Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Jumbo Floating Restaurant, Aberdeen

A significant proportion of filming took place on the famous Jumbo floating restaurant in Aberdeen Harbour. It seems to be the villain's favourite place to do business giving us some nice glimpses around Aberdeen as a whole.

I'll do a smaller Aberdeen post next, but I thought it was worth dedicating a single post to the Jumbo because I've never seen it used so much in a film before. Plus there is a neat stunt at the end when Spidey gets hit by a tranquiliser dart and takes a dive off the top of the restaurant into those rather disgusting Aberdeen Harbour waters.

It's also interesting to note that when this filming took place, the restaurant was actually positioned right next to the waterfront. Was it undergoing some sort of repair? Given that this (and the Tai Pak) usually sits on some rather hefty wooden piles (no, sorry kids, this restaurant doesn't normally 'float' at all) I doubt the position was at the request of the TV movie production company.

Some shots of the interior

Restaurant positioned along the Aberdeen Waterfront...but why?

And finally some shots around the roof - which went on to become a restaurant called Top Deck by Cafe Deco. It closed a few years ago but I don't know if anything replaced it. I almost made it there once but just before we arrived it started chucking it down with rain, so we cancelled. Not long after that it closed down...oh well. The following is a great shot taken from the roof showing, quite clearly, the old Police Station on the hillside at the back. Pretty much every film shot in Aberdeen has this building somewhere in the background.

And then Spidey gets shot and a rather brave stuntman takes the fall into the water.

Splash!

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Ching Chung Koon, Tuen Mun

It looks as though the film makers didn't just shoot film in HK and the US, because there is a sneaky bit of footage from Singapore that has been snuck in there in the hope that no one will notice. The scene involves the heroes setting up a meet between themselves and a family uncle. The temple in question is actually Ching Chung Koon in Tuen Mun as we see at the end of the sequence when they all get into a car parked in the forecourt. It's been used a couple of times on this blog before for Enter the Dragon and That Man Bolt.

It's a bit difficult finding interior photographs at this temple, but the few I found do seem to confirm that they filmed inside, but to be 100% I will need to make a return trip. However, the exterior shots are definitely there as you can see below.

And to finish off, here is the opening shots of the sequence that was actually taken at the main entrance to the Chinese Gardens at Jurong Lake in Singapore. I'm not sure if this is stock footage or shot specifically for the film, I suspect the former but you never know.

Not Hong Kong!

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Park Lane Hotel, Gloucester Road

It looks as though Spidey is staying at the Park Lane Hotel along Gloucester Road where it overlooks neighbouring Victoria Park. I don't know much about this hotel other than it has a rather nice bar at the top with nice views over the harbour. But to be honest, I haven't been there since the 1990's so have no idea if they still let in the riff-raff like myself.

According to a Chinese wiki entry the hotel was constructed in 1974 and opened the following year as the 華都酒店 - transliterated as the Waldo Hotel. I'm not sure when the name change happened but it was definitely the Park Lane back in 95/96. The screencap below shows the name Hotel Plaza and I am scratching my head trying to figure out if this was the official English name or a subsequent change after opening. Perhaps one of you folks out there can clarify.

Anyway, it's a brief look as the camera pans down and then follows a car off up the road. The surrounding buildings haven't changed much since filming.

Thankfully the hotel has decided to at least try and hide the goddamn fugly lower section of concrete with some strategically placed metal work, but you can still see the hexagonal ports hiding behind.

We then follow the car as it drives north (towards the harbour) along this section of Gloucester Road.

You can see from the Streetview below that, other than the colour scheme, little has changed.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Central Waterfront, Hong Kong

The following screen grabs show a decent swathe of the Central Waterfront prior to the reclamation that saw the Connaught Road ousted from its long-standing position next to the harbour (of course the road didn't move, the waterfront did). We'll start off with a couple of nice harbour shots showing some very small boats bobbing up and down in the harbour. In all honesty, I'm not sure if any of these smaller boats are brave enough to risk going into the harbour these days with all the big boats passing through, but I rarely go there these days despite it being just a few kilometres away. Note Jardine House (formerly the Connaught Centre) centre screen in the top picture followed by a closer view of the General Post Office (with Jardine House being) in the lower picture.

