Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Former Shek Lei Resettlement Estate, Kwai Chung

Going over some of the old films I've covered, as I often do when pickings start to get slim, and I found this scene from Die Jungen Tiger von Hong Kong that involves some hastily tying up of loose ends in the middle of the film. The scene involves one of the gang's members being killed on a rather large set of steps.

Initially I thought these steps might be the ones in Aberdeen that led up to the Shek Pai Wan estate, but on closer inspection they weren't similar. Anyway, it turns out that these steps were in fact directly opposite Wader Studios and led up to the old Shek Lei Resettlement Estate.

The estate no longer exists and has been replaced by the newer Shek Lei Estate, but the steps are still there and instead now lead up to an open bit of ground that is currently a sports pitch. In the images below you can see that at the time of filming there were buildings there. It wouldn't surprise me if this sequence was filmed at the same time as these other scenes.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Wader Studios, Kwai Chung

Here's another old location that I was struggling to find but the answer just landed in my lap courtesy of a Thai film I have been watching called Aorm Aok Jao Praya (Thai: อ้อมอกเจ้าพระยา). This location has also been stumping me for a while because it also features as a place where Bruce Lee was photographed during production of The Big Boss and I could never work out where he was, even though it was obviously somewhere in Hong Kong.

Anyway, mystery solved and it turns out this is on the back lot at Wader Studios. I'll put up lots more screen images when I get around to posting about the Thai film I just mentioned, but until then here are the images from this German film from 1969. Incidentally, you may remember that in this film, the exterior part of Wader also stood in for a warehouse in Singapore for this scene.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Castle Peak Road, Kwai Chung

In an interesting edit though, the next scene (following his release from the station) shows him getting into car supposedly opposite the police station, but was in fact filmed a few kilometres down the road back in Kwai Chung. How do I know this? The background makes for some interesting viewing because not only does it show the first completed phase of the Mei Foo estate (Mei Foo San Tsuen) before the rest of Lai Chi Kok bay was reclaimed to support the MTR construction and Lai Chi Kok Park. The building that looks a Chinese temple in the mid-distance is the 1960's version of the Lai Yuen Amusement Park (aka Lai Chi Kok Amusement Park). You can see the same Chinese-style building in this closer picture courtesy of Gwulo.com.

The combined angle on Stonecutter Island, Phase 1 of Mei Foo estate and the amusement park puts us up in the hills around where the current Tai Wo interchange - where Castle Peak Road meets Wa Tai and Wah Yiu Roads. The open view is now gone though because the park closed in 1997 and has since been redeveloped into various high rise residential blocks including the dubiously named "Nob Hill".

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan

At the closing of the film, the leader of the delinquent gang is released from the police station and set free. The police station in question is the old Tsuen Wan Police station at its former location along Castle Peak Road next to the junction with Shing Mun Road. Actually, the NT South Regional Police HQ is still on the same site, but the location we see below is now occupied by a school called the "Si Yuan School of the Precious Blood" and the modern Police station sits behind this building.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Lung Ha Wan Road, Clearwater Bay

Another favourite location amongst the various German productions I have looked at on this blog is Lung Ha Wan Road in Clearwater Bay. It's cropped up a few times now and here it is again towards the end of the film as Woods and Wolter chase the bad guy down the winding coastal lane.

Sheung Sze Wan

Sheung Sze Wan and Target Island (Ngam Tau Sha) at the right

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Kai Tak Airport - Part 3, Kowloon City

The final dispatch from Kai Tak which shows a few of the other areas not already seen. Woods basically goes here to throw his enemies off the scent so they believe he is leaving Hong Kong.

Fred and George Weasley in the background

 The last picture shows Woods running after his mate's car. The building in the backghround is still around, it's the Po Sing Court on Shek Ku Lung Road. It was built in 1967 so fairly new (and clean!) when this film was made, however, since then it has had the Regal Oriental Hotel built right in front of it and is hard to see from the road these days.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Yi Chun Street, Sai Kung

Here's an image that people familiar with Sai Kung might find hard to reconcile with how it looks today. The car chase that we covered in a couple of posts (Fung Sau Road and Tai Mong Tsai Road) ends when the doctor parks his car in Sai Kung town and heads off on foot (and ends up in Tuen Mun!). The shot of the parked car was taken at the western end of Yi Chun Street with the old cinema (the Sai Kung Theatre) in the background. 

