My Wife is a Gangster 3 - Shu Qi (2006) - Yau Kung Tong, Yuen Long

Aryoung heads to the wedding of a rival gang member in order to confront and kill their boss. This was all filmed at the oft-used Yau Kung Tong in Ha Tsuen in east Yuen Long District. It's one of the Tang Clan's ancestral halls and goes by the full name of 廈村鄧氏宗祠 (ha tsuen dang si jung chi - which basically translates as Ha Village Tang Clan Ancestral Hall - you can see why I usually shorten it to Yau Kung Tong, which I believe is an acceptable alternative name).

Quite a few films have been shot here over the years.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Shek Kong

Agent 009 and sidekick head up in a small plane to try and find the escaping horse truck. The first aerial images we see are of the Sek Kong runway and surrounding area.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

The next film from the ever expanding Shaw collection on Youtube is the 1967 James Bond rip-off, Inter-Pol. It stars a very suave looking Tang Ching as Chen Tian-hong (a.k.a agent 009). Following some fellow agents being killed in the Philippines, he is called in by his Interpol bosses to investigate a US dollar counterfeiting scheme believed to be operating out of Hong Kong.

The opening scene is supposed to be in the Philippines but was actually filmed at Nam Sang Wai, a popular filming location that has been featured many times on the blog, but it's slowly being threatened by redevelopment and no doubt will one day just look like another high rise suburb.

Bullet in the Head - Tony Leung Chiu-wai (1990) - Kiu Shing Street, Yuen Long

This small industrial estate in the Ping Shan area of Yuen Long will be familiar to anyone who has seen Police Story 2 as it's the location used in that film for the exterior shots of the bad guy's initial hideout. Here's a reminder. In Bullet in the Head this is the location of the factory where Ben's girlfriend/wife works. It's the same location seen later for the riot scene as Ben and Jane say their farewells just before the story shifts to Vietnam.

In reality it's the Ying Cheong Industrial Building. This following Google Maps link shows a view from 2009 where most of the buildings still looked as they did in the movie. However, it should be noted that the left hand side has since been redeveloped.

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.

A Lotus for Miss Quon - Lang Jeffries (1967) - Tung Lok Theatre, Yuen Long

Although I covered this surprisingly good film several years ago (six to be precise), like many movies I cover I didn't get all the locations I was looking for. Sometimes it takes me years to get back around to them and then have another attempt at tracking them down, case in point. In hindsight, I should have started my search in Yuen Long earlier given the fact that the film was shot mostly in the general area. It turns out this was the Tung Lok Theatre (同樂戲院) on Castle Peak Road - Yuen Long. 

Anyway, this is the cinema that Mark Jason (Lang Jeffries) ducks into to avoid the police. He stands in the lobby for a short while - spot the posters advertising the local Cantonese films 神劍魔簫 (Powerful Sword, Magical Flute - not sure if it's part 1 or 2 though), and 濟公大鬧公堂 (Trouble in Court). Both films were released in 1965 and so were most likely on the latter of multiple runs. Either that or the cinema just couldn't be bothered to take the posters down.

As Jeffries moves over to the ticket office we see the same two posters plus an extra one on the left which is for 火龍神珠 (The Dragon Flag and the Sacred Pearl) released in October 1966.

Here's some images of what was on the theatre marquee.

The top image shows artwork for 鐵扇公主 (Princess Iron Fan) although the artist has used a weird Trad/simplified hybrid character for 鐵. Anyway, it was a Shaw movie release in Aug 1966 and the actor playing Sun Wu Kong was Yueh Hua (previously seen on the blog for Come Drink with Me). In the lower image, the right hand side is for a film called 冷月離魂 (Bitter Fear), released in November 1966, and on the left is 姑娘十八一朵花 (Girls are Flowers) released at the same time. Hidden on the far left is a partial poster for 莫忘今宵 (Forget Not Tonight) released Oct '66.

Anyway, this is apropos of nothing much other than for me to be able the narrow the possible filming date of this movie as sometime around November/December of 1966.

The cinema lasted until the late 80s before being demolished and replaced by the current Yuen Long Landmark building. The building in the background of the image of Jeffries smoking is Kwok Wah Mansion.It's the only building still around from this little sequence and is located at 142 CastlePeak Road - Yuen Long.

To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

Ng falls for Tse Yuen-yin (Cecilia Yip) and ingratiates himself with her kids to get closer to her. In the story, she lives in a stilt house on a pond somewhere. I can't find the exact location unfortunately, but I am certain this was filmed in Nam Sang Wai. Sadly it's another place increasingly affected by redevelopment and many of the former ponds have already been filled in for redevelopment.

Flash Point - Donnie Yen (2007) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

The gang have taken Wilson and his girlfriend captive in a remote location and Ma takes the newly captured older brother (Ray Lui) to exchange hims for them. The remote location is of course the Nam Sang Wai wetlands just north of Yuen Long. This place has been used plenty in both local and overseas productions. I wonder how long it will stay this undeveloped though as developers on both sides of the border have been eyeing this area up for redevelopment for years. According to Dan Thomas' old (and sadly neglected) Hong Kong on Film blog, the old house was a proper relic and not just built for the movie. The last time Streetview was updated in this location was 2015 and the house was still standing, but quite a lot has happened in Hong Kong since then so there's no guarantee it's still there now. 

