The Vengeance of Fu Manchu - Christopher Lee (1967) - Maclehose Trail Stage 9, Tai Mo Shan

So-called 'white washing' and 'yellow face' has been in the movie news of late (just look up any of the criticisms - valid or otherwise - of Birth of the Dragon, The Great Wall and Ghosts in the Shell), so what better time than now to break out one of the earlier offenders of this by looking at The Vengeance of Fu Manchu. The titular character being played by a 'yellow face' Christopher Lee.

In this film (made in 1966/67 at the same time as the other Harry Alan Towers-produced films Five Golden Dragons and The Million Eyes of Sumuru) Fu Manchu dreams up an evil scheme to kidnap his arch enemy and frame him for a murder.

The film crew did a great job at portraying Hong Kong as an isolated area of the Chinese hinterland by using some rarely used locations around the slopes of Tai Mo Shan - Hong Kong's largest peak. The seeming remoteness of the locations is cleverly achieved by wandering a short distance up and down the hillside from Route Twisk. In this particular location, which happens to be the opening scene, the film crew had to walk about 2 km along a dust track that went on to become part of Stage 9 of the Maclehose Trail.

If you are wondering about the exact location then you should enter these coordinates (2°24'0.31"N 114° 5'23.07"E)  to get a good idea of where it is. It's about 2km from Route Twisk (heading east) just past where the trail splits inside Tai Lam Country Park as Stage 9 continues northeast (the other section heads south east towards a place called Lin Fa Shan). I did cobble together a nicely stitched panorama which you can click on to view in better detail.

Sadly, no Streetview here because it's all trail and no car access. But looking at the odd photo I have seen the whole place is now verdant with tree growth so the views are no longer open. I'll try and get up there to grab some pictures for comparison over the coming weeks.

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Shatin Pass Road: Finale

As previously mentioned, the end of this scene takes place at the iconic Lion Pavilion at the crossroads of Shatin Pass Road where the trails lead up to Lion Rock. Aside from the obvious mass of tree growth that is now evident, and a new lick of paint on the pavilion, not much has changed.

Even the dai pai dong seen in the background of the second screen capture is still there serving up a delightful selection of doll noodles and soda to weary hikers.

No expansive views anymore thanks to abundant tree growth, but here are a couple of snaps from a recent hike I did up there.

A sad reflection on my photographic skills is that Streetview has a better shot of this place - though perhaps the google car was able to ascend on a less busy day because it captured a nice car-free view of the area. The lower one is the view up the side road where the aforementioned dai pai dong still stands. Whether it's owned by the same people is unclear, perhaps the next time I am there I will ask.