Men of the Dragon - Jared Martin (1974) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

Sometime just after the release of Enter the Dragon, someone in a studio somewhere thought it would be a great idea to take some large parts of that film's plot and turn it into a made-for-TV movie starring Jared Martin and a certain Robert Ito (better known for his role as Jack Klugman's assistant in Quincy) as Kung Fu brother-in-arms on a mission to rescue Martin's on-screen sister from the nefarious clutches of the bad guy (played in this case by a very Mr Han-like Joseph Wiseman, he of Dr. No fame).

The result was a pretty terrible film rescued by the mere fact that the filming was conducted largely on location in Hong Kong and caught on camera some sights that have since been lost forever. So here we are, with a copy supplied by our good friend in the UK Mr AP (same person who was gracious to provide me with the many I Spy screen shots I have been using on this blog). I do remember being entertained by this film as a youngster, and have vague memories of watching it on TV with my Grandad on a Saturday afternoon once. However, when that was I can't remember, probably sometime in the early 80's and certainly after already seeing Enter the Dragon.

Anyhoo, what better way to start off than with a nice view of a plane coming into land at Kai Tak. Apologies for the low quality of the screen caps but as far as I am aware the DVD release of this film was taken straight of a VHS tape and no one has deemed it worthy of a bit of a clean up.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery, Aberdeen

Okay, I will go out on a limb here because I can't confirm 100%, however I am 95% sure that I have the correct location here at the Aberdeen Cemetery. It's the scene when Joe goes to meet the daughter of his former partner to try and dig into a bit more about the mystery behind the golden statuette.

The cemetery is one of those few locations where very large plots have been bought by the wealthy and there are several of these scattered around taking up quite a large space. If you look in the top two pictures you can see an ornate wall behind Joe Don Baker which marks the back end of one of those plots. Without physically going there I can't check my hunch, but I'm fairly confident (famous last words...).

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

Another one that has made it into just about every film I have featured here. In Golden Needles the scenes are an almost exact replica of Enter the Dragon. Again, no surprise given that they shared directors as well as many local crew (including our old friend, Chaplin Chang, assistant director on ETD who pops up at the end of this film as well as serving as HK location manger - more on that later...). Anyway, on with the caps.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Lower Lascar Row, Sheung Wan

Seeing as the identification of film locations doesn't really happen in a nice order, I put them up as and when I find something. So here we are leapfrogging to the end of the film which involves a chase for the golden statuette between Joe Don Baker and the evil villain portrayed by our old friend Roy Chiao.

To be honest, many of the small streets in this part of HK Island are an absolute nightmare to identify (especially if like me, you are not familiar with the area). Luckily we are assisted here by the quick glimpse of a street sign revealing where we are.

To be honest, I didn't even know there was a Lower Lascar Row! I've been to Upper Lascar Row - also known as "Cat Street" - and it is a great place for picking up nick-nacks and also, surprisingly, old photos and Bruce Lee paraphernalia. However, I didn't realise the street carried on as far as it does. Anyway. When the next opportunity presents itself I shall wander over again and get some photos of the street as it is today to see how much it has changed.

Anyway, as an update I popped down there after posting this to see what was still around. The answer is not much but this building  (on the right in the screencaps) is still standing but you definitely couldn't fit a car on the raised terrace behind it anymore.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - The Peninsula Lobby, Tsim Sha Tsui

A great hotel (I did stay there once in 2005 and had a great time - particularly impressed with the pool and the heaps of complimentary fruit each day...) that has featured in many films and shows we've looked at on this blog, such is its iconic status.

In Golden Needles we get a nice view from inside the lobby for a change and a nice shot of those famous bellhop suits.

Enter the Dragon - Bruce Lee (1973) - View over Central, HK Island

In all honesty, it wasn't until I was looking at Golden Needle's sites that I realised I had never included this sequence from Enter the Dragon on my blog (or if I did it has gone mysteriously AWOL). Anyway, seeing as I just posted scenes from exactly the same location I figured now was the time.

So, yes, here it is the famous panning shot from the opening titles, and there is that same tree we just saw in Golden Needles. Of course in the ETD version we get to see a lot more.such as the newly completed Furama Hotel building at the right of the top picture (the official history says this place wasn't opened until 1977, but there it is in 1973/74, a fact confirmed by David over at Gwulo.com).

You can also see the former Royal Naval Dockyard and grab a quick glimpse of some of the now-demolished barrack buildings from Victoria Barracks (now Hong Kong Park and Pacific Place).

The bottom picture with the film title shows the big open area that was the 1970's reclamation in Wanchai. It's basically the project that extended the shoreline out from Gloucester Road a couple of hundred metres and the space is now largely filled by the Convention centre, some Govt offices, Central Plaza and of course the exit/entry for the original cross-harbour tunnel.

