I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - KCR Railway Track, Tai Po

A few shots here taken from earlier in the show when the spies are back in Tai Po, this time walking along the track between Tai Po Market and Tai Po Kau. How can I be so specific? Well, the background here is very familiar to me because I saw it virtually every day for six years.

The above shot has an obvious cameraman's shadow getting caught in frame - however, I am more intrigued by the small huts on the right because these look very similar to the buildings in the CARE Village off Tai Po Road opposite Wong Yi Au. Could they be the same? It's certainly possible because this village was established in the 1960's to rehouse local fisherman who had their livelihoods (and homes) destroyed by a typhoon that blew through the area.

Anyway, moving to the next shot below and we can see, on the left, the Yim Tin Tsai peninsular (just off screen to the left would be Sam Mun Tsai fishing village if that makes it any clearer), behind that bit of land is the island known in English as 'Horse Shit Island' (Ma Shi Tsau). On the right, in the distance, we can just see the lower part of what becomes Ma On Shan.

Finally in our last shot we can see (background right) the distinctive ridgeline of Pat Sin Leng, with its wispy cloud covering - believe it or not these clouds are a common sight, especially during the Spring time (which gives some support to Gweilo888's opinion that this pilot episode was shot during the spring of 1964.

On the left of Robert Culp is the familiar (to me, at least) sight of Yuen Chau Tsai - the small former island (now reclaimed and joined onto the mainland like the many other former 'islands') that houses Island House. If we momentarily put ourselves in Culp's shoes he was most likely staring down the former Tai Po Road (now called Kwong Fuk Road at this section) and the rather large stilted shanty town that was situated on either side of the road's sandy causeway. Note that all of the sea (Tolo Harbour in fact) between Culp and the jetty in the background has been completely reclaimed and now houses a highway.

Project A - Jackie Chan (1983) - Lok Wo Sha, Ma On Shan

There is a segment in this film (one of my personal JC favourites and actually the first of the so-called new wave style of action) when, after the Marine Police have been seconded to the regular police, they are given training by Yuen Biao in the use of hand grenades. This whole sequence was filmed in a large flat area that now houses a rather large and ugly car park (at least ugly compared to how it looked back in 1983 when this film was made).

The site is called Lok Wo Sha and is right next to Wu Kai Sha in Ma On Shan. The spectacular lower slopes of Ma On Shan are quite obvious in the background.

Here is a recent shot I took after a walk along the waterfront to Wu Kai Sha (along the recently opened Ma On Shan seafront promenade).

As you can see the development here since 1983 (hard to believe this film is nearly 30 years old!) has largely been restricted to the area immediately in front of the mountains and Lo Wo Sha and Wu Kai Sha have largely escaped up to now. However - sure enough a new development is planned here very soon. Such is life in HK - the grand plan seems to be to completely block out the mountains so we can no longer revel in their impressive splendour (instead we can marvel at Lake Silver and Monte Vista).

Anyway, in case you needed anymore convincing here is Pat Sin Leng once again cropping up in the background looking the in the other direction (you can see it just above and left JC's pointy hat).