The next few pictures though show the various piers that used to sit along the waterfront. Starting with the outer-island piers (top picture) and moving over past the vehicular ferry pier (left side of picture 2/right side of picture 3) to rest upon the dogleg shape of the final version of Blake Pier and one of the Star Ferry piers. Of course reclamation has long since removed these from their original locations, but the Star Ferry did manage to survive here until 2006.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - The Peak Tram, Central

Various scenes in and around Hong Kong's famous Peak Tram including the lower tram terminus, part of the track showing Century Tower and the view looking down from the upper tram terminus.

A word of warning, watch out for the taxi drivers who currently hang around the lower terminus. They will offer to take you up to the peak off the meter and will charge you a fortune. If you want to catch a cab up there after all, make sure it is done by the meter.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

There's a fair amount of aerial views in this film courtesy of a sequence that involves a helicopter. It looks like the film makers took the opportunity to film a significant amount of footage and incorporate it into various parts of the film rather than save it all for the actual helicopter chase/search.

One scene that crops up a few times is a view over Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. Here are the grabs where, to a trained eye, you may be able to discern the low roofs of the Yau Ma Tei fruit market (centre right in the top picture). Some of those thin white buildings are still around - unlike the shelter itself which has long since been reclaimed and redeveloped. In fact all of that water you see below has been replaced by Olympian City, Olympic MTR Station and large developments such as Park Avenue, The Hermitage and Charming Garden. 

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Cameron Mansions, The Peak

Spider-Man's nemesis in this film is a corrupt businessman who wants to secure a industrial contract in China. He's obviously wealthy because he walks around in silk dressing gowns and gets his portrait painted whilst standing in his garden. It's certainly what I would do if I had lots of spare dosh. Anyway, the garden in question is actually the terrace at Cameron Mansions along Magazine Gap Road on The Peak. There are a few nice views from here that would be great if they were any near decent resolution. Actually, the terraced garden you can see below specifically belongs to the part of the development called Cameron House.

In the back of this shot (above) you can see the 'Pink House' - currently HSBC senior staff quarters.

Actually, Cameron Mansions has another link to the film world because it was supposedly designed by local architect, Kwan Wing-hong, who happens to have been the father of Nancy Kwan. I've heard this rumour before but can't seem to find a source to back it up at the moment. I'll dig deeper and update later.

Anyway, the building was completed in 1951 and constructed on the remains of a large concrete base that formerly supported the (in)famous Japanese war memorial - erected during the occupation. According the post-war news reports, the site had been constructed for the purpose of mass suicide by the Japanese forces in case the British were able to re-invade Hong Kong. I guess they had second thoughts.

The memorial was destroyed soon after the war ended but rumours persist about a valuable ceremonial sword that was embedded into the foundation base as some sort of consecration. It may or may not be true but I suspect it will remain out of reach until the time comes for redevelopment of the site.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

I have two very early, although now quite vague, cinematic memories from when I was a youngest in the 1970's. The first memory is when I went to see Star Wars during its original UK cinema run in..erm...1978(?). The second memory I have is when my mum took me to a Saturday morning double bill at the Coventry Odeon. I remember the day was hot and sunny and it was at a time when you could wander into the cinema at any point and the films would play on a loop with perhaps a small break between reel changes. We're still talking about 1978 (I think so anyway, it was a long time ago) because the films on the double bill were Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and the The Amazing Spider-Man.

The Amazing Spider-Man was actually a TV series pilot starring Nicholas Hammond as Spidey, but it did get a limited theatrical release in the UK and was actually the main reason for us going to the cinema - I was a big Spiderman fan when I was young - the Sinbad film was just an extra bonus. In hindsight, I think we all know which was the better film, but hey I was only about 6 or 7 at the time so what did I know...?

Anyway, The Amazing Spider-Man ran for a couple of seasons in the US before culminating in a double-length finale (called The Chinese Web Parts 1 & 2)  that was eventually edited down into a movie and also given a limited cinema release under the tile The Dragon's Challenge. I don't recall seeing this in the cinema myself (and only have a vague recollection of ever seeing it at all) but over my research into films for this blog was happy to discover that a large portion of it had been filmed in Hong Kong.

Sadly, the only copies currently available are fairly low VHS transfers onto YouTube. It would be great to get a higher definition version because it has plenty of HK locations that we haven't seen on the blog before.

We'll start with the easy stuff which involves (as is usual when a film plot involves the characters heading out the HK) a brief scene revolving around the former International Airport at Kai Tak.

Landing.

Inside the terminal.

The view from the roof top observation deck.

Taking a car from the front of the terminal, and finally...

...takeoff!