Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

As well as the previous landing shot, we do also get some ground level views of the airport from the carpark as well as the runway apron.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Kat Hing Wai, Kam Tin

The nefarious organisation's base is the Kat Hing Wai walled village in Kam Tin. pretty much the only recognisable thing about this place now is the wall, almost every building within has been redeveloped into modern style village houses.

This is the west wall and entrance of the village

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Kai Tak Approach, Kowloon

Another view of a plane landing from Checkerboard Hill. It's always great seeing these clips on film because it was a truly special thing to experience on board as well as to watch from the ground. In fact, one of the most popular posts on the blog is this one from Golgo 13:Assignment Kowloon which was basically the same sequence but shot ten years later.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Ap Lei Chau, Aberdeen Harbour

Ap Lei Chau is the small island on the opposite side of the harbour to Aberdeen. Now a combination of Govt housing estates and luxury residential developments it still has some boat yards centred on the eastern waterfront. However, as you can see from the following confrontation, the boat building industry on the island was once significantly larger.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Wanchai Gap, The Peak

Some more of the car chase as Marc Briand drives his car down Peak Road and into the famous junction where 6 (or perhaps 7?) roads all merge into one. It seems to be a blackspot for movie-related car mayhem as he almost hits the car that pulls out in front.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Stubbs Road, The Peak

After having his new friend kidnapped from Tiger Balm Gardens, Marc gives chase in his car. The first spot we see is Stubbs Road next to the turn off #51 Stubbs Road. Following that is the approach from the west towards Stubbs Road Lookout. You can see the lookout area on the right of the lower image, showing it's former open, and tree filled incarnation. In true Hong Kong style, the area is now just mainly concrete structures built to cope with the thousands of people that now go up there to see the views.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Tiger Balm Gardens, Tai Hang

This was a favourite location for filming during the 60's courtesy of the brightly coloured statues. The gardens were demolished in a few stages, beginning with the upper portion where the "Double Tenth"
archway was located. This upper section was demolished crica 1983 to make way for Ronsdale Garden (completed 1986). It was either foresight on bahlf of the Aw descendants, or just lucky happenstance because the upper portion of the garden contained quite a bit of Nationalist/Kuomintang imagery including the aforementioned gate (see below).

The concrete archway was made up of two Chinese characters for the number 10 (十十). For those not aware of this bit of history, the 10th of October (i.e. 10/10) 1911 was the start of the "Wuchang Uprising" that basically kicked off the revolution that eventually overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established China as a republic. It's still celebrated as the National Day in Taiwan, but is only marked in passing by the Communist-run Mainland of China under a different name.

I was lucky enough to see the gardens (or at least the remainder) pre-handover, and although well past its peak, it was a fun day afternoon wandering around the terraces. No post about this place can go without a plethora of other images so here they are.

True Light Middle School in the background (still there, unlike the garden)

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Despite arriving in Central from Mongkok, the next scene was filmed back over on Kowloon side. The overhead signboard is for the Moulin Rouge nightclub which was on Peking Road. The far background building is, of course, a blurry Chungking Mansion. The rather large gap to the left is where the Holiday Inn now stands. On the left of the upper photo and background of the lower one is the Hyatt Hotel (now iSquare) not long after its opening (in 1963). I'm not sure if it was still branded as the President Hotel at the time.

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong

Here's one I forgot to post before I disappeared to Taipei for three weeks last month. It's from Les Anges Gardiens and was fom the mid-film boat chase. The scene where the bad guys disembark their boat was shot in Shaukeiwan typhoon shelter, in almost the exact same position that I was looking at a few months before for Supermen Against the Orient.

Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka - Marc Briand (1967) - Central Ferry Piers, Hong Kong

After catching the ferry over at Mongkok Ferry Pier, the pair arrive at the ferry pier in Central. Not to be confused with the Star ferry pier but rather this was the set of piers around the vehicular ferry pier that were used by the Hong Kong and Yau Ma Tei Ferry Company (including the one from Mongkok).