The cinema building is still around but is now emblazoned with "Pets Central" and also had (until recently at least, because I have been told it has just closed down) "Steamers" bar/cafe located in the side we can see above. Modern day Yi Chun Street runs along the side of the old cinema building where it meets the sea.

But look at the big empty bit of space behind the car. This is the area that now contains Sai Kung Market and the excellently named "Wan King Path". The buildings that exist here now were built in 1975 so I guess we can put the reclamation of this area to the early- to mid-70s. Sharp Island can be seen in the distance.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - 38 Island Road, Deep Water Bay

The main bad guy in the film, who also happens to be the father of one of the idle youths getting into trouble with the police, lives in a rather splendid property on the Deep Water Bay coastline. After a bit of digging around (plus some looking back at Stewart Granger's Red Dragon that used the same property) it looks as though the building is still around and stands at 38 Island Road. The house is called "Marechiaro". The build date for this house is 1945, which means it is actually pre-war as many records were lost/destroyed during the Japanese occupation and 1945 is given as the default date for anything pre-war.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Kai Tak Airport - Part 2, Kowloon City

The second trip to Kai Tak in this film is when the two protagonists manage to bluff their way as chopper pilots for the dodgy shipment to Singapore by planting drugs on the helicopter to get the original pilots arrested. It looks like the film company had a free run of a section of the apron at the southern end of the airport but I'm sure there are people out there who might be able to better pinpoint it. 

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Castle Peak Bay, Tuen Mun

In a marvelous feat of pursuit, Woods catches up with his target (a foreign doctor who has been administering drugs to his subdued victims) only a few minutes later but in a location that is on the other side of the new territories (you may remember Weiße Fracht für Hongkong achieving something similar, although in that film they walked it!).

Similar to that film as well, Woods eventually gets hold of his enemy on what looks to be the Kadoorie Pier. Again, this scene was still part of the "excursion to Singapore" portion of the film.

Castle Peak Bay before it was reclaimed for development

 In the last picture you can just see  a small portion of Boulder Lodge - the private mansion owned by the Kadoorie family (after who this pier/beach area is named) who are perhaps most famous in Hong Kong for owning and running the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels company (owner of the Peninsula) and China Light & Power etc.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Tai Mong Tsai Road, Sai Kung

After his target escapes from him on Fung Sau Road, Woods catches up with the car on nearby Tai Mong Tsai Road and attempts (unsuccessfully) to stop him again there. Remember that this scene is still supposedly set in Singapore.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Fung Sau Road, Sai Kung

This is another one of the HK locations that is actually supposed to be Singapore. In reality we are tucked away in a rather obscure part of Sai Kung just off the Tai Mong Tsai Road. The road is Fung Sau Road and back in 1969 it looks as though it had some rather nice large properties. One of which, called "Hornin House", looks like it was (or at least the front wall) was captured in the film.

The house was built in 1965 so the only surprising thing is that it is still around.

Note the area on the right in the film, these days it has been filled up by a development called Bay View Pavilion.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Wader Studios, Kwai Chung

After rarely seeing Wader at all on this blog, it has been popping up left, right and centre throughout these German productions. In this film it is filling in as a freight processing centre in Singapore. The intrepid heroes have blagged their way into delivering a suspect cargo in an attempt to find out what may have happened to Woods' wife. However, Singapore was a bit beyond the films budget and so the crew just headed over to Kwai Chung and stuck a sign on the front of the studio block - much like they did in Heisser Hafen Hongkong.

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Aberdeen Harbour, Aberdeen

As soon as Woods arrives in Hong Kong, he meets up with his buddy here (played by Ralf Wolter - no stranger to HK thanks to his earlier appearance in Ein Sarg aus Hongkong). They sit and chat on a floating restaurant and talk about how they will find out what happened to Woods' missing wife.

The Tai Pak is in the background so it looks as though the actors are on one of the smaller, lesser-known, eateries, or perhaps just on one of the many houseboats that sat at the waterfront.