Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - View from Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho

Some more digital manipulation in the final scenes of this movie as the gang are chased along a road by the local gangsters. The problem with this scene is that the view in the background looks real enough, it has recognisable buildings, but has actually been digitally superimposed onto the background. How do I know this? Because the view has been inadvertantly reversed. The background view shows a mirror image of the view when you travel along the Ponte Governador Nobre de Carvalho looking towards the Macau mainland. So I assume this last sequence was shot back in India and touched up later.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Cemitério Hau Si, Taipa

Kabir has a meeting with local gangster Johnny Bonzela. This was filmed in the Cemitério Hau Si, located on the north side of Tai Pa (former) Island.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - St Paul's Facade, Macau

The wedding scene was shot in front of Macau's most famous historical landmark.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Fisherman's Wharf, Macau

It's been years since I visited here - they still had the fake volcano on my last visit circa 2006/7 (it has since been replaced by another hotel casino - Hotel Legend Palace). The last images were taken outside the Rocks Hotel which is located at the far end of the development. The development has been seen twice on the blog previously.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Praça de Ferreira do Amaral, Macau

The four men meet at the Praça de Ferreira do Amaral to formulate their dastardly plans. Even though the infamous statue has been removed (at the request of the Chinese authorities prior to the Macau Handover) the man's name remains in place. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, see this post about the Ferreira do Amaral statue, now located in Lisbon.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - The Venetian

Kabir's casino is called "The Four Jokers", no doubt an in-film joke referring to our trusty conmen. However, the exterior of the casino features a bit of digital mainpulation. Other than having the fake name emblazoned down the side, one of the fake buildings on the hotel exterior has been extended three times its real height. This same fake building - the yellow one we see in the close up - is used in the film as the location of Kabir's office and is used in a gag later when someone dives out of the window into the water below. In case my explanation isn't clear, GoogleEarth has some imagery from a while back.

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Various Casino Signs, Macau

In Macau again and we are treated to some of the bright lights that front the casinos. The initial shot is of the Grand Lisboa but we also see some of the older Lisboa Hotel/Casino as well as the Rio and Pharaoh's Palace. We saw the Rio recently in Ballad of a Small Player. It's on Rua de Luis Gonzaga Gomes. My understanding (from TST Dave), is that most of the smaller "satellite" casinos, such as the Rio, have been forced to close due to recent changes in Macau's gambling laws. The hotel side of these businesses continue to operate. The Pharaoh's Palace Casino is located inside the Landmark Hotel on Fisherman's Wharf (there's a later post for that location).

View of the old/new Lisboas

Grand Lisboa

Rio

Pharaoh's Palace

Double Dhamaal - Sanjay Dutt (2011) - Galaxy Hotel, Cotai Strip

Kabir's casino looks suspiciously like the Galaxy Hotel on the Cotai Strip. This scene is an example of the merging of Hong Kong and Macau. In the film, the four conmen turn away from the harbour where they have just crawled out of the water and see Kabir arriving nearby in a stretch limousine. Of course, in reality the limousine was filmed pulling into the main entrance of the Galaxy, not in Hong Kong at all. This scene reminds me a little bit of Mr Hercules Against Karate which features a scene - supposedly in a single location - that was filmed at both Sydney Opera House and Hong Kong's Victoria Peak.

Guia Fort - Now and Then

The last comparison images from my brief sojourn in July into Macau is from Guia Fort. One of the best value things to do is to ride up Guia hill in the little cable car. It's dirt cheap and is a welcome relief from the summer heat (it was sweltering when we were there). Make sure you check out the small tunnels under the fort as well. The comprison shots I'm using here are from Challenge of the Tiger, filmed in 1982.

This is the front of the chapel

One of the buildings below the lighthouse

Templo de Pou Chai, Macau - Now and Then

Not far from Lou Lim Ioc Garden is the famous old Pou Chai Temple (Templo de Pou Chai). Also known as Kun Iam Temple, it was the location of the signing of the first Sino-American treaty (Treaty of Mong Ha) in 1844. There used to be a stone table where the signing took place, but on my recent trip I couldn't find it. I believe it was also once the location of a kidnapping attempt on Fu Tak Iam - Macau's first casino tycoon before it was wrestled from his grasp by Stanley Ho and Henry Fok et al via STDM.

