Whicker's Orient - Alan Whicker (1972) - Pak Shek Au, North District

As mentioned in an earlier post, Whicker's Shaw episode coincides with the filming of The Water Margin and he heads off to a location shoot at Pak Shek Au to interview David Chiang and his brother, Paul Chin Pei. I've included this location a few times before because it was one of the favourite outdoor locations for many of the period set movies, consisting of a large expanse of low rolling hills. The British Colonial govt used to refer to this whole area as the "North Downs" and it was a popular place for the British garrison to practice maneuvers due to it's complete lack of development. Fear not though, the intrepid current government plans to turn the whole area into its much touted "Northern Metropolis"...

To be fair, it's not the empty hinterland it once was and much of it these days is filled with the usual New Territories detritus of dumped storage containers, recycling factories and heavy machinery parking spots.

Whicker's Orient - Alan Whicker (1972) - Shaw Villa

Part of the interview Whicker conducts with Sir Run Run was filmed in and around his villa, located on the backlot of the studio. Judging by the footage, it doesn't look like Shaw used his swimming pool very much even back then. I really hope it is kept for the new development because I do like the 1960s style of the place.

Whicker's Orient - Alan Whicker (1972) - Shaw Movietown

The third and final installment of Alan Whicker's 1972 foray to Hong Kong is "What Makes Shaw Run Run?" and is an episode based around Sir Run Run Shaw's movie empire and includes interviews with Sir Run Run himself, David Chiang and Paul Chin Pei as well as Betty Ting Pei.

The episode doesn't involve too many different locations outside of the Movietown complex, but there are some good views of the place worth including here, especially now that much of the old site has now been cleared for redevelopment.

The first shot below shows the view looking south east across the plot. The foreground is occupied by a built set on land that is now occupied by the Clearwater Bay school. 

Next up is a good panorama with a view from the west looking directly east. There a lots of details in here that Shaw fans will recognise, for example, the wooden pagoda (left hand side) that appeared in many Shaw productions (see also Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold on this blog). Just below the pagoda you can see the dormitory buildings that also featured in the odd film (see Sunset). Note the aforementioned built set on land now occupied by the school. In the late 1960s, this was the same area where the large temple set was built that can be seen in both The Vengeance of Fu Manchu and The Million Eyes of Sumuru. On the right is a cluster of buildings, including Shaw House, that have so far escaped the wrecking ball, although I haven't been here to confirm how much devastation has been caused. This maybe a job for the summer if I can get off my lazy backside. 

Click for larger image

Next up is a sequence of images from a helicopter go-around that takes in the whole site. For what it's worth, it looks as though Whicker was there during the filming of The Water Margin. It's been a while since I watched the movie so I can't remember if the tents seen in the first images are from that film. All of this dirt area, located at the very rear of the studio site, has long since been taken over by the adjacent Hong Kong Univeristy of Science and Technology (HKUST), mainly for staff quarters. 

The following shots show much of the top area of the site. Sir Run Run explains in one of the interviews that the site was a hill when they leased it and chopped off the top 60ft to make a level plateau to build all the production buildings and sound stages. Sitting right at the edge of the site is Shaw's villa with its famous driveway. He wasn't shy of letting it appear in movies either. 

The final bunch of images from the aerial shots shows the front side of the plot and what is essentially the sole surviving parts of the old site - at least according to the most recent aerial images from GoogleEarth - including Shaw House and the old dormitory buildings (located just down from the pagoda). My understanding is the the redevelopment of this site will include the preservation of Shaw House at the front of the site, but I have no idea what will happen to all the other buildings, including Sir Run Run's old villa. Time will tell, but never underestimate the resolve of a developer who wants to earn a few extra bucks by demolishing old buildings.

The final images for this post include the famous yellow, iron front gates, also featured on a film I covered here, albeit in disguise, as well as some shots from around the site.