Thursday, February 6, 2014
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - View of Victoria Harbour
Bit of a quickie this one but worth it for the nice late afternoon shot of the harbour on a clear day. Things to note is the reclamation on both sides of the harbour - Wanchai on the north side of HK Island and East TST on Kowloon side. It looks as though this shot was filmed from Lugard Road with the shadow of Victoria Peak at the bottom of the screen. I'm not sure how clear the view is now in terms of tree growth, but I can tell you this kind of visibility is rarely encountered outside of the summer.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Kai Tak, Kowloon
Another view of Kai Tak, this time from the south, as a Cathay Pacific plane comes into land. I think the buildings in the background (of the last pic) might be the Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate, only half of which are still standing.
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Connaught Road, Central
A brief glimpse but worthy of inclusion because we get a quick look at one of the best buildings to have been torn down in HK ever. The HK Club. The club still exists in name of course but the new building is not a patch on the old one.
I understand the columns from the front door were 'saved' and placed somewhere inside the new building, but I've never been in to confirm it either way. On the positive side, the Cenotaph that can be seen on the right of the picture was recently granted 'Monument' status in HK.
I understand the columns from the front door were 'saved' and placed somewhere inside the new building, but I've never been in to confirm it either way. On the positive side, the Cenotaph that can be seen on the right of the picture was recently granted 'Monument' status in HK.
Men of the Dragon - Jared Martin (1974) - Dragon Garden, Castle Peak Road
Just as in Enter the Dragon, Mr Han had his island fortress (in the shape of King Yin Lei and Kau Yi Chau), our evil bad guy in this film played by Dr No himself, Joseph Wiseman, also has an island fortress. In this case Dragon Villa and Garden are used.
The famous pai fong (a Chinese archway) looking towards the domed mausoleum at the back.
Walking past the stone dragon ornament in the garden pond. We also saw the same ornament in I Spy, The Man with the Golden Gun and Noble House (and many more I'm sure).
This is the actual house with its rather nice ornate front doors, and the shot below shows a nice view across the property and looking over towards Ma Wan island and would you believe me if I told you the island in the far left was Hong Kong Island? It's true. You would be hard pressed to get that much visibility in HK at any time other than the summer these days.
A closer view below of Joseph Wiseman and Katie Saylor sitting in front of the garden's large domed mausoleum.
And after a blind-folded battle pitting the buddies against each other in some seriously hammed up kung fu swirling of the arms and loud screams, the cavalry arrive, in true Enter the Dragon style and mayhem breaks out.
The famous pai fong (a Chinese archway) looking towards the domed mausoleum at the back.
Walking past the stone dragon ornament in the garden pond. We also saw the same ornament in I Spy, The Man with the Golden Gun and Noble House (and many more I'm sure).
This is the actual house with its rather nice ornate front doors, and the shot below shows a nice view across the property and looking over towards Ma Wan island and would you believe me if I told you the island in the far left was Hong Kong Island? It's true. You would be hard pressed to get that much visibility in HK at any time other than the summer these days.
A closer view below of Joseph Wiseman and Katie Saylor sitting in front of the garden's large domed mausoleum.
And after a blind-folded battle pitting the buddies against each other in some seriously hammed up kung fu swirling of the arms and loud screams, the cavalry arrive, in true Enter the Dragon style and mayhem breaks out.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - View from the Hilton Hotel
Quite unexpected but welcome nonetheless is the following picture. No, this screen grab isn't from the film per se, but is a nice by-product of uploading photos to this Google blog.
Anyway the result is a nice clear view over to the buildings and out across the harbour and Betty being abducted by aliens.
In case you didn't know, Google has this funky new algorithm that goes through your photos looking for effects it can apply. It's already found a few of mine that it has automatically ,merged into panoramas etc.
The following picture, as you should know from my last post is taken from a room in the Hilton Hotel where Betty was supposedly staying during the story in Bruce Lee & I. Google took the three screen grabs I uploaded and simply removed Betty! - I think there are probably a few Bruce Lee fans around the world that wish they could do the same, though I'm not one of them.
Anyway the result is a nice clear view over to the buildings and out across the harbour and Betty being abducted by aliens.
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Hilton Hotel, Central
Speaking of the Hilton Hotel, as we just were, here is a shot taken from it rather than of it. Betty is staying at a hotel in the film when she starts her liaison with Bruce. In reality she was staying at the Hyatt Regency over on Nathan Road in Kowloon, and Bruce was first introduced to her there, but in the film we have switched over to HK Island and she is shown staying at a nameless hotel, but as we can see from the film it is in fact the Hilton Hotel.
