The Peking Medallion - Robert Stack (1967) - KCR Railtrack, Shatin

One of the best things about this blog is discovering a old films shot in HK that I had no idea about. Just when I think I am coming to the end of my preferred criteria (international film shot on location in HK or Macau) a new one pops up out of the blue. Case in point is this little gem, The Peking Medallion, starring Robert Stack and filmed in 1967. I'd never heard of it before now and even when I ordered it I was under the impression it was another German film due to its title Die Hölle von Macao. It turns out it is a German/Italian/French co-production with Robert Stack in the lead role and a opening/closing credits song sung by Dusty Springfield.

Anyway, despite the German title it turns out to have nothing whatsoever to do with Macau and was largely filmed in Hong Kong with some new locations to go with the usual familiar ones we have seen before. It's quite the potboiler and is about various nefarious parties trying to get hold of a golden medallion that is the key to an emperor's tomb containing riches worth millions.

The film starts with a fight on a train to Shanghai as one of the main characters manages to steal the medallion from its Chinese owner. Despite the train supposedly heading towards Shanghai in Mainland China, the footage used is actually of the KCR train as it runs along the track next to Shatin Hoi. Shatin Hoi was the sea inlet that was reclaimed to create the Shatin New Town.

The top photo is a bit dark but look carefully and you will see the striped buffer of one of the old KCR diesel engines. It's too dark to make out anything more such as the locomotive number.

The next shot is a fake sign erected by the side of the track so that we know we are supposed to be in "Red" China. This and the following pictures suggest this small sequence was filmed somewhere close to just south of today's University Station in Ma Liu Shui (it's only a guess though).

The following images are a bit clearer, certainly enough for me to identify Lion Rock (top left) and Beacon Hill (top centre left). The small island just below Lion Rock is Yuen Chau Kok.

To draw out the opening sequence, some jiggery pokery was done with the film negative and we see the same scene several times but flipped. Case in point is the next shot displayed as seen on film, but in fact you have to flip it to get the proper view. Lion Rock is the hill at the far right hand side of the ridge line, again with Yuen Chau Kok underneath it at sea level.

The Chinese Stuntman - Ho Chung Tao (1981) - King's Park Garden, Ho Man Tin

Quite a few of the film's fight scenes were filmed on top of the King's Park covered reservoir garden. I've mentioned this place previously on my other blog because it's the same area that the real Bruce Lee was photographed training in kung fu with his dad and "uncles".

In this film it's the area where Ho's character trains and seems to always get ambushed, you'd think he would learn after the first couple of times. Anyway, the first two images are of the steps and path way that lead up from the back of Cliff Road and Wing Sing Lane.

The steps and path are still there but the steps now have a green canopy covering them. You can access them , as mentioned, from Cliff Road just off Nathan Road. Later on, there is also a snippet of a training scene that was filmed actually in the rest garden atop the covered reservoir.

 The small white building at the back of the first two images above is the pump house that can still be seen today. There is a close up picture of it on the link I provided earlier, but you can see it here as well.

The Chinese Stuntman - Ho Chung Tao (1981) - Alhambra Building, Yau Ma Tei

Ho's character has a friend who is a karate instructor and he goes to his karate school to have a chat. The building where the school was is actually the Alhambra Building at the junction of Nathan Road and Kansu Street. In the first picture we are looking up Nathan Road and the white building in the background is the lower floors of the Kowloon Government Offices. You can also see the Gascoigne Road/West Kowloon Corridor flyover (the road which goes through the nearby Yaumatei carpark).

As you can see the part of the building used in the film is that most northerly bit, right next to the flyover. It looks as though the interior scenes were filmed on location because in the lower picture you can see the square character boards stuck on the outside of the building, as well as the flyover going past the window. It looks as though it might have been turned back into a private flat in the meantime and the front lattice work has all been filled in (actually, it looks like it may have once been a balcony that has since been enclosed - illegally - a common practice in HK to gain extra space).

The Chinese Stuntman - Ho Chung Tao (1981) - HSBC Building, Central

Here's a quick glimpse of the older (and much more stylish, in my opinion) HSBC building as seen from the Des Voeux Road side. The famous lions still adorn the same entrance of the building today even though they are actually copies of the original lions that stood outside HSBC HQ in Shanghai. These fellas are still covered in bullet and shrapnel damage from when the Japanese invaded in December 1941.

The Chinese Stuntman - Ho Chung Tao (1981) - Stubbs Road, Wanchai

Ho's character starts his new job as an insurance salesman at the AIA Building at #1 Stubbs Road in Wanchai. This building was opened in 1969 and is still around, although the last time I went past in the bus (sometime around Feb 2018) it looked as though something major was about to happen with it with lots of sprayed on markings on the outside lattice work.

