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.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Round Island nr Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

In a linking shot that supposedly portrays the ferry (named the Fa Tsan in the film) as it paddles its way into Macau, we see a quick glimpse of Round Island (Chinese: 銀洲) that looks to have been taken from the Repulse Bay Road - from the angle I would estimate somewhere near to the where it gets joined by Belleview Drive. I'm not familiar with the 1959 version of the road so have no idea if there were lookout spots around there. I suspect there was though.

In fact, that may possibly be part of the road we can see on the right hand side. Either that or a pathway or terraced garden. Either way, we can see Round Island on the left behind the tree (look closely and you can also just see the tip of Tau Chau sticking into the edge of the screen), the headland that disappears into the distance is in fact the south eastern coast of Lamma Island and the closer, green hillside behind the road (or whatever it is) is in fact the side of Middle Island.

Unfortunately for me there are no great comparisons to be found using GoogleEarth because much of the roadside is now covered in trees (which is a good thing) obscuring the view out to sea. But below I have included a Streetview picture taken from the much lower Seaview Promenade. You don't get quite the same awesome angle, but at least to get to see the bit I am writing about.

And, of course, clear days like the one we see on the film only really happen in the summertime, so I guess the Streetview was a wintertime affair.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

We return to Repulse Bay (we visited it in this earlier post) again at a time when Quillan Gornt is trying desperately to win over KC. The rock we can see behind is a small nameless pinnacle that sits between the mainland and a larger islet known as Tau Chau (latter would be off-screen to the right). Strictly speaking I suppose this is really South Bay rather than Repulse Bay, but I guess it is near enough to include with the latter.

The second picture shows the view looking back in the opposite direction towards Middle Island (behind their heads) and beyond. The high rises on the right hand side are a couple of blocks known as Somerset and Pinecrest, both still going strong on the headland above Repulse Bay Road.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - William Holden (1955) - Middle Island, Hong Kong

The famous beach scene is another one that has been the victim of unscrupulous tour guide misinformation. I've heard that one of the reasons there are so many tourists taken to Repulse Bay is that the local tour guides like to tell the tourists that it was the beach featured in this famous scene. Unfortunately they are about a kilometre off target because the actual beach in question is located on Middle Island - the island that lies halfway between Repulse Bay and Deepwater Bay.

If you look at the screen captures below you should note that Repulse Bay beach is the small strip of yellow that can be seen in the far background.

The picture below is a merge of 4 grabs to give a reasonably nice rendering of the area.

It's important to know that this area has changed immensely with lots of luxury development and also some reclamation (to the Hong Kong Island side) in the form of Seaview Promenade - a small path linking Deepwater Bay with Repulse Bay - which is well worth taking a stroll along if you get the chance.

Below is a picture I took of the actual beach a few years ago - I snapped it whilst walking along the aforementioned Seaview Promenade. As you can see there is lots more vegetation than there was back in 1955 - but this is true of all of Hong Kong's hillsides - and the island is in fact now the location of one of the branches of the Royal Hong Kong yacht Club.