How do we know this? Well, looking out of her suite window we can see several buildings opposite: the yet-to-be-opened Furama Hotel, Hutchison House and what is now Bank of America tower.
The only building tall enough (because I am pretty sure this was not a back projected studio scene) to fit is the Hilton Hotel which was directly opposite the Furama.
Sadly, the Furama disappeared several years ago and was replaced by the AIG building that now stands in its place. Despite walking past it on several occasions I never went in to sample the revolving restaurant nor the bakery on the ground floor(?) that my wife says had the best cakes in HK :-)
Hutchison House (the shorter of the three) and BoA tower are still standing, for the time being.
How do we know this? Well, looking out of her suite window we can see several buildings opposite: the yet-to-be-opened Furama Hotel, Hutchison House and what is now Bank of America tower.
The only building tall enough (because I am pretty sure this was not a back projected studio scene) to fit is the Hilton Hotel which was directly opposite the Furama.
Sadly, the Furama disappeared several years ago and was replaced by the AIG building that now stands in its place. Despite walking past it on several occasions I never went in to sample the revolving restaurant nor the bakery on the ground floor(?) that my wife says had the best cakes in HK :-)
Hutchison House (the shorter of the three) and BoA tower are still standing, for the time being.
Men of the Dragon - Jared Martin (1974) - Des Voeux Road, Central
Another blurry shot from Men of the Dragon as we see the car (in fact a Mercedes Taxi, which I am assured was a common sight in HK during the 70's) containing Katie Saylor drives past the Hilton Hotel and down towards the old Bank of China.
Of course the Hilton went in 1994 and was replaced by Cheung Kong Centre, but the old Bank of China building is still around thankfully and remains unchanged. The angle on Streetview isn't really a match so I have included an angle which shows the lattice stonework that we can see in the last screen grab above, and you can see the glass frontage of the Cheung Kong building where the Hilton Hotel used to stand.
This sequence was actually immediately following the previous post I did featuring the old Cricket Club pitch, which would have been off screen left in the above series of pictures.
Of course the Hilton went in 1994 and was replaced by Cheung Kong Centre, but the old Bank of China building is still around thankfully and remains unchanged. The angle on Streetview isn't really a match so I have included an angle which shows the lattice stonework that we can see in the last screen grab above, and you can see the glass frontage of the Cheung Kong building where the Hilton Hotel used to stand.
This sequence was actually immediately following the previous post I did featuring the old Cricket Club pitch, which would have been off screen left in the above series of pictures.
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon
Just before the car gets to Ede Road and Beacon Hill Road, we see him driving along Waterloo Road (okay, so I'm not doing these in the order I should be). First we see a shot through the windscreen that shows us Kilowatt Court.
A strange name for a place but I suspect either due to its proximity to the CLP HQ (that's China Light & Power, the Kadoorie owned monopoly utility company that provides the electricity to Kowloon and NT), or it may even have been developed by one of the Kadoorie companies. Either way, it's still around as you can see from the next Streetview picture.
Look past Kilowatt Court on both the film grab and Streetview picture and you will see the red brick tower of the Mary Knoll Convent School. This is one of the so-called 'Band 1' local schools that sees parents so desperate for their daughters (it's a Catholic girls school) to get into that they become Catholics just for the purpose of getting some extra points on their entry forms. I know, this goes on everywhere in the world but for some reason it seems more common here. There was even an instance a few months ago of a mother who got her son baptized so that he could get into the nearby LaSalle Catholic Primary school (yes, the one Brandon Lee attended) only to find out he had been baptized as a Protestant rather than Catholic!
Anyway, here is the quick shot of the school further on in the sequence, followed by the current Streetview.
Notice anything different? Well, the most obvious difference to me is the missing pine tree in the later picture. A few years ago this tree caused a bit of a local kerfuffle. It's a Norfolk Island Pine tree and, as you can see, had been in the school grounds for a considerable amount of time. This film was made in the mid-70's and there it is in all its glory.
The school decided in 2009 that it didn't want the tree any more and was going to cut it down, causing a huge uproar from students and public alike so the school backed down. Then about a year later it disappeared completely! It turns out that the school had authorised some 'drainage' works to be carried out that resulted in the roots of the tree being severed - in essence killing the tree. This despite the fact that as a declared monument, the school should have requested authority from the Govt to carry out any works on site (in case they damaged the school), which of course they hadn't.
Anyway, you can read a much better summary of the controversy on wikipedia here.
