The Magic Crystal - Andy Lau (1986) - Zung Fu Car Park Building, Hung Hom

After leaving the Police HQ, Andy and Winnie head to the carpark where they are cornered by Karov and his henchmen. This was filmed at the Zung Fu carpark building in Hung Hom. Zung Fu are the established local distribution firm for Mercedes Benz, so if you have a Merc in Hong Kong it will have been bought from and maintained by a Zung Fu distributor.

Anyway, the pair manage to escape by rappelling down the outside of the building. The apartment blocks in the background are part of the Whampoa Estate.

The Magic Crystal - Andy Lau (1986) - Girl Guide Headquarters, Gascoigne Road

Andy goes to find the younger sister of his friend who asked Andy to meet him in Greece. She is at a gymnastics class in town. Part of the exterior of this scene - particularly the part where Andy jumps from the balcony to rescue her from kidnappers - was filmed at the Girl Guides Headquarters in Homantin.

The Magic Crystal - Andy Lau (1986) - Oxford Road, Kowloon Tsai

The location of the school attended by Andy's nephew, Ban Ban, is located at the junction of Oxford Road and Ho Tung Road in Kowloon Tsai. I first tried finding this place according to the plot marker that you can see in the top image. However, it looks as though this plot number (NKIL 4539) was discontinued - most likely the plot was divided up, or joined with another, and assigned a new number. In the end I was guided by the distant image of Lion Rock in the background of image 2. 

The building on the site was/is a real school, although you don't really get to see much of it on film. We can see more of the brown building next door, which is the famous Maryknoll Convent School. I found out a few years ago that Terry McQueen (daughter of Steve McQueen and Neile Adams) attended that school whilst her dad was in Hong Kong filming The Sand Pebbles in 1966.

The Magic Crystal - Andy Lau (1986) - Belleview Drive, Repulse Bay

Our introduction to Andy's abilities comes when he and his buddy, Snooker (Wong Jing, also director) raid a criminal's house to obtain evidence from his voice activated safe. The house used, at least for the exterior - I have no way to confirm the interior - is located at #10 Belleview Road in Repulse Bay. Looking at Streetview, I think the house has been remodelled at some point. It still bears the same general shape but a few bits have been added over the years. The ornate gate for the neighbouring property leads to a famous property that Gwulo has a decent picture of here.

The Magic Crystal - Andy Lau (1986) - Former Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

Next film up is The Magic Crystal. The film stars Andy Lau (as...Andy!) and is about a mystery lump of jade with magical powers that falls into the possession of his nephew. As a result they are pursued around the globe - well, okay, between Greece and Hong Kong - by a powerful Russian gangster, Karov (Richard Norton). We have Cynthia Rothrock, Max Mok, Wong Jing, and Sharla Cheung in supporting roles.

The film opens with a view of the old Marine Police HQ shot from what is now a non-existent location - the former front area that was removed during the building's 'renovation'. It's now a boutique hotel and the area in front, part of the hill the building stands on, is now a void filled with former high-end jewelery stores, but many now empty (because that's what happens when you put all your eggs into the "high-spend mainland tourist" basket, and then they go elsewhere).

Shek Ku Street - Now and Then

A few years ago I did some Jackie Chan Police Story posts (much to the chagrin of a variety of JC haters here in Hong Kong) and one of them is a car parking sequence shot along Shek Ku Street in Ho Man Tin. Anyway, I was in the area earlier and took some comparison shots. As you can see it hasn't changed much. The first three images below are the full images I took trying to match the screen shots from this post.

And here are the cropped versions for a better comparison with the screencaps. Bearing in mind that this film will be 40 years old next year (it's towards the end of 2024 that I am writing this), then not much has changed. This is quite surprising given how quickly Hong Kong in general has changed.

Jackie's car driving out of King Tak Street

Shek Ku Street, I should've crouched a bit more for a better match.

OK, this last one I should have moved left, to the middle of the road.

Never mind, it's close enough.

Yellowthread Street on YouTube

Just as I am between films right now, I thought I would make a quick announcement to Yellowthread Street fans. I am finally getting around to uploading all of the episodes onto my YouTube channel. I haven't done it before now because 1. I am lazy and 2. I was worried about copyright strikes. However, after experiementing with the first episode the copyright only seems to affect certain songs, which YouTube allows me to erase without affecting the dialogue.

So, I will be uploading an episode every week (or so) for the next couple of months and you will be able to watch them here for the foreseeable future (notwithstanding any takedowns I am issued by Yorkshire TV et al). This series is long overdue a proper remaster and home media release.

Link here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRWqaY0tHFgXhXIUzSXUsTw1BCq8OOW5P

Don't forget you can peruse the various locations I have identified for each episode via the Regarding TV Series page (just scroll down).

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Flagstaff House, Hong Kong Park

Post ceremony photos at Flagstaff House.Formerly the living quarters of the British Garrison head honcho,and now a museum dedicated to the item behind the colonisation of Hong Kong all those years ago: tea. It's appeared on the blog a few times over the years. I think that's our lot for this particular film, there are a couple of locations I couldn't identify (such as the graevyard) but you never know, they might reveal themselves to me in the future. Until then.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Lee Tung Street, Wanchai

The next post features what was once a very popular street in Wanchai with the nickname "Wedding Card street" because it was chock full of shops offering a variety of small and bulk printing of wedding cards and other associated printed items such as red envelopes (利事 lai see) and decorative banners with idioms on them (揮春 fai chun). Wiki has a good page about the street with some photos showing the post-war era tenements that lined both sides of the street.

The Government, via the its Urban Destruction  Renewal Authority, decided the place looked old and needed renovation, so they evicted all the businesses, demolished all the buildings and basically erased the street and turned it instead into a themed thoroughfare with modern residences each side and a small fibreglass sculpture showing some cartoonish newlyweds for photo purposes.Who knows where all the printing businesses went, I suspect most of them just disappeeared, but hey at least we have something plastic to get our photos taken with. The former street, is now an "avenue". Welcome to redevelopment Hong Kong Style.

Anyway, when this film was shot, the street had just been demolished and things had not yet been built, so Loy, in perhaps a small allegory to the area's recent history, is beaten up by Oi Lin's boyfriend next to the sheet metal fencing protecting the building site.
 

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry

Loy's mum and her accountant, Uncle Ching (Danny Lee), are finally married at the Cotton Tree Drive Marriage Registry in Hong Kong Park. Old readers will remember this place, Rawlinson House, has previously appeared on the blog as one of the hideouts of a few of the "million eyes of Sumuru". You can see the post I did about it back in 2016, here, as well as the subsequent modern day comparison.