Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - 180 Nam Shan San Tsuen Road, Sai Kung

Here's one that I should have done years ago but I only recently realised it was a location I already knew about. I uploaded the Yellowthread Street series to Youtube a while back (see here) and noticed that one episode, The Red Pole, had been blocked due to music copyright. Anyway, after a rewatch (and edit) I realised that the house where the final attack by the triad takes place is a house we have come across a couple of times on the blog before. It's the large Spanish villa that was seen in both Forced Vengeance, where it is the house of Josh's employer, and in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story where it stands in for 41 Cumberland Road.

In this episode of Yellowthread Street, we see a bit more of the interior, especially the downstairs, compared to the exterior.

If you click through on the Forced Vengeance post you'll notice some interesting comments. One of which appears to be from the current owner/occupier of the house who mentions the swimming pool (under construction during the filming of Forced Vengeance) has been turned into a fish pond. However, I have no idea who lived there when all this stuff was filmed. Perhaps someone related to Salon Films?

The Brain Stealers - Lily Ho Li-li (1968) - Port Shelter, Sai Kung

Jia-wen is trying to woo Chiu-lan and takes her out on a boat for the day whilst they are being watched by the agents from the UN. This scene was shot at the Tai Mong Tsai-end of the harbour.

The Brain Stealers - Lily Ho Li-li (1968) - Shaws Movietown

I seem to have lost count how many times Shaw House has been used as a nightclub in one of its productions. In this film it is called Queen Bee and is supposed to be located in Tokyo. In the film it is owned by Chiu-lan's fiance, Jia-wen (Peter Chen Ho) and is where her brother is kidnapped from.

This isn't the only appearance of Movietown in the film though and a few more shots were used for a variety of scenes. The following ones are when the UN are showing agent 009 (Lin Chih-yung) footage of the scientist's laboratory.

The famous yellow gates (Shaw fans know)

There are also some other lab vicinity scenes later that were also filmed inside Movietown. IN fact, I believe the buildings you see below are ones that have been left intact at the very front of the plot (including the old Shaw House). The first building below was the old colour lab located at the south tip of Movietown.

The Colour Lab

You can see the Colour Lab in the distance

The Yellow Gates

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Shaw Bros Dormitories, Clearwater Bay

The exterior scenes of the police station where Chai's wife, Po (Carina Lau), is being held were filmed at the old Shaw dormitories next to Movietown. The interior scenes were shot somewhere else though (looks like a real, but old station - yet to be determined).

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Fu Uk Tung Kei Joint Garden, Tai Chung Hau Village

Following the execution of Big Eye, Chai calls a meeting with all the disparate groups of triads to work out a plan to deal with Yung. However, they have all been set up and the police raid the meeting, kill a couple of the gangsters and to save his brothers, Chai gives himself up to the police and takes all their guns with him.

This was filmed at a small horticultural co-operative in Sai Kung called Fu Uk Tung Kei Joint Garden (富屋東記組合花園). It's still marked on some maps as being located right next to the junction of Tau Chung Hau Road and Hiram's Highway. It may have moved around a bit over the years, I have no idea, but at least one of the angles matches the ridgeline in the top image below.

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Clearwater Bay Country Club

Chai meets his former rival gang boss, Boss Chu, at the Clearwater Bay Country Club to discuss how to deal with the increasingly unhinged and belligerent Yung. The two former rivals now being friends and business partners.

The Angel Strikes Again - Lily Ho (1968) - Port Shelter, Sai Kung

The gang is blackmailing a local airline to the tune of 5M dollars (insert Dr Evil meme) and have instructed them to put the money into the water in Port Shelter. The police follow the money in a local junk to try and capture the extortionists but it turns out they have been duped as the gang collect it from underwater using scuba gear.

Most of this sequence appears to have been filmed in the bit of water between Sharp Island (seen from the east in the first image) and Kau Sai Chau.

The Angel Strikes Again - Lily Ho (1968) - Lung Ha Wan, Clearwater Bay

Lung Ha Wan a.k.a Lobster Bay has long been a popular filming location for local (and overseas) movie productions. In this film it is where 009 and Deng Lei (Tang Ching) finally catch up with the female gang boss. This whole area seen below has changed significantly with the constrcution of the riding school as well as the general growth of trees and other vegetation. You can see the same area from the other side at the beginning of Weiße Fracht für Hongkong. This area (top three images below) is now all part of the riding school. In the fourth image we see the path up to what is now the kite flying area.

Sticking with Lobster Bay and the following captures are from later in the film as the gang pick up their ransom money via scuba diver. The diver exits Port Shelter via the first beach at Lobster Bay (where the concrete ramp was later constructed by smugglers before being destroyed by the British Army). The diver gets into the car and it drives back up Lung Ha Wan Road.

Heroes Two - Alexander Fu Sheng (1974) - nr Wong Chuk Yeung, Sai Kung

Another popular filming site for Shaws, and indeed many movies throught the 1970s and 80s, was the plateau above Three Fathoms Cove in Sai Kung District. It's also been featured on the blog on multiple occasions previously, but by far the most popular post for it in the one I did for The Young Master where the only way Lung (Jackie Chan) can beat his opponent (Whang In-sik) is by getting completely stoned on bong water.

In this movie, this is the location of the final fight between the rebels, led by Fong and Hung, and the Ching general and his minions. The location is now completely overgrown now, as are many former filming sites simply because of the shift away from these outdoor locations during the 1980s.

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - Hebe Haven Yacht Club

Boss has ordered another rival killed and Ngok is disguised as a waiter to initiate the killing. Meanwhile Han and Shan are nearby to provide cover. However, it's actually a setup by Interpol to help Ngok escape in return for him giving evidence against his boss. The location is the Hebe Haven Yacht Club.

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - Hebe Haven, Sai Kung

Still living it up on their earnings, the boys take a boat out onto the waters of Hebe Haven in Sai Kung.

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - 50 Tin Shek Road, Sai Kung

The location of the boss's (Dick Wei) house is a rather secluded small lane in the hills above Hebe Haven in Sai Kung. I have no idea who lived there at the time but they were kind enough to let the film crew blow out the lower windows during the film's finale. It's a location the film returns to time and again as the boss meets up with the killers to give them their new instructions. To channel (now, Sir) Loyd Grossman..."Who lives in a house like this?"