A strange name for a place but I suspect either due to its proximity to the CLP HQ (that's China Light & Power, the Kadoorie owned monopoly utility company that provides the electricity to Kowloon and NT), or it may even have been developed by one of the Kadoorie companies. Either way, it's still around as you can see from the next Streetview picture.
Look past Kilowatt Court on both the film grab and Streetview picture and you will see the red brick tower of the Mary Knoll Convent School. This is one of the so-called 'Band 1' local schools that sees parents so desperate for their daughters (it's a Catholic girls school) to get into that they become Catholics just for the purpose of getting some extra points on their entry forms. I know, this goes on everywhere in the world but for some reason it seems more common here. There was even an instance a few months ago of a mother who got her son baptized so that he could get into the nearby LaSalle Catholic Primary school (yes, the one Brandon Lee attended) only to find out he had been baptized as a Protestant rather than Catholic!
Anyway, here is the quick shot of the school further on in the sequence, followed by the current Streetview.
Notice anything different? Well, the most obvious difference to me is the missing pine tree in the later picture. A few years ago this tree caused a bit of a local kerfuffle. It's a Norfolk Island Pine tree and, as you can see, had been in the school grounds for a considerable amount of time. This film was made in the mid-70's and there it is in all its glory.
The school decided in 2009 that it didn't want the tree any more and was going to cut it down, causing a huge uproar from students and public alike so the school backed down. Then about a year later it disappeared completely! It turns out that the school had authorised some 'drainage' works to be carried out that resulted in the roots of the tree being severed - in essence killing the tree. This despite the fact that as a declared monument, the school should have requested authority from the Govt to carry out any works on site (in case they damaged the school), which of course they hadn't.
Anyway, you can read a much better summary of the controversy on wikipedia here.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Beacon Hill Road, Kowloon
Well, it doesn't get any more real than this does it? Fake Bruce (Danny Lee) continues his journey up the slopes at the back of Kowloon as he heads towards Beverly Heights on Beacon Hill Road - the actual location of Lee's rather sad demise all those years ago. Not much has changed here as mentioned before. Many of these buildings are old for HK standards - Beverly Heights, where Ting Pei lived and where Bruce died (IMO of course - I subscribe to the theory that he was dead long before the ambulance arrived which is why it made no difference which hospital he was taken to...) was built in 1970 - but still sell for a ton of money due to the relatively large amount of space and ceiling size.
As you can see from the current Streetview, other than some tree growth this place has changed very little. And just in case there is any doubt as to where we are...the road sign is actually pretty much the only thing that has been removed :-)
Here we see the car driving up the road.
The concrete slope is still there, as is the small staircase, the low wall and the little line of tree that comes diagonally down the slope. The building at the far end of the road (the Luso Apartments) are also still around as is that little hillock next to them. All that has changed really is that the local district council have added some tree saplings along the pavement.
The concrete slope is still there, as is the small staircase, the low wall and the little line of tree that comes diagonally down the slope. The building at the far end of the road (the Luso Apartments) are also still around as is that little hillock next to them. All that has changed really is that the local district council have added some tree saplings along the pavement.
Then as the car goes past the camera we get a glimpse of the corner at the top of the road and just beyond is the edge of Beverly Heights (the white building).
As you can see from the current Streetview, other than some tree growth this place has changed very little. And just in case there is any doubt as to where we are...the road sign is actually pretty much the only thing that has been removed :-)
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Bruce Lee & I - Betty Ting Pei (1976) - Ede Road, Kowloon Tong
From the intro to the film when we see 'Bruce' (i.e. Danny Lee) driving in his Merc up to see Betty at her flat on Beacon Hill Road. In a surprise for the movie industry, the route we see on the way is pretty much as it should be in reality - and here the car goes up Ede Road on the way to Beacon Hill Road, passing Ede Terrace on the way - that's the retaining wall with the Chinese characters on that we can see in the screen grab below.
Despite quite a significant amount of development in this area in the past few years, much of it ongoing, both Ede Terrace and its neighbour, Orion Court (the gateway of which you can see up there past the terrace on the left) are still around and are still some of the more desirable places to live thanks to the huge amount of space inside the apartments - built when space in HK was less of an issue for property developers. Current Streetview below.
Despite quite a significant amount of development in this area in the past few years, much of it ongoing, both Ede Terrace and its neighbour, Orion Court (the gateway of which you can see up there past the terrace on the left) are still around and are still some of the more desirable places to live thanks to the huge amount of space inside the apartments - built when space in HK was less of an issue for property developers. Current Streetview below.
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