L'Inconnue de Hong Kong - Dalida (1963) - Tsing Shan Monastery, Tuen Mun

After the rather blurry colour screen grabs from The Yin and Yang of Mr Go, here is the next film with some rather sharper black and white images. It's L'Inconnue de Hong Kong starring Dalida and Serge Gainsbourg shot in 1963. There are some great images in this film and it's a pity I can't understand French because the story looked quite good too. All I can gleam is that it's a story about diamond smuggling and how some unwitting touring cabaret girls get mixed up in it all.

The film starts off with an illicit exchange taking place seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but anyone who has visited the area in question will no doubt immediately recognise it as the road that leads up to Tsing Shan Monastery in Tuen Mun. Back in 1963 it was the area still referred to as Castle Peak and had yet to be develop into Tuen Mun new town and this was a full ten years before Bruce Lee would make the place famous in Enter the Dragon. 

Note the background in this lower picture. It shows Castle Peak Bay as it was before the massive reclamation project filled it all in. This whole view is now of high rises. However, you'll be pleased to know that the ornamental gate is still the same. Here is a picture I took of it a few years ago, although I was up the road looking down - the same side the two lower screen grabs were done on.

Later on in the film, one of the main actors returns to the monastery looking for someone. I suspect the scenes were filmed on the same day but the lower screen grabs were from much later in the film.

It's not easy to tell from the black and white pictures but it looks as though the main entrance gate we see above might be the same yellow colour that still adorns its wall. The picture below is also from a few years back.

Enter The Dragon - Bruce Lee (1973) - Tsing Shan Monastery, Tuen Mun

The location for one of Bruce's most famous scenes involving the 'pointing finger' lesson. This place, other than the greenery being cut back, hasn't really changed at all. It's a hell of a traipse up the hillside to get to the location (best to get a cab if you are a bit of a wimp) and you'll be sweaty when you get to the monastery, but arriving at the filming location is well worth the effort.

Let's look at the locations as they are today. First off (top photo) we have the area where Bruce teaches the young Lao (played by Tung Wei) the finer points of emotional content.

Although a slightly different angle to that seen on film the area, including the wall and the tree you see above, are both original elements that can be seen on screen at various points. Pretty much unchanged but as mentioned much of the tree growth has been cut back either due to it becoming uncontrollable or perhaps due to the effects of HK's notorious typhoons that blow through most summers (the location is fairly exposed on a hillside). Anyway, moving left in the above shot we have a flat area where Lee had earlier taken tea with Mr Braithewaite (some tea, Mr Bwaithwaite?) played by Geoffrey Weeks (Weeks can also be seen in the WB produced That Man Bolt, but in reality he was a radio presenter at Radio Telecom Hong Kong).
 

In the film you don't get to see much other than the roof top of a temple/shrine behind Lee, but actually from this vantage point is a great view across the Tuen Mun valley. Again, lots of greenery now missing due to the ravages of time. Moving on up the hill to the next terrace up we go to the location of the reinstated (for the 25th anniversary release) scene involving Lee's dialog with the ubiquitous Roy Chiao playing the head monk.

Coincidentally, Lee's dialog on the DVD release was provided by John Little doing a not-bad impression of Bruce and Roy Chiao re-looping his lines via satellite phone from HK. When John was here filming in August 2009 it was the first time he had visited the location so I guess it must have been nice to see the place his voice 'virtually' went to several years before :-)

Anyway, as you can see, other than a huge tree that went missing in the background the concreted pathway remains virtually the same including the small stone table and stools which can be seen on film. The green railings are fairly new.

2019 Update: I went back recently with a German friend to wonder at the Bruce Lee Club plaques and standups. Here are a few images from that return trip. The first image shows that the concrete table nd stools are still there! Please note that even though I live in Hong Kong, getting to this place is a pain in the arse when you don't have a car (I got rid of my motorbike afew years ago).

Below is the lower terrace with a better view of the area used in "Lao's time". Note the concrete benches are still there (not to be confused with the concrete table on the upper terrace).