Update: the building has been demolished circa 2020.

The Chinese Stuntman - Ho Chung Tao (1981) - Y.M.C.A, Salisbury Road

While I wait for my next "international" film to turn up (should've been here last week, but no sign yet), then how about a bit of a filler in the form of a 1981 Ho Chung Tao (aka Bruce Li) film co-starring John Ladalski?

Surprisingly, despite starring Ho, The Chinese Stuntman (aka Counter Attack), isn't a clone movie and was in fact also directed by him in what looks to be an attempt to break away from all those Bruce Lee-related films. He plays a normal guy (with a talent for fighting) who starts works as an insurance agent and takes on the role of the stand in for a local movie star who appears to be the target of some nefarious shenanigans. Ladalski plays a bolshy westerner who befriends Ho after initially challenging him and his kung fu school to a fight.

The opening scene takes place outside the old Y.M.C.A on Salisbury Road where Ho's kung fu club is supposedly based.

This older version of the Y.M.C.A (built in 1925) was demolished sometime around 1990 and replaced in 1992 by the current, much larger, building. You can just see the Peninsula Hotel in the background of the last picture.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Kai Tak Airport Part 3, Kowloon

A final post from this film until I can figure out one more tricky location. Anyway, it's a few more shots of the apron around the Kai Tak runway as the three protagonists enter a Singapore Airlines plane in a not-so conventional manner. The plane spotters and Kai Tak fans among you will apreciate the view of the HAEC hangar in the second frame.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Remember we were just talking about Wu Sang House in Mongkok and it being the first revolving restaurant in HK? Here's the reminder. Anyway, look carefully and you can see the same building with its circular top in the background of the top two pictures below. This places us somewhere near Mongkok along Nathan Road and I *think* it might be the junction with Hamilton Street, but am not 100% sure at the moment. I'm still looking for further clues to confirm one way or the other.

Looking west along Hamilton St?

NE corner of Hamilton and Nathan?

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Kai Tak Airport Part 2, Kowloon

A second trip to Kai Tak in this film shows us some of the interior. We've seen those stairs before somewhere. I must admit that despite using Kai Tak on several occasions in the mid to late 90's I can't remember much about the inside of the terminal - however, I'm sure even by the time I first used it, it must have changed significantly since this film was made.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Tso Wo Hang Jetty, Sai Kung

The start of the film takes place in Sai Kung as a drug deal is interuppted by some kung fu cops at a remotye jetty. As the two criminal factions do their deal by the waterside, the cops jump out from their concealed location and take on all comers. It was all filmed at a jetty in front of Tso Wo Hang village, just off Tai Mong Tsai Road along the northern shore of Port Shelter in Sai Kung.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong

Although most of this film appears to have been filmed on studio sets, there are the odd moments when the crew ventured out to capture the real Hong Kong. This scene was taken at the eastern side of Shaukeiwan typhoon shelter.

The pointy hill at the back of the fourth screen grab is Devil's Peak. The buildings at the back are in the Cha Kwo Ling/Kwun Tong areas. You can still get to this spot today but you have to get to it through the (excellent) Museum of Coastal Defence. This section of the typhoon shelter is where the (supposed but probably not) old HMS Tamar anchor is sited. GoogleEarth has a fairly decent match - albeit greener and more built up.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Kai Tak Airport Part 1, Kowloon

Like many of the films we see on this blog, Kai Tak gets a look in both from the outside and the inside. Here is the outside view as a Singapore Airlines plane comes in to land.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

In the final opening credits post we get a brief glimpse of the old typhoon shelter in Yau Ma Tei. The view here shows the northern end with Cherry Street on the left as the northern limit of the shelter. The reclamation that can already be seen along Ferry Street (running along top of picture) was the formation works for what would become the West Kowloon Corridor. The white building top centre left is the Kwong Wing building and is one of the remaining buildings still found in the area.

Despite being referred to as Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, strictly speaking this section is in the vicinity of Mongkok and Tai Kok Tsui. It's all been filled in now and this exact spot now supports Park Avenue and Ho Fui Court residential developments.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Midlevels, Central

Another view from the credits, this time hovering above the mid levels in front of Century Tower and Granville House - both situated right next to the peak tram track around May Road and both still around surprisingly. Look carefully and you can see the tram track going up the hillside in the middle of the top picture.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

Some more views from the opening credits (obviously it's the most interesting part of the film, trust me, it is), this time from Aberdeen. The view below is from the western end of the harbour and you can just see the former power station far right (now South Horizons).

Then there is a quick glimpse of the various floating restaunats and the sequence ends at the other end of Ap Lei Chau looking at the various old boat yards.