The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon City

I've lost count of the amount of times this shot has been used and sadly this version is one of the poorest quality ones. The detail is really too blurred to make out anything of interest other than what I believe is Ho Man Tin Hill in the background of the second picture.

And a picture of a plane parked on the apron.

The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Lockhart Road, Wanchai

After being duped into believing someone wants to publish his writing, Bridges heads out to celebrate with his new publisher - in reality a US agent. They hit the town in several places including the Ocean Bar that used to be at 88-92 Lockhart Road (thanks to Doug). It's a shame the picture quality isn't any better because I'm a big fan of these old neon signs.

The reason the top picture is rotated is because of Burgess Meredith trying to convey the drunkeness of the night with skewed camera angles.

We also get a quick glimpse of the nearby Neptune Bar sign (75-79 Lockhart Road).

The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Hong Kong Cricket Club, Central

So just a few short weeks after seeing the old cricket club featured in Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine it pops up again (around 4 years later) in a more blurry version of itself. In this film though we get a quick glimpse of the scoreboard (how exciting...).

Behind Jeff Bridges in the second picture is the old Hong Kong Club, but by then its annex building had been knocked down and replaced by Sutherland House. This was the building that had the large green neon advert for Bayer for all those years. You can just see the corner of it at the right hand side.

Finally, in the lower picture with James Mason you can make out the Murray Barracks building at the background sitting on the site now occupied by the I.M Pei Bank of China Building.

The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Barker Road Peak Tram Stop, The Peak

Although it's blurry, the unmistakable design of the Barker Road Peak Tram Stop is quite discernible and looks to have added Jeff Bridges and James Mason to its list of illustrious visitors. This was 1969/1970 (I believe most of the film was shot in late 1969) so I wonder if any of these school kids are viewing this and suddenly remembering seeing these two dodgy looking geezers wandering around.

The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Aberdeen Harbour, Aberdeen

Unfortunately for our next film the print I have looks to have been taken directly from an old VHS copy because the quality is quite poor even after de-interlacing almost every screen grab. I heard of this film through Chaplin Chang who also happens to have a small role in the film (he is a master of this) as well as being credited as Assistant Director.

Anyway, I also heard about some of the shenanigans that went on during production and it seems that Burgess Meredith wasn't a particularly organised director and, in fact, didn't complete the film in the end. According to Chaplin, two key scenes were never shot and the way the film jumps around seems to confirm it. It sounds as though the version available to buy was a cobbled together work print and it really shows. Despite the presence of James Mason and Jeff Bridges - and even a cameo role from King Hu (as a Japanese Bank manager) - the film is just tragically awful.

Of the scenes that were actually completed, one of the first was some shots of Aberdeen Harbour where Mr Y.Y Go (played by James Mason in *sigh* "yellowface") has a boat where he plots his evil schemes.

You can barely make it out in the second picture but the old Aberdeen Police Station is just visible on the hillside at the back.

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - New Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

The final Hong Kong based scenes of this film were shot within the New Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter in West Kowloon. The old one was, of course, reclaimed entirely for the purposes of creating West Kowloon itself. The boat chase that started at Hoi Fai Road Garden ends up with the thief (Williams Belle) taking a dip before finally confronting his pursuer for some fisticuffs. You can see several Kowloon landmarks in the background of the various shots.

However, if you are as sad as I am then you may have spotted something wrong with the second picture. For some reason the film has been flipped and actually the background should look like this. Weird.

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Hoi Fai Road Garden, Tai Kok Tsui

During the ensuing chase, English commandeers a private yacht along the waterfront at Hoi Fai Road Garden. The garden is part of the small promenade that that lines to north waterfront of the New Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter in Tai Kok Tsui.

The cluster of buildings behind Atkinson's head in the lower picture is the Park Avenue development in Mongkok and at the far right you can just make out the arch of...erm...The Arch!

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Return to Sai Wan Fort, Shau Kei Wan

After posting about Jean-Paul Belmondo's and Ursula Andress' trip to Sai Wan Fort for Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine I mentioned I would try and get up there to take some comparison pictures. Well, today was the day and here are some of the results.