Now for a direct comparison and feel free to chip in as to whether or not Bob Clouse, the director of both Golden Needles and Enter the Dragon, and Warners, the company who made the films, used the same footage for both films. (Hint: Of course it's the same footage).

Golden Needles

Enter the Dragon

Just as an addendum, lots of people believe this shot was taken from "The Peak". It was but not the bit you're thinking of. This footage (as explained in the Golden Needles post) was taken from Peak Road just below what was Cameron Mansions (the development was demolished last year - 2024).

Unfortunately my Google location marker keeps snapping to either 28 or 30 Peak Road, but the specific location where this footage was shot was the layby on Peak Road as seen on this GoogleEarth link.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - View over Central, HK Island

Here is a familiar shot from the opening of the film that shows a view over Central from what I suspect is the Peak Road/Magazine Gap Road area. Take a good long look at this scene because my next post will show a very similar one (it could even be the same bit of film for reasons I will explain) from another film.

What can we see? Well, not much on this one because the camera pans only a small amount so most of our screen is taken up by the 1974 (or perhaps 1973, we shall see) version of the mid-levels.

You see the wire? Just below the wire is a building, or at least its roof, pointing away almost in a straight line away from the camera. This to me looks very much like the old British Military Hospital between Bowen and Borrett Roads. Though once a hospital it now houses the Carmel School (the local Jewish International school) and the Canadian International School. To its immediate left (on the other side of Borrett Road) is what looks to be the site of Island School. Island School moved there just around the time this scene was filmed, which may explain why the site looks to be newly built with the mountain side scraped away behind for part of the development.

There is actually a small lay-by on Peak Road where this shot could have been taken from but I would need to go there myself to be sure. I've pinned it as the location so if anyone is here and has a bit of time to head up there, feel free to let me know if I am right.

Other buildings that can still be seen now include the Mandarin Oriental (just to the right of the tree trunk) and below that is the former Law courts/LegoCo building soon to become the new home of the Court of Final Appeal.

Golden Needles - Joe Don Baker (1974) - Kowloon Wharf & Godown, Tsim Sha Tsui

To give a bit of a break to the I Spy locations, which seem to have been taking up the majority of my time over the past few months, here is a shot from another film directed by Enter the Dragon-helmer, Robert Clouse. It's called Golden Needles and stars Joe Don Baker as well as Burgess Meredith and was made in 1974. Probably not coincidentally, Jim Kelly was also in this one however all of his scenes look to have been filmed back in California and not HK. Anyway, in no particular order here is a great view of what the area around Harbour City used to look like.

The large empty space in the top photo is where the Ocean Centre currently sits and this is testified by the fact that if you look at the far right in that top picture, you can see some older buildings that line Canton Road. The smaller building to the left is #14 - 16 Canton Road and can still be found - although it was quite new when this film was made because it was only built in 1971.

Suffice to say everything else in these photos has gone. Replaced, by and large, by the Harbour City mall and office complex. The only buildings that were around along this strip that can still be found would be Star House and the Hongkong Hotel - however, they are both out of shot here.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Shanghai Street, Mongkok

Once again many thanks to my good friend Thomas for providing yet another identification from obscure clues. This one is a brief glimpse of Shanghai Street in the same car driving scene from Danny was a Million Laughs.

I may have a match for this one. The business sign painted on the last pillar was 人和悅﹐ a famous rice liquor maker & retailer. I've found another blog (http://woofertennews.blogspot.hk/2012/12/blog-post_25.html) in Chinese mentioning some history of a small section of Shanghai Street. According to the blog entry 人和悅 somehow took over of number 400 Shanghai Street in the mid to late 1960's. That would seem to match the time frame of the series.

But before I forget, here is the screen grab.

In case you can't quite see it the 人和悅 signpost is on the red column four from the front, the last character is partially obscured. So what does this place look like now? Well, as you may be able to guess the columned shophouses here have long gone, although other parts of Shanghai Street still retain a nice few examples.

The buildings on the right were all replaced soon after this was filmed and all the current buildings at this section (up to Hamilton Street on the right)

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

After a nice long lay off over Xmas and New Year it's time to get back to I Spy and the Danny was a Million Laughs episode. Again, this was a fantastic ID done by Thomas who correctly identified the open area on the right of the picture as the Mongkok Police Station compound. Here is the snap anyway.

Here is Thomas' original comment:

...are those government issue vehicles behind the wired fence? Looked like charcoal grey Police trucks to me. Might be Mongkok Police Station. Requires further comparison with older photos to confirm

And it wasn't long until the confirmation popped up on Gwulo courtesy of user 'harigger'. Here is the link: http://gwulo.com/node/18199.

Now, this area of Nathan Road looks vastly different these days because the rather large columned building on the right (I'm assuming it was once part of the Police Station) has long gone and is now largely open space - a compound that surrounds the remaining Police Station block.

Look closely and you may see at least one of the buildings in the distance is visible on both the 1965 screen grab and the Streetview grab shown above (taken circa 2009).