Mad Mission 3: Our Man from Bond Street - Sam Hui (1984) - Shek O Quarry

The scene where James Bond takes Baldy Jr captive at the end appears to have been filmed in (the now decommissioned) Shek O Quarry. I only know this because the Shek O Quarry Company is acknowledged in the end credits, but a quick scan of the 1982 aerial imagery shows that there was indeed some similar machinery in the area at that time. (Caveat: I've been wrong about quarries before, so I will keep an open mind about this one) 

Shek O Bus Terminus - Now and Then

Not a great amount of time has passed since Contagion was filmed in Hong Kong - it was released in 2011 - so there's not a great amount of difference between the next two shots other than the fact that the building has since undergone some redecoration. It's funny, but the AMO (Antiquities and Monuments Office) grading report for the bus terminus mentions the film as well. This is the first time I've seen this, so perhaps the Govt is slowly coming around to leveraging Hong Kong's popular use as a filming location? Probably not. Anyway, here are the images. Remember, in the movie, this location is supposed to be over in the Mainland.

Shek O Beach - Now and Then

I'm currently on some down time while I work on other things and try to find a film to cover, but decided to make a trip out to Shek O today. It's one of the places I had yet to visit (yes, despite nearly 18 years living here and exploring pretty much every inch of everywhere else). Sadly I wasn't very organised for this trip and have to prepare a bit better for next time because I still have a load of images I want to capture - for all the films that have been shot in and around Shek O over the years. In the meantime, here is a comparison of the beach from Kill a Dragon (1967) and a quick snap I took today.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Shek O Road, Hong Kong

The action starts with an aerial view of the wife's car as she drives along a rather picturesque country road - Shek O Road. The small settlement in he distance is Shek O with its famous beach on the right.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Sung Kong, Shek O

On to the next subject of the blog and this time it is an ITV series (consisting of 8 episodes) starring John Simm and Anthony Wong Chau-sang as two guys who married the same woman (Dervla Kirwan). Said woman has been killed in Hong Kong under suspicious circumstances.

For some reason the show has been marketed as White Dragon in non-UK territories which is a bit of a pants name to be honest. I prefer the Strangers title as it relates to the general story better.

When the show first came out a few months ago there were a few online critics of it who questioned how realistic it is but, to be honest, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As someone very familiar with HK way of life I could nitpick the hell out of it but despite this I still found the story to be very good and well worth watching. The production has captured some really amazing sights and sounds of HK

It is a nice twisty story and the cinematography is outstanding - showing HK off in all its colours. It seems to be a show that will sustain the blog for quite some time to come so, as I have done with previous shows, I'll tackle it on an episode by episode basis and try not to throw out too many spoilers.

There are a whole bunch of establishing and mood-setting shots for this show and for the most part I will probably stick to the major scenes. The problem is there are so many nice images to use that I just can't resist and will probably just chuck stuff up as I see fit...and so the very first shot is a view of Sung Kong island (islet?) from Shek O beach.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Cape Collinson Road, Hong Kong

Back to the 1960's again for this next film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Ursula Andress. The English name for the film is Up to His Ears for some strange reason. Based on a book by Jules Verne it is a rather entertaining comedy about a young millionaire who wants to kill himself but then has a change of heart. The film looks like it went all over Hong Kong and there are some new (and as of yet, undetermined) locations to see.

We'll start off with this one over on Cape Collinson Road on the very eastern edge of Hong Kong Island. It's the beginning of the film when Belmondo deliberately cuts his own car brakes so that he will crash and burn. The scene looks to have used two (or more) separate locations but one of them is most definitely Cape Collinson as we can see from the views. The opening shot shows Belmondo looking out across a vista. The islands at the back are actually the Clearwater Bay peninsula and Tung Lung Chau (the tip can be seen on the right hand side).

Where the car actually crashes down the cliff and bursts into flames is a part of the cliff side that is close to where the "Correctional Institute" (HK's euphemism for a prison) now stands. Sadly the Google car doesn't go there due to the entrance of the prison but here is the screen shot anyway. The cameraman would've been inside the prison's grounds.

The next shot shows Belmondo's benefactors turning up in a car. We get a very brief glimpse up the road to a building. The building has since been replaced by a structure that holds a Fire Services reservoir water tank, but look to the far right in the screen grab and you will see a flat wall (purpose unknown) that is still there (centre screen up the road in the Streetview picture).

Finally, as they get out of the car we catch another view down the road to the terrain at the back which is actually Shek O and the D'Aguilar peninsula - including D'Aguilar Peak (Hok Tsui Shan) which is the big hill above the woman's head.

Blackhat - Chris Hemsworth (2015) - Shek O Village

One of the key scenes in this film is when the police conduct a raid on the Shek O hideout of one of the main bad guys. Despite being in HK for over 10 years I still haven't made the effort to visit Shek O so I can't tell you exactly where these scenes were but perhaps someone reading can tell us which house it was. Although if yopu look at the top picture you can see the Tin Hau Temple roof in the background. Movie cameras being as they are though, it's hard to know how far away the roof top is that the guy (the actor is Richie Coster) is sitting on. Of course, the well-known landmark of the local Tin Hau Temple has featured on this blog previously.

