Sweet is Revenge - Yueh Hua (1967) - Pak Shek Au, Kwu Tung

Back to one of Shaw's favourite rural locations used for the final scenes of the film as Wang is led to a remote pavilion where David is waiting for her and they are reunited. If you've seen my other posts about this area you'll know a large section of it is now being turned into the "Northern Metropolis". Sadly, much of the area you see below had already been filled up over the years with small industrial plots and container storage, so it's been a while since it looked as empty as this.

You can compare these screen shots with others I have posted over the years.

Tai Shek Mo in the background

Sweet is Revenge - Yueh Hua (1967) - Castle Peak/Tsing Shan Firing Range, Tuen Mun

The location of the car heist, as Xiao Pao (Yueh Hau) robs Commander Zheng and then proceeds to pretend to rescue him by disguising himself as the wife's long lost uncle, was filmed in an area with quite unique topography for Hong Kong. These sharp and rocky hills covered (at least in the 1960s) in pines is the 'Castle Peak Hinterland'. It's a rough and rugged area that has long been established as a live firing range for the British Garrison and its use as such has been continued by the PLA.

Up until a few years ago the area was popular with hikers but the local garrison and security forces have, over the past few years, been far less generous in how much hiking it allows here and I have heard stories of people being turned back by soldiers at various points. That said, it does appear that the Govt/PLA do issue warnings prior to any live firing exercises.

These scenes for Sweet is Revenge were shot at the north eastern end of the range near Yuen Tau Shan.

Sweet is Revenge - Yueh Hua (1967) - Tai Yuen Fishing Village, Yuen Long

Here is a great example of how lucky a location find can sometimes be. Not so long ago, long time blog supporter, AP, sent me an image of Brandon and Shannon Lee taken somewhere believed to be in Hong Kong. It showed the pair as youngsters sitting in a tree next to what looks like an ornamental lake with some Chinese-style structures at the back. I won't post it here (it was a screenshot from Facebook) but after failing completely to identify where it was, AP had done some digging of his own and managed to identify it as an old HK-style "theme park" called Tai Yuen Fishing Village (泰園漁村).

This park was a popular local tourist attraction located just outside of Yuen Long, not too far from Nam Sang Wai area. I ended up creating a page on Gwulo for it and put in a link to a local blogger (Tere Wong) that had some more images of the place over the years. You can view that page here. Apparently it has been featured in quite a few films over the years.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, props to AP because he has inadvertantly helped me identify the Tai Yuen Fishing Village as the location for this next scene in Sweet is Revenge as the odious Ma (Chen Hung-lieh) harrasses Wang (Li Ching) and deliberately throws away the ring given to her by her (presumed) dead fiance, David (Fan Ho).

The park looks as though it made it through to at least the 1980s before the site was turned into a small industrial estate that now houses a Trappist Dairy warehouse/factory building.

Sweet is Revenge - Yueh Hua (1967) - Lung Ha Wan, Clearwater Bay

Continuing a look at some of the movies on the Celestial Youtube channel, here is another title, Sweet is Revenge, starring Yuen Hua as a sort of Robin Hood type character. The film also stars Ho Fan who most people would more likely recognise as a famed HK street photographer, but he also dabbled in acting in the 1960s as well as some serious directing later. In this film he plays an innocent doctor who is framed for a crime and sent to prison so a local General's son can move in on his fiancé. As with many Shaw productions, much of the film is shot on sound stages, but there are afew outdoor locations. The first one is the location of the prison where David (Fan Ho) is locked up.

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For this scene, it looks as though a facade was constructed at the headland of Lung Ha Wan, a.k.a Lobster Bay. This is the exact same spot today where the riding stables are located. In the top image you can see the slight slant of Lung Ha Wan Road mid-distance in the background.

In a scene a few minutes later, Ma (Chen Hung-Lieh) and Wang (Li Ching) are attending to David's gravesite on a hill. This was also filmed at Lung Ha Wan, on the slope of the hill that is now the kite flying area. Even though the stables don't quite extend this far, the slope is now completely overgrown and covered in vegetation. In the last image below, the view to the back is also now obscured by tree/bush growth. For anyone interested, in that last image, the area behind the two actors leads to this beach, and is the same location where Julius (Gabriele Tinti) gets a snake up the jacksy in Black Cobra Woman (see the last two images in that link).