The Black Dragon's Revenge - Ronnie Van Clief (1975) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

As the story moves (officially) to Hong Kong, we see a KLM plane approach and land on the famous old runway of Kai Tak airport. The camera uses an interesting angle and one I don't think has been used before. Anyway, one for the aviation buffs needing an injection of Kai Tak nostalgia.

This last image is, of course, a close up of the old terminal building and car park seen from the west looking almost directly east. The white section at the bottom was used previously on The Million Eyes of Sumuru as the exit for passengers heading to the car park. I'm not sure if this was its actual function but you can see a close up in this grab from that film.

The Black Dragon's Revenge - Ronnie Van Clief (1975) - Central Harbourfront, Hong Kong

During the opening credits there is a nice long panning shot of the Hong Kong harbour front that begins at the old Furama Hotel (now AIG Tower) and ends with the China Insurance Group Building centre screen (that's the slim dark building in the middle of the fifth image). Just in the first image below there are six major buildings that no longer exist: Hutchinson House, the Furama, Sunderland House, HK Club, Hilton Hotel and the HSBC building, so you can imagine how much more change has occurred along that whole stretch of waterfront since this shot was filmed. 

I managed to stitch the whole sequence together into a reasonable panorama. Click on the image below to zoom in.

The Black Dragon's Revenge - Ronnie Van Clief (1975) - Sheraton Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

The beginning of the film is supposed to be taking place in San Francisco the day after Bruce Lee's death, but in fact the establishing shot for this is filmed from Middle Road next to the Sheraton Hotel. The camera pans past the Sheraton and finishes with a zoom into one of the windows of the Peninsula Hotel. I guess the Peninsula is a good stand in for similar buildings in San Francisco (although I've never been to the latter.

Anyway, once we have established we are in the US, the interior scenes were almost definitely filmed at one of the suites in the Sheraton. The room is duplex with a spiral staircase, but the giveaway in the window configuration which matches the windows at the south east top corner of the hotel. I have no idea if Sheraton still has these rooms for hire but perhaps someone reading this was lucky enough to stay here. It had only opened just a couple of years prior to the film being made.

Note the double height windows in the last two images which, as mentioned, indicate this room was one of the penthouse suites located in the south eastern corner of the hotel.

The Black Dragon's Revenge - Ronnie Van Clief (1975) - Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kowloon

The Black Dragon's Revenge is a 1975 film starring Ronnie Van Clief as..Ronnie Van Clief, a friend of Bruce Lee who has been hired by a mysterious Chinese client to find out how Bruce really died. The funny thing about the version I have is that it is obviously censored so that whenever Bruce Lee is mentioned, the "Lee" part of his name is erased from the audio. No doubt Bruce's highly litigious daughter, Shannon, has had a hand in this as she has with everything else.

Anyway, the film starts off with some shots around the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where Bruce was taken the night he died (I think most fans agree now that he was dead long before he was even put into the ambulance, let alone by the time he turned up at the hospital). Check out the disclaimer in the first image (I guess that bit escaped the "Lee" censor).

 Note the appearance in the background of the fourth image is a sign that says "Fortuna". This was the name of a hotel over on Nathan Road that has since been replaced by the large Wing On building opposite Mau Lam Street (Mau Lam Street is where Bruce's family were living when he was being born in the US).

Bons Baisers de Hong Kong - Les Charlots (1975) - Chaplin gets stretchered off

In this quiet time I am revisiting many films and finding some really interesting bits I have previously missed out. One of them is this brief scene from Bons Baisers de Hong Kong that can be included in my "Chasing Chaplin" posts. I hadn't realised Chaplin had been involved in this film, but my knowledgeable friend, Arnaud Lanuque, who interviewed Chaplin previously and was in fact directly responsible for introducing us (merci, Arnaud) has confirmed that he did indeed work on it, albeit uncredited it seems.

Anyway, the brief appearance is during the scene (filmed on set at Shaw's I think) soon after the action moves to Hong Kong. Two of Les Charlots are in a taxi that breaks hard to avoid hitting a dog on the road, thus causing a big pile up that destroys all the cars and surrounding buildings. Chaplin is the dude who gets stretchered off by the ambulance men and stops to ask if the dog is OK. See the screen cap below. He is recognisable from his famous goatee and moustache.

