A Guide to Palm Villa and Enter the Dragon

One of the more popular posts from my old (deleted) history-related blog concerned the location used for filming the tournament scenes in Enter the Dragon. It seems that for a lot of people this topic never gets old, and the location still attracts a lot of attention, and misunderstandings, even though it has been completely transformed since the film was made.

So for future posterity, and hopefully to clear up some of the misunderstandings and myths surrounding the place, I have excavated the post from the depths of the internet graveyard and resurrected it here.

For those who are new to the Bruce Lee world, or at least not so familiar with the various Hong Kong locations utilised in the film (here's a collection of posts I have built up over the years), the tournament scenes were filmed on the, long since demolished, terraced tennis courts of a former grand mansion called Palm Villa, located in Tai Tam on the south side of Hong Kong Island.

A 1982 image showing Palm Villa and its tennis courts on the right

Bruce Lee: True Story - Ho Chung Tao (1976) - Palm Villa, Tai Tam

Our old friend Bill Lake pops up in the Enter the Dragon scene. He plays Bob Wall's character for a brief moment as the pair walk across the tennis court. In terms of the location, yes, it's the same place where Enter the Dragon was filmed and although this tennis court wasn't the main one used in that film, it was briefly seen in that movie. It's the upper tennis court that is being used (for reference, please see my old post here) and in a couple of the shots below you can see the steps that lead up to the single remaining doorway that led into the old garden area (now an American Club games court). For your information, it was on the other side of that doorway that the club had erected its metal plaque. You can also see the same tennis court in the top left of this screen grab.

Anyway, as you can see, even just 3 short years after Enter the Dragon the place had become quite overgrown.

Bill Lake as O'hara

The steps on the right lead up to the still-standing garden area

The wooden gazebo can be seen in the screen capture I linked to above

Addendum: A couple of years ago Bill Lake sent me a proof of one of the chapters of his book that described this scene as being shot at the former Eucliffe mansion in Repulse Bay. I did tell him that the time that it was, in fact, Palm Villa, but the passage was kept in for the final release of the book. Sadly, Bill passed away a few weeks ago and so this is something that will not be corrected but I thought I should set the record straight for anyone who happens on his book and finds the memories of this film conflicting with what I have posted here.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - TyTam Villa, Tai Tam

Bruce Lee fans will recognise some of the scenes of the coastline where Chuck makes his final ascent to battle because this is the same area used in Enter the Dragon when the fighters leave their boat and disembark onto Han's Island.

Well, roughly the same area at least because you can see the stone jetty and pillbox that are seen in that film in the shot below (the ramp and pillbox are centre left). I'm sure Chuck probably knew that was where his former buddy, Lee, had filmed 10 or so years earlier.

Next up we see a small hut on the hillside with some guards at the entrance to an uphill path that leads to the boss's estate.

It's a bit over grown these days, so without physically going there it is hard to see if the hut is still around, but I suspect it is. The way it works in HK is that unless you will make a pile of money by knocking it down and redeveloping it, it stays intact - so my betting is that the hut is still standing along with that concreted ledge in the lower picture.

As if we needed anymore confirmation of the location, here is a shot of the area I have shown before in various places. It shows the three former mansions that occupied the top of the cliff before the American Club came along and knocked them all down to build their country club. The buildings are, in left to right order, Stanley Lodge, Tytam Villa and Palm Villa (the latter with the terraced tennis courts used in Enter the Dragon). The picture was taken circa 1982 - so about the same time as this filming - and I have circled the area we see on Forced Vengeance. Can you see the little hut? If you zoom in you can also make out the steps that lead up through the trees.

Anyway, the path leads up to...well, in the film it leads up to Tytam Villa, which serves as the big boss's lair. In reality I have no idea, it could have led to anyone of these three former great houses.

When I originally viewed this film I thought that Chuck may have been filming at Palm Villa, but on closer inspection (largely by looking at the window pattern and the existence of annexes either side) it seems that this garden and house were Tytam Villa.

It still looks in okay condition in the film, at least the grounds do, but it wouldn't be long before it was removed and the same spot now seems to house the main clubhouse of the American Club.

Forced Vengeance - Chuck Norris (1982) - Tai Tam Tuk Pumping Station, Hong Kong

The first of a couple of posts from this area which sees the finale of the film as Chuck takes on the bad guys. The initial stage takes place on the baddies boat which is moored at the jetty right in front of the old pumping station, and we get to see the building itself as Chuck stages his one man ninja-like attack against multiple gun-toting foes. There is a little bit of history on the station here, and here are the screen captures.

And here are some other shots of the harbour (in the background) from the same fight scene.