All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Avenida da Amizade, Macau

Another shot from the race finale as Ah Long races his bike around the R-Bend of the Guia Circuit. It's the home straight of the circuit but in usual times is the Avenida da Amizade. These days the view to the peninsula in the background (that's the still-standing Grand Lapa on the left hand side of the top image) is blocked by the current ferry terminal and it's associated road infrastructure.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Estrada de San Francisco, Macau

For those who haven't already seen it, the denouement of this film takes place on the street-based racing circuit that runs around peninsula Macau. The Macau Grand Prix is a long-standing and very popular event and once every year the streets are closed off as the various races get underway.

From a practical point of view the film had to be filmed during one of the real Grand Prix (not sure the Macau Govt would have allowed these major roads to be closed for anything other than that event) along the proper, so-called, Guia Circuit. It's an autumn-based event so I expect this part of the film was filmed in the autumn of 1988.

Anyway, in the first of a few street scenes as the bikers race around the course, we get a few glimpses of Macau, starting with the Military Club building along Estrada de San Francisco.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Lung Kwu Tan, Tuen Mun

The beach where Ah Long, Porky and Sylvia go to prior to the race is located at the westernmost part of Hong Kong's New Territories at a place called Lung Kwu Tan.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Tai O Mun Road, Sai Kung

A day out with mum and dad and we see everyone in Sylvia's car going for a ride along Tai O Mun Road in Clearwater Bay. It's a fairly deserted road at most times because its destination is the rather exclusive Clearwater Bay club. Look carefully and you will see Steep Island in the background as well as the part of the Clearwater Bay headland that houses the club's golf course.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Ocean Park, Hong Kong

Sylvia takes her new-found son there for a day out and then proceeds to puke after her ride on the rollercoaster. I haven't been here for nearly ten years and lots has changed and my understanding is that both of these rides have since closed down.

RTHK 3 - Hong Kong Heritage Broadcast - the Jumbo

Announcement: Sadly, it appears that RTHK has felt the need to scrub most of its archive of the Hong Kong Heritage podcast, so the link below no longer points at the show. It's just one of the things we have to deal with in "new" Hong Kong where history is often seen as a threat.

However, something wonderful happened over on Gwulo. User hkspace_wl discovered that even though the front end of the RTHK website has been modified, the archives can still be accessed via a url. Sadly, the files cannot be listed (as far as I know) and the files have been given date names (ddmmyyyyy.mp3/m4a) without any textual description. I tried multiple tims using the mp3 file extension, but in the end hkspace_wl found the episode themselves and provided me with the link.

So now you have a choice. You can go to the gwulo website and listen through there, or click on my Youtube upload here where it will hopefully have a longer time being accessible.

The original post is left as it was below.
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Following on from the disastrous fate of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant, I was asked by Annemarie Evans of RTHK3 to discuss some of the films it has been featured in over the years. You can find the broadcast here:

https://podcast.rthk.hk/podcast/item.php?pid=164&eid=204279&year=2022&list=1&lang=en-US

This isn't the first thing I have done for RTHK. When Sir Roger Moore died a few years ago, I was invited to chat a little bit about The Man with the Golden Gun which was filmed partially in Hong Kong. I did a post about it at the time here.

For those who don't know what happened to the Jumbo, it was closed due to the pandemic. It's main business for a long time was centred aound large Mainland Chinese tour groups. These dried up due to the pandemic restrictions in Hong Kong and the Mainland, and the restaurant (and adjoining Tai Pak) have been closed since mid-2020.

At one point the Government mooted turning the structure over to Ocean Park, but for whatever reason it didn't happen and the owner instead decided to move it away from Hong Kong. The move was a big secret and no one knew where it was going. It turned out to be heading for a refurbishment at a Vietnamese port but capsized about half-way there and was left to sink. Lots of conspiracy theories have followed.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Shek Kip Mei Estate, Kowloon

We interrupt usual programming to complete our episode breakdown of the 1960 Rod Taylor Hong Kong series. I originally covered this show several years ago (actually 2019/2020) but couldn't complete the whole series because a single episode - Suitable for Framing - was unavailable. I couldn't find a copy anywhere.

The excellent Rod Taylor fansite was my first point of reference for the complete list of epsiodes, which were initially hosted on Youtube. But the list has since been updated to point to the Internet Archive and the missing episode, Suitable for Framing, has been located.

Sadly, it was largely a studio based episode whereby a shady character (played by Richard Loo) tries to get Glenn Evans framed for murder. There are some exterior shots but none that haven't been used before, other than this one.

I know this was taken in Shek Kip Mei because the angle on Lion Rock on the background is the same one that can still be seen from looking NE up Nam Cheong Street (I live in the area so am very familiar with it). But narrowing down the specific buildings seen in-shot is a bit more difficult.

However, I believe this was taken from Berwick Street between - what was - Block Q and Block P looking up to Block CC in the far distance with Lion Rock above it. This equates to where the Shek Kip Mei "Shopping Centre" (i.e. wet market) now stands at the corner of Berwick Street and Nam Cheong Street (same view today on Street View).

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Singapore

Porky goes to spend the weekend with his mum at a local hotel. Except that for some reason the director, Johnnie To, has pulled the wool over our eyes and gone all the way to Singapore (a 3.5 hour flight from Hong Kong) to capture these scenes at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Raffles Avenue.

Why was this done? The only explanation I have is that To wanted a hotel with a vast interior that he just couldn't find in Hong Kong. I'm sure a HK film aficionado may be able to provide the real reason. But anyway, the exterior scenes as Ah Long drives Porky to the hotel front, as well as the lobby scenes when Porky goes to meet Sylvia, were all filmed in Singapore. I've included them here just for completeness.

There is also a later scene where another switch is done as Sylvia looks out over Happy Valley and then the next scenes shows a view from the roof of this hotel (bottom image). I'll include that again when I cover the Happy Valley location.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Shatin Inn, Tai Wai

Sylvia and Ah Long head off to the Shatin Inn for a drink and a chat and it's here where Sylvia finds out the truth about Porky. The Shatin Inn is a real place and was quite famous for its satay sticks. I haven't been out this way for a couple of years so I have no idea whether or not it has survived the pandemic measure. At the time the film was made the place was on the main Tai Po Road between Kowloon and Shatin, but the whole road system here has since been remodelled and that old part of Tai Po Road now forms the dead end route up to Shatin Heights i.e. it no longer benefits from through traffic coming down Tai Po Road.

All About Ah Long - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - New Clear Water Bay Road, Kowloon

Sylvia is beginning to suspect who Porky really is and so goes to see Ah Long at his workplace at the quarry. He agrees to go for a talk and the pair ride off on Ah Long's scooter. A quick view of them riding along a main road was taken along New Clear Water Bay Road at the bottom of Kowloon Peak area.