Die Another Day - Pierce Brosnan (2002) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

I appear to be approaching a moment in this blog's life where the pick of overseas productions filmed here are starting to diminish and get increasingly difficult to obtain due to either unavailability or prohibitive cost, so I may have to start delving into more of the local stock in future (hit me with a wish list and I will see what I can do).

Until that happens, I have another entry in the category of films supposedly shot in Hong Kong but actually weren't. There are really only two types: those that sent a camera over to capture real images for later insertion (e.g Macao, Spy Game, The Chairman*) and those that just used stock footage and nothing else (Target Hong Kong, The Road to Hong Kong, A Countess from Hong Kong, Tomb Raider etc)

This film, Die Another Day, essentially falls into the latter category. It appears that someone has taken an image of Hong Kong Island's famous waterfront and used it as the back projection for the scene when Bond manages to escape whatever predicament he has got himself into by swimming through (supposedly) Victoria Harbour.

Looking at the upper picture, the only recognisable structure I can make out is the Bank of China Tower. Nothing else in that skyline makes any sense to me, even when taking into account buildings that have since been replaced. My hunch is the image is a mash up with the B.O.C Tower thrown in to make it look like Hong Kong. It doesn't even make any sense if I flip the image the other way.

Obviously the set designers didn't bother with too much reality either - perhaps because they would need permission to use the name of the Royal HK Yacht Club? Whatever. Like the rest of this film, the HK scene is a travesty and I include it here merely to educate people on the fact that this was not filmed here. In case you hadn't already realised.

* Granted, J. Lee Thompson and Gregory Peck had all intention of filming here but were the subject of death threats from the local mouth-frothing commies and were unceremoniously booted out of HK by the authorities for everyone's safety. It was only 2 years after the '67 riots after all. However, before that, Thompson managed to capture a variety of brief shots of HK that were later incorporated into the general establishment scenes.

Chaplin Chang R.I.P

I just found out today from a friend that Chaplin Chang has passed away.

I first met Chaplin after volunteering to help him edit his memoirs through a mutual friend and several meet ups were to follow over the next few years. He had a lot of energy for a man in his late 80s and early 90s and always insisted on travelling out from his home in Tin Shui Wai to meet up for some food and a chat.

He had quite a fascinating life, the early part of which he turned into a memoir - Beyond the Blockades - largely about his days as a seaman doing supply runs up and down the coast of China during the late 40's and early 50's. Later in the 50s he became involved in the film industry. As a native Hokkien speaker (he was originally from Xiamen/Amoy) he started off acting in Hokkien-language movies made for the Chinese diaspora in Asia and later, due his excellent English skills, started to liaise with overseas production companies that came to HK to shoot movies and often filled the role of local Assistant Director. As you can see from my various Chasing Chaplin posts, he often had small cameo roles in these movies as well as working behind the camera.

Anyway, I shall miss Chaplin, he was a warm and friendly person and was chock full of stories (and photographs) of his time in various films. R.I.P.

Here is a photo from the first time I met him in May 2013.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - King's Road, Quarry Bay

After taking care of business, Jang Dong-gun heads off and stops at some traffic lights to ponder the meaning of life. The traffic lights in question are located where Java Road joins onto King's Road between the Hong Kong Funeral Home and Kerry Centre in Quarry Bay. Then as he pulls out onto King's Road we get a brief glimpse to the east as the cars drives off. Actually, this later angle was also used in the opening scenes as one of the driving shots as he makes his way to his rendezvous.

The lower three images show the view along King's Road (looking east) but the first of those is actually from the beginning of the film. The latter two are from the end as he makes his way back to the airport.

Java Road with Towngas Building in the background

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - Tai Po Road, Sham Shui Po

Another part of Jang Dong-gun's car journey takes him back over to Kowloon and we see a high level view of the car driving onto Un Chau Street from Tai Po Road. I'm not sure why this particular spot was chosen by the film makers over a million other possible locations but there you go. The camera most likely placed in one of the flats located in either the Hong Po building or The Merrylands next door.

V.I.P - Jang Dong-gun (2017) - Gloucester Road, Wanchai

A few moments after driving along Hung Hom Road, the car pops out on the other side of the harbour and drives along Gloucester Road, past the now demolished Excelsior Hotel.