The first picture shows the slope going up to the top of the fort structure. The slope is still there but it now has a set of steps cut into the middle and as you can see the external slope has been shored up by riprap.

At the top of the slope, the view is changed mainly due to the amount of tree growth that has occurred. As a result the lower area seen on the centre left of the next picture is no longer visible from the same place. The structures seen in the film are still fairly intact, the one exception is the large building seen in the top picture: it has been knocked down at some point and replaced by a small rest garden and a rain shelter (the structure with the orange roof in the lowest picture below.

The next picture is the view looking over towards the island formerly known as Fat Tong Chau. It's still called that but has been reclaimed and is now part of the Clearwater Bay peninsula. Both pictures (the film  grab and my own) were taken from the very top of the slope. Actually, if you look closely at the wall in the film grab you can see a circular dent in the cement on the right - you should be able to spot the same dent in my picture.

 For the next picture we move around to the east facing side of the fort. The top of the fort has since been turned into a radio transmission station and the top is completely fenced off. This section of the fort is also marked as prohibited to enter but we (I was doing my exploring with David Bellis from Gwulo.com) were being given an impromptu guided tour by a local hiker and he said everyone wanders all over the place so not to worry. The section that juts out now has a radio mast fitted to the top and it looks like some concrete reinforcement work has gone on for that purpose because the top now has a lip. The bit on the wall is the fenced-off section I mentioned.

Next we move over to the opposite side of the fort and what is the west facing wall. This is the wall that is scaled by all the assassins in the film and to get there we had to skirt the fence and push through some trees. As you can see from my comparison shots, this side is also completely overgrown. The second of my two pictures was taken about half way along the wall. In the film you can see the development going on in distant Chai Wan but it's a view that can't bee seen from this spot anymore.

And finally there is the final part of our trip to the fort that involves Belmondo et al dropping into what appears to be some tunnels via a ground level hatch. The personal visit showed us that the hatch has now gone - it's been sealed with concrete - and it doesn't lead to tunnels but was actually an access hatch for a water reservoir. You can see some of the pipework in my first comparison picture. The section of the wall we were just looking at previously is hidden behind all that tree growth.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable little excursion and I have to thank David for coming along (he will do a more detailed write up of all the other non-film related places we visited) and for Mr Chan - the local hiker who we disturbed from his morning newspaper perusal and who then proceeded to take us - not just around the fort but also - down into the nearby former barracks at Lei Yue Mun Holiday Camp.

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Chungking Mansion, Tsim Sha Tsui

The action moves back over to Hong Kong for our next scene as English is following up a lead from the casino. The lead takes him to a shabby hotel - the Kowloon Paradise Hotel - that appears to be located somewhere in Chungking Mansion.

The end of the scene involves a chase that takes us up to the roof of the building where English is after a rather nimble thief portrayed by the parkour expert, Williams Belle.

iSquare in the background 

An impressive leap from block to block performed by Belle.

Most of the action appears to have been filmed on the roof of Blocks B & C but for the last picture, Williams Belle had already jumped the gap between Block C and E and that last view is looking from Block E out across the harbour. Belle's character actually utilises some scaffolding to escape and I do remember that Chungking Mansion was completely covered in the stuff at around that time whilst it was undergoing some external renovation.

Johnny English Reborn - Rowan Atkinson (2011) - Grand Lisboa, Macau

The action briefly moves over to Macau as the two spies head off to meet their contact at the truly, TRULY tacky Grand Lisboa casino. But before we go there we also catch a quick glimpse of the original Lisboa across the road. Here it is below looking colourful and relatively subdued compared to the monstrosity that sits across the road from it.

And here is the monstrosity just mentioned. One of the true great eyesores of the Macau skyline (at least all the other tacky resort casinos have been restricted to the Cotai Strip) that I would happily see demolished.

There looks to have also been some interior filming as well, a quick google reveals that the next shot (with the tasteful gold wall) is indeed inside the building, and I assume the second picture below is as well, however, I'm having problems finding anything online to match, so it could easily be a mock up back in a studio.

Real or not?