Knock Off - Jean Claude Van Damme (1997) - Shek O, Hong Kong

Time for another film and this time the 1997 Tsui Hark effort starring non other than JCVD. To be honest, Tsui's style of film making makes it difficult to get decent screen captures because he likes his skewed camera angles and looping twisting crane shots that leave a lot of the screen a bit blurry when stopped. But never mind, I seem to have salvaged enough stills for a decent stab, including the initial sea-based scenes that were shot around the rocky headland at Shek O.

The view in the above two pictures is from the area where the rocky spit Tai Tau Chau joins onto the main part of Shek O, looking north. The view directly south can be seen below and shows the small bridge that connects the two bits of land.

Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold - Tamara Dobson (1975) - Shek O

During the scene when Cleopatra is being pursued from the casino (the casino set was actually constructed at Shaw Bros because the famous pagoda, used in so many Shaw productions (fans will know which one I am talking about), was part of the rather extravagant set.

Anyway, one minute we are at the casino set and the next we are next to the Tin Hau Temple in Shek O.

 I don't have my own copy, but have uploaded and image from wikipedia (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_Hau_temples_in_Hong_Kong#/media/File:HK_ShekOTinHauTemple.JPG).

From what I can see in the Cleopatra Jones screen grab, the temple has definitely undergone a renovation and it looks like the pictures at the front wall of the building have been changed. I think they might be tiled mosaics so I guess it's not too much of a job to change them - but the positions of the pictures haven't changed and neither has the general appearance of the place.

Just after she leaves the temple, Jones heads down the nearby street, in reality it's not too far away at all on Shek O Village Road. It's a night time shot, so not the clearest but some recognisable buildings can be seen.

The Streetview grab below shows the same place with the Chinoiserie-style white building on what, I think, is 405-407 Shek O Village Road (corrections welcome).

After this, Jones is cornered in a courtyard that, actually, could be anywhere but I have a sneaking suspicion it might still be in Shek O. The reason I say this is because one of the shots of the courtyard shows an archway at the back that looks like it says Ming Yuen. The Chinese characters are: 明苑 and you can see them at the back in the picture below (read R->L).

Now, there is still a building in Shek O that goes by that exact name. It's at #23 Shek O Headland Road but the area around it is rather now more developed so I can't confirm either way. So if there are any Shek O old-timers that can shed some light on this place it would be greatly appreciated and I have included a few more pictures of the courtyard below.

Kill a Dragon - Jack Palance (1967) - Shek O Beach, Hong Kong

Palance and his cohorts head to the local beach in order to resurrect the carcass of the boat that was wrecked carrying its cargo of TNT.

Of course, this being the movie world, rather than the beach being local to the village, it is in fact located about 10 miles to the south on Hong Kong Island. Shek O beach to be precise. Recognisable by the presence of Ng Fan Chau which is the small islet that sits directly off the beach. Here it is on the film in the top picture.

Contagion - Matt Damon (2011) - Shek O Bus Terminus, Hong Kong

Although supposedly just over the border in Guangdong province, this scene was actually filmed about as far away from the border as you can actually get within Hong Kong - way down in deepest darkest Shek O.

Keep an eye out for the building on the far right of the second screencap. Why? Because it's the locally famous Shek O Bus Terminus building. The filmmakers did a good job at hiding its identity by sprawling a blue banner (replete with simplified Chinese writing - as you would expect to see over the border) but for anyone who has been there, I am sure this locale would be instantly recognisable.

Anyway, this is the scene when the wife/girlfriend (played by Josie Ho) of the dead waiter is on a bus headed back to the motherland with her recently deceased other-half's ashes. I can't see the trees that are centre screen on the Streetview (see below) shot so will assume they were put there to hide something from the camera. Believe it or not, the bus terminus building was built in the 1950's and even has a Grade 2 listing - not that that offers any protection from it being bulldozed...

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - No. 2 Shek O Road, Hong Kong

In the series this house is depicted as Lando's and somewhere in Macau. In reality it's on the southside of Hong Kong island in a highly desirable seaside residential area called Shek O - very popular with wealthy business owners and leaders, but these days perhaps more famous for its surfer beach.

The house is, well what can I say, gorgeous and we get treated to a view of the long shielded driveway as well as the exterior and a small bit of Shek O Road. As you can see from Neil's comment below (Neil MacDonald worked on the series as part of the production crew) the interior was indeed filmed in the actual house. On the map this house goes by the name of "Seaway".

Shek O Road

 And finally a nice shot of the interior, or at least the lounge area.

The most recent owner (a record from 2008) show it as being owned by a senior executive of Jardine Matheson (quite apt I guess considering that Struan's is based on the very same company).