We're Going to Eat You - Norman Chui (1980) - Rocky Harbour, Sai Kung

Despite the opening shot being of Shing Mun Reservoir, when the next shots show the two unfortunate initial victims of the villagers after they have arrived by boat, they are looking at their departing boat as it makes its way across Rocky Harbour - the northern section of Port Shelter in Sai Kung, just off the north tip of Kau Sai Chau.

Blade in Hong Kong - Terry Lester (1985) - Rocky Harbour, Sai Kung

Another aerial image of some islands, this time it'sa view above Port Shelter looking over Rocky Harbour and the West Dam area. The island with the boats moored in the bay is Tai Tau Chau. 

The Vengeance of Fu Manchu - Christopher Lee (1967) - Rocky Harbour, Sai Kung

A brief scene on board a junk (heading to Fu Manchu's secret hideout) was filmed in the north part of Port Shelter, more correctly known as Rocky Harbour. It's the same part of the area that was used by the makers of The Sand Pebbles the previous year.

Click on the above link to see a similar angle on the Sai Kung mountains in the distance. The two peaks on the right are actually the Sai Kung view of the Ma On Shan "saddle".

I also found another quick snippet from the film that was filmed in the Rocky Harbour area, but this time looking south from the shoreline.

This is the view from the shore near to where the Chong Hing Watersport Centre now sits on High Island's West Dam. In the view above we are looking more or less directly south between Tai Tau Chau (on the right) and High Island on the left. The hills in the belong to Jin Island and Kau Sai Chau. There's an almost perfect match up to the view on this panoramic shot taken from the Astropark courtesy of Wong Chi-chuen.

The Sand Pebbles - Steve McQueen (1966) - Tai Tau Chau, Sai Kung

I haven't really covered much of The Sand Pebbles despite the fact that it is a great film. The reason is that the HK-filmed scenes were, in general, shot in some rather out of the way places in the northern part of Port Shelter that is called Rocky Harbour. We've already found out where the junk barrier was shot and so I thought this post might help to add a bit more context because it was taken around the same area but looking back towards the direction of Sai Kung town with the famous ridge line behind it

The ridge line in the background includes Pyramid hill on the left and Ma On Shan on the right and has been seen quite a few times in this blog already. In the screen grab there is also an island on the left side on the frame and this is Tai Tau Chau. If you ever get the chance to go here you'll find out that Tai Tau Chau these days seems to be largely used for burying the dead because it is now strewn with hillside graves. Anyway, following my recent trip to the reservoir area, I managed to grab the following snap from the top of the west dam wall which gives an overview of the same area albeit from a height at the top of the wall (which didn't exist until 10 or so years after the film was made).

The junk barrier was somewhere around the edge of the lake at the bottom of the screen and the San Pablo boat in the film grab is seen smoking (fake smoke by the way) its way in the body of water in front of that lower cofferdam wall. You can see Tai Tau Chau on the left in my photo too.

The Sand Pebbles - Steve McQueen (1966) - Rocky Harbour, Sai Kung

It's a while since I found out that Robert Wise chose to shoot portions of The Sand Pebbles in HK. The production was notoriously frought with problems but the end result is actually excellent and one of my favourite all time movies.

Long before I had started this blog I had a go at pinning down some of the shots from this classic and managed to identify the approximate location of a key scene involving a barricade of junks strung across what was supposed to be the YangSze River but was, in actuality, a stretch of water near to the West Dam of High Island Reservoir in Sai Kung.

Here are some screen grabs. In the top image you can see the camera come around the tip of Tai tau Chau with the far distant pointy peak of Biu Tsim Kok centre screen. That distant hillock is the one that still sits at the north end of the east dam and at the time of filming was the lowest part of the mainland next to High Island.

Tai Tau Chau in the foreground

The remainder of the shots show us quite clearly where the barrier was constructed relative to the western tip of High Island. Unfortunately for us, this just happens to be the same spot that underwent extensive construction when the west dam was constructed for the reservoir. Luckily, it seems as though the main dam wall was constructed behind this area, but the current watersports lake and lower dam wall do cover this area. In fact it looks likely that the small island at the far end of the barrier in the lower picture might be (or at least coincide with) the small island that sits within the water sports centre and has a small pavilion on top.

I was in the vicinity recently and managed to take a few pictures. Unfortunately, better matches for the angles were not available but if you have a keen eye you should be able to see some familiar ridges on the hills surrounding the area. The first one is the view from the sea with Tai Tau Chau in the foreground. Look carefully and you can see the tiny point of the Biu Tsim Kok headland poking up behind the top of the dam wall.

This next photo shows the Tai She Teng. You can compare it with the screen grab to see that the junks were positioned in front of where the west dam wall was built.

And finally a picture of the watersports lake that sits between the main dam and the lower cofferdam wall. I could be wrong but to build an artificial island in there doesn't make sense to me so I wonder if it was built on the original small islet we can see in the screen grab, or at least remnants of it? It looks like it is in the right place. Either way, judging from the nearby ridges the junk barrier on the film was constructed near to that far edge of the lake.