The Last Time I Saw Macao - João Rui Guerra da Mata (2012) - Quartel dos Mouros, Macau

Da Mata goes to the Moorish Barracks to visit his old stomping grounds and says he grew up here when he was young.

Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - Quartel dos Mouros, Macau

Known to English speakers as the Moorish Barracks, this building dates back to the 1870s. Its original use was for a contingent of marine police newly recruited from India (perhaps from Goa given that it was also a Portuguese colony?) hence the design of the verandah openings giving the building a very Islamic aesthetic. These days it is occupied by the Capitania dos Portos de Macau - the local Port Authority.

This is where Minami goes to exact his final revenge on the people that set him up and although that actual scene appears to be a studio set, the run up/aftermath to it was filmed along the front verandah and neighbouring street, Calçada de Barra.

The top image shows the view west from the verandah, looking across the inner harbour towards China, a mere 500 or so metres across the water. The same row of houses seen in the lower portion of that image can also be seen in the third image as Minami emerges from his battle and walks past one of the veranda openings.

The next two images show the view outside the building as Minami falls down the main steps at the bottom of Beco da Rede. The lower image shows the police car driving down Calçada de Barra.

Macao - Robert Mitchum (1952) - Inner Harbour, Macau

Another black and white film noir, this time starring Robert Mitchum who was featured on this blog last year courtesy of his starring role in Robert Clouse's The Amsterdam Kill. Macao was one of the first western films to be set in the "Far East" and unlike Target Hong Kong (made on the cheap using stock footage from Hong Kong and Shanghai to set the scene), RKO (the production company) sent  cameraman, Dick Davol, to Macau and Hong Kong in order to capture various bits of footage to be interwoven into the story as well as used for back projection back at the studio.

An interesting feature of Davol's trip seems to be that he had to run up a rather significant expense account paying bribes to the local authorities so he could film notably this included the Police Forces of both HK and Macau as well as the various boat owners, immigration officers, customs officers and even the Communist patrol boat crews!

Anyway, we shall start off this particular film with a view from the inner harbour looking towards the southern end of the peninsula. The camera work is a bit blurry and being black and white adds a little to the lack of clarity but if you looks carefully you should be able to the see the back end of Penha Church up on the hill (top left) and directly under it, about halfway down the hill, looks to be the Moorish Barracks building - the latter caught at a time when it could still be seen from sea level.

I don't know what the curved building is on the waterfront but its position tallies with the modern day Capitania Dos Portos (i.e. Macau Port Authority). You can just see the low rise shop houses along the waterfront (Rua Do Almirante Sergio), there are a few examples left but are now mostly hidden from view by various developments that have cropped up along the old pier areas.