Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - The Peak

Next up the pairhead up the Peak via the Peak Tram. The quality of this pint is pretty good so the views are reasonably detailed.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Aberdeen Harbour

The next part of their date together sees them ride a sampan around Aberdeen Harbour.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Ching Chung Koon, Tuen Mun

George and Emy go out on a date. The first place they hit is a perennial favourite with foreign movie companies, Ching Chung Koon. It's perhaps best known as being Bruce Lee's "Shaolin" temple, in the very first frames of Enter the Dragon.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong

On the way to the hospital following his discharge, we see George driving along Repulse Bay Road near to the entrance to the "Clinic of Flowers" i.e. the Repulse Bay Hotel. This is quite an interesting shot because it shows what looks to be the constructionof the Repulse Bay Apartments on the right side of the screen. They were completed and ready for sale by June 1977, so we know the film was shot prior to that. In the background is the already completed Repulse Bay Garden (completed 1973) and look on the left and you will see a rather grand Chinese-style private house at 12 Belleview Drive - owned by Lee Shiu-kee (李兆基).

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - King Yin Lei, Stubbs Road

No scenes were shot here but there is a brief glimpse of this impressive house as George and co drive by along Stubbs Road. No, I still haven't been inside despite it being in Govt ownership (and with open days) for more than a decade now.

Old readers of my output may remember this place was almost demolished sometime ago (2007) before a public outcry shamed the Govt into taking action. They then tried to blame the previous owner (Stephen Yow) but it turned out he had already offered to sell it to the Government beforehand but was snubbed. 

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

In the film, and possibly in real life, the J.A.L offices are in the old P&O Building - located at 13-14 Connaught Road Central. We get some good views of the general area including the old G.P.O next door and its postal bridge that spanned the road to the harbour front. Both the GPO and P&O Building have been redeveloped, but next door where it says "New Life Temple". This is the "Grand Building" and is currently still around - although the "New Life Temple" sign has been replaced by one for a Catholic Centre.

The second visit to the office was shot from a different angle showing the aforementioned postal conveyor spanning Connaught Road.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Guildford Road, The Peak

The following scene was shot at the junction of Guildford Road and Peak Road as the car drives up Guildford Road towards the give way line. The car stops at the line and holds up the traffic when they have a snog. But in image 3 we can see that the presence of the buildings in the background (the Mansfield Road Govt Quarters - demolished 2022) means that this particular shot was filmed back down the road away from the junction. This also explains the close upon the traffic pagoda in the bottom image which was taken from the same location. If the car was at the junction, looking at the pagoda we would see the view to the west, but instead we are looking east. I can only guess that they had to park the car on the pavement to get these shots so the traffic wouldn't be held up in real life.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Repulse Bay Hotel

The hospital where George convolesces is called the "Clinic of Flowers". The location used for the hospital exterior is the Repulse Bay Hotel. We see a few angles of the hotel that are new to the blog including the long driveway up from Repulse Bay Road. The place was demolished in the early 80s and a facsimile of the main entrance (seen in images 1-3) constructed on the same location. There are claims that the facsimile was created using the same bricks/blocks from the original building. I'm still doubtful.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Amah Rock, Tai Wai

Here's the first bit of geographical shenanigans. As the pair are enjoying the views across the harbour, there is a quick edit and all of a sudden they turn around and see Amah Rock! Anyone familiar with Hong Kong will know that Amah Rock is located about 10km away in the Shatin valley, near Tai Wai, and is certainly not visible from Hong Kong Island or even Kowloon side.  Anyway, Dr Wong explains the legend to George.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - The Governor's Walk, Victoria Peak

George is beaten up when he is out with a "girlfriend" (gotta keep it sfw), and wakes up in hospital. As he recovers, he spends some of his time overlooking the views from the "hospital" grounds. The location of the hospital is in a later post but these views were taken far away from it at the top of Victoria Peak. The pathway in the images below is better known as The Governor's Walk because it's a pathway that leads from where the Governor's old summer residence, Mountain Lodge, used to be located. This isn't the only bit of geographical jiggery-pokery that goes on.

The location on the last two images below is marked on GoogleEarth as "Lookout Point" and back in 1977 offered views to both sides of Hong Kong Island. These days, with all the additional foliage, I'd be surprised if you can see anything.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the most frequently used streets in this film is Hanoi Road with several scenes shot here, night and day.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Peking Road and its various neon-lit night clubs feature quite extensively in the film. The initial images below are from the beginning of the film as George and his pilot friends are out on the town. The Mary Building (image 2) is still around and was where Club Tasogare was located (in the basement that is now the Delaney's Irish pub).

The bottom two images are from later in the film and were filmed on the corner with Lock Road. You can just see the Chinese name of the Hyatt Hotel at the top of the 4th image, and then the entrance to Club Tasgore in the last one.

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Kai Tak Airport

We kick off the new year with another awkwardly-named Italian soft-erotica movie called Yellow Emanuelle. I'm not so sure I like the title particularly but it is riffing off Black Emanuelle, directed by the same director, Bitto Albertini, who incidentally also directed Superman Against the Orient. The original Italian title is much nicer: Il mondo dei sensi di Emy Wong. The film is about a JAL pilot who is beaten up in Hong Kong one night (yes,there's actually a plot!) and falls in love with the doctor, Emy Wong, who nurses him back to health. There's actually some new locations here to look at so the film is worth watching for some very nice unspoilt Hong Kong views - just don't watch in front of your kids.

The film begins with the pilot, George, landing at Kai Tak with his JAL 747. The fact that one of the main protagonists is a pilot means we get quite a few views of the airport throughout the whole film so I'll just put a few images here and leave it at that.

Wang Jang Lee's Death Match - Newspaper Report

Many thanks to my good friend (and useful source of movies),  AP, for sending me this newspaper report from 1977 that covers the supposed "death match" that Wang Jang Lee almost took part in. Any self-respecting HK movie fan will have heard of this near-fight but perhaps many, like me, were a bit short on details.

The print date was September 20th 1977 and the English name of the paper was the H.K Pictorial News located at 7-13 New Street, Hong Kong.