The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Grenville House, Central

The last post for this film is Atanga's apartment in Hong Kong which is located in Grenville House. Completed in 1971, this place was almost shiny and new when the movie was filmed there. HK-related film aficionados will know that France Nuyen, seen here, was the original Suzie Wong from Broadway and started filming The World of Suzie Wong with William Holden before being unceremoniously sacked, along with the original director, by the executive producer, Ray Stark, when she became ill at the start of Hong Kong location filming in January 1960.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Magazine Gap Road, Mid-levels

The bad guys have their eyes on Jim as he is in Atanga's flat. They are parked up in the layby outside on Magazine Gap Road. In the background behind their car is "View Point" that can also be seen in this post (they are the yellow-painted flats - although at the time I didn't know what they were called).

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Hotel Miramar, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another film that features the former "Hotel Miramar Theatre Restaurant". In this scene Jim heads there to eat, drink and ponder his now precarious situation as he gets stuck between the gangsters, his family, and national security.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Nelson Street, Mongkok

Back in the 1970s, Nelson Street's western end extended a small part across what was then the southern end of Tong Mi Road, forming an L-shaped junction. Tong Mi Road has since been widened and extended south, absorbing what was this small section of Nelson Street. The images below show Jim (Brendam Boone) standing on that old, western limit before walking east towards the rest of Nelson Street proper. In the background of the top two images you can see the Ferry Point Estate to the south and the ridgeline of Hong Kong Island beyond. This Streetview shows what the area looks like now.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Hilton Hotel, Central

Jim is staying at the Hilton when he is approached by the terrorists and coerced into helping them obtaining his father's project. The Hilton is one of the most frequently used hotels for the films covered on this blog.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Shanghai Street, Mongkok

I would have included these pictures with my last Shanghai Street post had I been able to identify them in time, alas no. However, this one is worth including separately anyway because this section of Shanghai Street was a block further north and I believe we are looking south just before the junction with Soy Street. There is a very blurry Pawnshop sign above the shops along the right side of the road, and looking at other photos of this area I believe it to be the 泰和押 - the Tai Wo pawnshop.

I don't believe this pawnshop exists anymore, but someone took the old sign (these signs are supposed to be shaped like bats) and stuck it at the top of a recessed lightwell between the present day 469 and 471 Shanghai Street (see if you can spot it here).

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

Another typically lively 1970s street scene that forms part of Jim's journey between the airport and his hotel. This one can be identified by the presence of the large red vertical sign in the background which was owned by 蛇王源 (She Wong Yuen) - a snake bladder (蛇胆) restaurant that was located, at the time, on Sai Yeung Choi Street near the junction with Argyle Street. This means the car is travelling south along Sai Yeung Choi Street close to the junction with Nelson Street. The traffic along this section of road can only travel north now.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Bailey Street, Hung Hom

Here's a street that confused me for while because I am only familar with the current version. But back in 1973, Bailey Street was only about half the length it is today. Pretty much everything beyond the Sung Chi Building didn't exist in 1973. The images below show us looking east from the junction with Ma Tau Wai Road.The large building on the right was a large block known as Matauwai Apartments. This has only recently been demolished and replaced by a new, taller,modern apartment block. Just in the distance beyond it is the bamboo covered facade of the newly built Sung Yan Building. Beyond that was the open space of Kowloon Bay - all now reclaimed and built upon. The old tenement buildings on the left side of the road have only just been demolished, but expect a similar residential high rise to take their place.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei

One of several street scenes shot for this film is along the Yau Ma Tei section of Shanghai Street. I believe this is the junction with Dundas Street, looking south.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Kai Tak Airport

Next up is another German production from 1973. The Big Game. This one is about a secret US science project that controls peoples' minds. A group of international terrorists are after it and target a member of the US Foreign service, Jim Handley, (Brendan Boone) whose father (Ray Milland) is running the project. France Nuyen plays Atanga, Jim's love interest. The film was shot on location in Rome, Hong Kong, and, for their shame, apartheid-era Cape Town. The Hong Kong part of the film starts with, surprise surprise, the protagonist arriving in Hong Kong via the airport triggering the requisite shots of a plane landing on the old runway.

In the lower images you can see Po Sing Court in the background - the white block of flats. This place is still around but the Regal Kai Tak Hotel (now called the Regal Oriental) was built in front of it in 1982. The smaller building, painted yellow, was on the corner of Sa Po Road but was demolished to make way for the Kam Fai Commercial Building in 1981.