My Three Sons - Fred MacMurray (1965) - Repulse Bay Road

The family are staying with one of their dad's colleagues and the establishing shot for these scenes is an upward shot towards some properties that used to stand on Repulse Bay Road. The lower building in the image is the previous version of a property that was located at 16 Repulse Bay Road. The two properties above are the old properties of 25 (on the right with the curved verandah) and 27 Repulse Bay Road. Fortuna Court and Royal Garden developments now occupy these sites (respectively). It's a shame the picture quality is so poor because I've never seen images of these upper properties before. I think the camera must have been positioned down on Island Road in front of the golf course.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Estrellita, Repulse Bay Road

The establishing shot for the house where Lung's friends live is the famed "Estrellita" on the higher levels of Repulse Bay Road. The building is quite old and was one of the first "hacienda" style private homes in Hong Kong according to the Gwulo page for it.

These days it's owned by Henry Cheng, the retired patriarch of the New World business empire that is currently undergoing some bad times so perhaps we will see it on sale again soon? It was in the news a few years ago because it was targeted by some obviously very unpatriotic burglars.

I don't think the closeups (not shown here) used the same property, so that's an ongoing search. Sadly, the picture quality doesn't provide me with quite enough information, but from what I can gather the interior and garden scenes were most likely shot elsewhere.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong

On the way to the hospital following his discharge, we see George driving along Repulse Bay Road near to the entrance to the "Clinic of Flowers" i.e. the Repulse Bay Hotel. This is quite an interesting shot because it shows what looks to be the constructionof the Repulse Bay Apartments on the right side of the screen. They were completed and ready for sale by June 1977, so we know the film was shot prior to that. In the background is the already completed Repulse Bay Garden (completed 1973) and look on the left and you will see a rather grand Chinese-style private house at 12 Belleview Drive - owned by Lee Shiu-kee (李兆基).

Foxbat - Henry Silva (1977) - Former 36 Repulse Bay Road, Deepwater Bay

So, during the COVID19 lock down I have been re-looking at Foxbat (last covered back in 2017) courtesy of the bluray version. The additional resolution has allowed me to find a few more previously unidentified places, and this location was a real stumper.

Recall that in the film this property is supposed to be located at the top of Craigmin Road on the Peak because all the shots of people and cars approaching the property were filmed there. However, that was most definitely a red herring because it turns out this property was in fact located on the headland that sits between Deepwater Bay and Repulse Bay.

It's a great looking property and I haven't bothered investigating when it was built but suffice to say it has since been demolished and turned into a small collection of luxury houses, collectively called "Sunbeam", at 36 Repulse Bay Road.

If anyone can tell me who used to live here or anything else interesting about the place, please feel free to leave a comment or email me.

China Rose - George C. Scott (1983) - Eucliffe, Repulse Bay

In a nice little surprise, Eucliffe - the famous castle like mansion that once sat above Repulse Bay - makes a showing. In the film it is the house of a triad boss whose daughter knew Scott's son. The scene starts with a view from Repulse Bay Road looking back towards the Repulse Bay Apartments.

 The old driveway of Eucliffe seems to coincide with the modern day entrance into the development that replaced it (which goes by the rather bland- for HK at least - name of "56 Repulse Bay"). The old entrance can be seen in the next shot.

Once inside the driveway we can see the front entrance. I have no idea whether or not the place was still being lived in when this film was made, but it looks as though the small centre garden in the middle of the circular driveway was still being tended to (or quickly fixed up by the film crew?). The building still had a few years of life left before demolition, so it's feasible it was still being lived in at this time.

We even get a quick glimpse inside the hallway as the maid opens the door to let them in, and what looks to be a conservatory in the next scene - although , I must admit, I am only guessing that it was filmed inside the building. It would be great if anyone could confirm.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong

One of the early scenes shows a couple of local cops in the back of a squad car. The road they are driving along is Repulse Bay Road and if you cover one eye and squint really tightly you might just be able to make out some of the blurry background including one of the Eucliffe towers and the old Repulse Bay Hotel in the far distance.

Jason King (TV Series) - Peter Wyngarde (1972) - Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

A breezy shot looking out over Repulse Bay features at one point in the show. I think, judging from the gap between the islands, (Tau Chau in the centre and the larger Ngan Chau - or Round Island - on the right) that this shot was taken from somewhere along Repulse Bay Road as it curves around the headland to the west of the bay. More to the point, I would love to know which show or film these images were all taken from originally because it most definitely wasn't filmed specifically for Jason King.

Boarding Gate - Asia Argento (2007) - Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

The end of the movie takes place in Repulse Bay, specifically the Repulse Bay Arcade. This shopping mall is a replica of the original hotel (though allegedly built from the same stones) that has been featured on this blog on several occasions, but was sadly demolished in 1982 to make way for the current Repulse Bay Apartments and the aforementioned replica mall. The whole site was redeveloped in 1985 into what can be seen today, fake hotel building and all.

Anyway, first we see Sandra's boss (played by Richard Ng's son, Carl) driving along Repulse Bay Road before heading into the shopping complex to meet his conniving business partner at The Verandah restaurant.

Repulse Bay Road

Driveway at the front of the mall

The Verandah restaurant

That Man Bolt - Fred Williamson (1973) - Tin Hau Temple, Repulse bay

This place has cropped up a few times here on this blog under various guises. In this film it's supposed to be somewhere called the Fan Tan Bath House.

Actually, for me the most interesting picture from this little sequence is the following one that shows the view to the west across the beach to the headland opposite. Until the 1980's this area had a large expansive mansion on it built by Eu Tong Sen called 'Eucliffe'. It was a castle-like construction that was also the scene for a particularly barbaric atrocity committed by Japanese troops (one of many, I hasten to add) against Allied defenders on Hong Kong in December 1941. Multiple prisoners who had surrendered to advancing troops were rounded up, tied, bayoneted, beheaded and cast down the cliff onto the rocks below. The site is now occupied by a large luxury mixed development called "Royal Cliff". Anyway, you can see one of Eucliffe's towers in the background behind Fred Williamson 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.