Police Story 2 - Jackie Chan (1988) - Kiu Wong Street Industrial Estate, Yuen Long

The seemingly old and deserted factory estate, where the police follow John Cheung to, is still around and located next to the Kiu Tau Wai walled village in Ping Shan. Again, this is still part of the sequence in my DVD version that is missing several key shots, so the quality of my screencaps might vary a little. Some of the older buildings in this scene are still around. In the first image below, we see the taxi driving along Kiu Wong Street and then stop at the corner with Kiu Shing Street. The building (now called "4S City") behind the taxi is still recognisable, or at least its shape is because the exterior has undergone a complete revamp. The building on the far left of the frame, with the saw tooth roof, is still pretty much as it was.

Next up John Cheung crosses Kiu Wong Street at the far end of the estate where the road curves back on itself. The building the gang are holed up in has actually been replaced by a more modern structure now occupied by Crown Motors (the company that imports all the Toyota Crown Comfort taxi cars from Japan), but the smaller building on the other side of it is still around. You can see a similar view here on GoogleEarth.

In that GoogleEarth link, if you swivel the view to the right you will see the old building whose roof the cops use for their surveillance set up. It's the Ying Cheong Industrial Building and appears to currently host a company called "Meco Technology Limited", but how much time the place has left before that's gone as well is anyone's guess.

Directly opposite the cops' observation post is the view below. On the right is the gangs hideout (now Crown Motors) and on the left is another warehouse that has since been replaced.The alley between them is still around but the view towards Ha Tsuen and the hills in the distance are a lot more cluttered these days - just like the rest of the NT.
 

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Yau Kung Tong, Yuen Long

We were here not so long ago for Snake in the Eagle's Shadow but it's a location that has been used in several foreign movie productions as well. It's the Tang Clan "Yau Kung Tong", a large historical clan hall near Ha Tsuen. In La Fine Dell'innocenza, the film crew also shot some scenes at the back of the building complex and in the small alleyways in between the various buildings/structures.

Isabella - Isabella Leong (2006) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

Several scenes in the film were also shot at Nam Sang Wai in Yuen Long. The area around what is marked on the map as "The Wedding Bridge" (I can only assume because it is popular for wedding shoots) features in the car crash scene where Ma tricks Yan into thinking her dog was killed in the accident, as well as a later scene when Ma throws his illegally acquired revolver into the water following his decision to face his wrongdoings.

Ma examines the dog

Shan Pui Village in the distance

Ma disposing of the gun 

Snake in the Eagle's Shadow - Jackie Chan (1978) - Yau Kung Tong, Yuen Long

Here is a familiar location for the blog because several overseas movies have also been shot here (China Cry, Shadow of China, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story) as well as a plethora of local ones. It's the Yau Kung Tong hall in Ha Tsuen. In the film it's the Hung Tai martial arts school run by Dean Shek and Peter Chan Lung where Jackie works as a dogsbody and general punching bag.

SPL - Donnie Yen (2005) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

Chung's undercover man inside Wong Po's gang is discovered and killed out in Nam Sang Wai. It's a popular filming location for those who want to portray a very remote part of Hong Kong, or indeed as in some films, pretend that the location is in Mainland China. I'm not sure how long this view will be untouched given the number of skyscrapers that now dominate the Shenzhen skyline over the border.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

Our next film, Something Good, is an Italian production shot with English dialogue and filmed mainly in Hong Kong. Also known as The Mercury Conspiracy and The Mercury Factor, it stars Luca Barbareschi (who also directed) as Matteo, a sort of middleman dealing in the world of tainted food sales. The story appears to have been partly inspired by the melamine milk scandal that rocked Mainland China a few years ago (and had unforeseen affects on HK as the border areas became saturated with milk powder/baby formula tourists).

Matteo is in Hong Kong to set up a dodgy tainted milk formula business to export into Africa with some Chinese business partners led by Mr Feng (Kenneth Tsang) and his son Zhao (Carl Ng). His goings on bring him into contact with a Chinese woman, Jiazhen (Zhang Jingchu), who runs a restaurant business in memory of her son who was killed by tainted food.

The opening scenes are supposedly set in Mainland China where Jiazhen lives with her son. The establishing shots are definitely of the stock variety and I suspect that the close ups were shot in Hong Kong because the following shot, still supposedly in the Mainland, shows a part of Nam Sang Wai with the west end of Kai Kung Leng in the background.

The actual location is a now collapsed (according to a photo on Google Earth) boardwalk close to the Nam Sang Wai and Sing Kei stores - not far from the river boat crossing. 

Election - Simon Yam (2005) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

There are afew scenes that were shot in the Nam Sang Wai wetland area in Yuen Long. However, I think that in the film this is all supposed to be taking place over the border in the Mainland (or I may just have misunderstood what was happening).

The abandoned house where the gangsters are surrounded by the police is located there, as well as the scenes where Big Head (Lam Suet) gets beaten up by Gordon Lam. The rural road where Big Head is waiting for the truck to drive down is Nam Sang Wai Road on the eastern bank of the Shan Pui River. The camera shot through the windscreen of their car was taken almost directly opposite the (marked on Google maps as) "Northeast Electrical Enterprises Ltd" warehouse (which can be seen on left of screen in the third image).