For the purpose of this blog, it's connection to the film world comes from Narazumono (aka An Outlaw) where it was used as the Hong Kong location of the drug gang boss.

I've tried to get some comparisons but my reference material was hindered by the extreme amount of sunlight on the day - meaning I couldn't really see properly - but you get the general idea from the comparisons.

The temple remains largely unchanged since 1964, but you will notice that the large tree on the right in the first image below has been replaced by a small annex building. There looks to have been some changes on the temple roof, but this is hardly surprising given that we have had 62 years worth of typhoons to contend with since the film was made. It's not surprising that some of the Shekwan pottery has gone missing/been replaced.

In terms of the alleyway shot, there are actually two alleyways that run either side of the central altar buildings and it's not easy to tell which one they used in the film. They both look exacatly the same to the point where I can't remember which one it is I have used below for my comparison.

The final images show one of the smaller shrine rooms (on the east side of the complex I think) and the film image is largely obscured by the dark patch on the left used for the Japanese screen titles. In reality the room is quite open and behind the darkened bit is the shrine area.

The front gatehouse above has had an annex added on the right

The main temple roof

One of the side alleyways

Lou Lim Ioc Garden, Macau - Now and Then

I recently spent a very brief afternoon in Macau - I was on a 3-day trip to neighbouring Zhuhai and quickly popped in with the family to get some snaps of a few places for these comparison posts. First up is Lou Lim Ioc/Ieoc (last word is pronounced Yeoc, Macau romanises Cantonese "Y" sounds to "I") Garden. I have previously written "Ieoc" on my posts of this place, but I notice the official spelling is "Ioc".

The place is free to enter - as are most of these locations in Macau, and you can either go in through the main vehicle gateway on Estrada de Adolfo Loureiro (see the first images below for Game of Death) or enter through the tea museum (Casa Cultural de Chá de Macau) on Avenida do Conselheiro Ferreira de Almeida. It's worth a look if you have the time and benefits from aircon on a hot day.

This location has been used copious amounts of times for both local and foreign movie productions. Perhaps the most famous local movie is Drunken Master where the venue stands in for Jackie Chan's kung fu school. Sadly, the main building was closed when we were there but I was still able to get this general picture of the area where Dean Shek tortures Chan with some rigid horse-stance training. The building in the background is not the main house, but a smaller annex building within the garden. I couldn't quite recreate the further back/higher angle of the movie because there are plants obscuring the view, so this is the best comparison for the time being. Andi has a more comprehensive Drunken Master post over on his blog.

Drunken Master (1978)

One of the main foreign productions to feature the garden more extensively is China Cry, released in 1990. The garden and its buildings stand in for the pre-war Shanghai home of Julia Nickson's character, Sung Neng Yee. The following moon gate is located on the left side of the building seen in the images above.

Moon gate/arch

This is a view of the rear of the main house

also the rear, but on the other side

The pavilion and bridge is located in the NE of the garden

Perhaps one of the better-known "foreign" movies shot here is the 1978 travesty that goes by the name of Game of Death. A film most Bruce Lee purists would rather was consigned to the bin. The only real change I noticed between 1978 and now, and even since the last time I visited about 10 years ago, is that the lily pond has been completely cleared of the lilies, so now it's just...a pond.

It looks like they still have the same wrought iron gates in place 

This is the same area where the main fight scene takes place

Okay, not the best match for the angle, but you get the idea

For the final comparison I've tried to replicate another view, this time from Tai Pan. The difference here is forty years - Tai Pan was released in 1986. In the film, this is the extravagant home of the main character, Dirk Struan (Bryan Brown). Quite a few scenes were shot here but in parts of the garden that have since been renovated/changed. This shot shows the side rear of the main property.