enter but we (I was doing my exploring with David Bellis from Gwulo.com) were being given an impromptu guided tour by a local hiker and he said everyone wanders all over the place so not to worry. The section that juts out now has a radio mast fitted to the top and it looks like some concrete reinforcement work has gone on for that purpose because the top now has a lip. The bit on the wall is the fenced-off section I mentioned.

Next we move over to the opposite side of the fort and what is the west facing wall. This is the wall that is scaled by all the assassins in the film and to get there we had to skirt the fence and push through some trees. As you can see from my comparison shots, this side is also completely overgrown. The second of my two pictures was taken about half way along the wall. In the film you can see the development going on in distant Chai Wan but it's a view that can't bee seen from this spot anymore.

And finally there is the final part of our trip to the fort that involves Belmondo et al dropping into what appears to be some tunnels via a ground level hatch. The personal visit showed us that the hatch has now gone - it's been sealed with concrete - and it doesn't lead to tunnels but was actually an access hatch for a water reservoir. You can see some of the pipework in my first comparison picture. The section of the wall we were just looking at previously is hidden behind all that tree growth.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable little excursion and I have to thank David for coming along (he will do a more detailed write up of all the other non-film related places we visited) and for Mr Chan - the local hiker who we disturbed from his morning newspaper perusal and who then proceeded to take us - not just around the fort but also - down into the nearby former barracks at Lei Yue Mun Holiday Camp.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Hollywood Road Park, Sheung Wan

Until some of the more obscure locations are identified, I shall leave Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine with this final post, again identified by Thomas, that was seemingly filmed in the precursor to what is now Hollywood Road Park.

The space has history dating back to the very original arrival of the British because it was the site of Possession Point - where a flag raising ceremony took place and formal possession was taken of HK Island. It's an historical event still marked by the name of Possession Street an adjacent thoroughfare that connects Hollywood Road with Queen's Road. Before it became the park the area was a Tai Tat Dei (Chinese: 大笪地) a sort of open market place where hawkers sold all kinds of stuff and often called a "poor man's nightclub".

At the moment I'm not aware of the layout of the place but if you follow the link (supplied by Thomas): https://sc-whybother.blogspot.hk/2014/03/blog-post_8.html and scroll to the bottom, you'll see some old pictures of the area (as well as a screen grab from this very same film). It looked like there was two circular concrete kiosks and a few single-storey concrete huts. A closer look at the layout (and perhaps better placing these grabs) will have to wait until I can find some more helpful pictures.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Queen's Road West, Sai Ying Pun

I'm going to agree with Thomas on this one and believe it is the small stretch of Queen's Road West between Eastern Street and Centre Street. Several factors are leading me to this conclusion even though I don't have the dead certain proof that I usually look for.

The reasons I am agreeing that this is most likely to be Queen's Road West is mainly due to the configuration of the roads with the bend at the background, the three roads on the left that are apparent on the film (the three would be Eastern Street, Mui Fong Street and Kwai Heung Street - although Mui Fong Street is really only a small lane). Whereas on the right side of the picture (which is the south side of the street) we only see an opening where eastern Street crosses Queen's Road West. This tallies with the layout of the road there. Also the fact that this sequence immediately precedes this one makes sense that the film crew wouldn't head to this spot on HK Island simply for the quick shot as the cart turned the corner into Centre Street.

None of the buildings along this part of Queen's Road West (other than the shophouse near the corner with Centre Street) exist anymore, making a building identification impossible and the only real landmarks appear to be the Chow Tai Fook sign (seen in the centre two pictures) and the Ernest Borel sign seen behind his head in the lower picture.

So anyway, if anyone has an old picture of this section of Queen's Road West that can be used for comparison, or perhaps if you remember either of the aforementioned signs, then please leave a comment. It would be nice to know 100%.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Queen's Road West, Sai Ying Pun

Another excellent spot by Thomas and one that he has done before because the next screen shots show the exact same spot that we covered a while back whilst looking at The Last Grenade. It's the junction where Queen's Road meets Centre Street. You can click the link above to re-familiarise with the location. The top picture below shows the last shophouse before reaching the junction with Centre Street and this building with its columns can still be found there - although who knows how long they are safe for.

Queen's Road West

Turning right into Centre Street.

The blue sign at the top right of the lower pictures along Centre Street was still there 4 years later when The Last Grenade was shot. You can see it in the pictures on the link I posted above. Once again, many thanks to Thomas and his eagle-eyes.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Mount Kellet Road, The Peak

In one of the most impressive bits of identification we've had on this blog for a while, Thomas has managed to find the needle in the haystack by giving me the location for the following screen grab. It is part of the scene involving the car chase that culminates in the big pile up at Wanchai Gap as seen on this post.

The rocky embankment has been replaced by more buildings but the wall on the left helps us to see that this is Mount Kellet Road at the entrance to Matilda Hospital. You can compare it with the Streetview grab below.

So a big thanks to Thomas once again for his identification of this location. More to come.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Deepwater Bay, Hong Kong

After disappearing into the tunnels of Sai Wan Fort, another bit of geographical trickery takes place as the gang exit from a small door in, of all places, Deepwater Bay. The first two pictures are looking over to Shouson Hill area (top picture) and then Brick Hill (second picture) more familiar to tourists these days as the hill with the Ocean Park logo on it.

This second pair of screen grabs show the view looking from the coastline of Hong Kong over towards the headland (now Ocean Park) behind Berick Hill with Middle Island in the middle distance.

You'll notice that Ursula Andres is running down some stone steps in the second picture. It turns out that despite extensive re-engineering of the shoreline (to construct Seaview Promenade) the position on film matches exactly the current stone steps that serve as the embarkation point for those heading over to the Yacht Club on the opposite side of the channel. Check out the Streetview picture below.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Sai Wan Fort, Shau Kei Wan

Not quite the denouement of the film (I believe that was filmed on a beach on Langkawi, Malaysia) but one of the last major bursts of action sees Belmondo and crew running for their lives away from local gangsters and arriving atop Sai Wan Fort. Given how it looks now, these screen shots have to be seen to be believed because this was when there was almost no tree growth on the hill.

First we have a shot of the gang driving up the small service road that used to (and still does) lead to the fort from the vicinity of what was Lyemun barracks and is now Lei Yue Mun Park and Holiday Village. (Film location trivia: Jackie Chan's barrack scenes for Project A Part 2 were filmed there). The bay at the back is Shau Kei Wan.

Next up, the bike and its riders manage to make it to the top of the fort where they are attacked on all sides by seemingly endless hordes of contract killers.

Given the amount of tree growth now all over the hill, it's quite hard to believe that this is the old fort. Of course, these days the fort now has a radio transmitting station built on the top so I have no idea how much is still accessible. I intend to head over there at some point and try to get some comparison shots. Stay tuned. They also run around the various trenches and buildings at the fort.

Before dropping inside via an access door on top. The question is - are these the actual tunnels and passageways inside the fort? I have no idea but am hoping someone who has been inside can let us know.