Enter the Dragon - 1973

shows Ching Chun Koon before panning left to the next location at Ho Sheung Heung (nr Sheung Shui).

The next shot has only just recently been identified as being in the woods behind Ho Sheung Heung village in the northern NT. This scene was also the last one shot by Bruce Lee before he died and this sequence was actually done by him independently of Warners.

After giving Samo a thorough kicking, the film moves on to a location which is still intact, Tsing Shan Monastery. It still looks as it was back in 1973, give or take a tree or two.

The scene below, called "Lao's Time" starring a young Tung Wai (now a famous local director) is situated about twenty feet below the location of the monk scene. Both these locations are situated on the hill behind the main monastery buildings.

The opening credits start with the required city view taken from somewhere above Admiralty. I am sure I have seen this tree in many other programs but I don't know the exact location. Anyway, we get to see the 1973 Jardine House and Queens Building as well as quite a few others.

Followed by a rickety looking building somewhere in Kowloon City perhaps. I've been told that many of these opening scenes were filmed around the Kowloon City area - Nga Tsin Wai Road.

And some old shophouses. There is a street name in this scene but my technology is limiting me from getting a clearer screen shot.

Next we get a market, or perhaps some sort of waterfront wholesale market given the number of boxes.

Then we move to TST and a shot of John Saxon in a rickshaw. You can see the Red Lips bar on the left which should tell you its exact location in 1973. Famous, but I don't know where it is/was..Hankow Road?)

and finally I've included a shot which I think is Hankow Road because it has the CoPaCaBaNa sign in the background.

Can anyone give more specific locations to these photos?

the next portion of the film shows the fighters meeting up on a junk in Aberdeen Harbour before heading off to Han's Island. The scene is interspersed with flashbacks but only Bruce Lee's are HK location related. So I'll post these next, but for now we see various shots o Aberdeen as it was in 1973.

Actually the next one doesn't look like Aberdeen Harbour proper but perhaps was filmed in part of the outer harbour? I think it is the hillside that has the seminary at the top. No obscured from this angle by the road bridge.

The next shot is a good view over the harbour showing the Tai Pak and Sea Palace restaurants, Ap Lei Chau, some reclamation, the power station that became South Horizons development and Lamma in the far background.

Finally the boat on open sea. Is that Aberdeen in the background?

the main scene involves a chase filmed at Golden Harvest studios, but there is also a scene where Lee visits his parents' grave. This was filmed high up in the Muslim Cemetery in Happy Valley but there are recognisable (I hope) buildings in the background.

the next scenes showing the arrival at Han's Island, was filmed in Tai Tam on the coastline between what is now the American Club and Pacific View apartments complex.

The concrete jetty below still remains intact but the tennis courts in the bottom photo were absorbed into the construction of  said developments.

The long shot of Han's fortress is actually King Yin Lei in Wanchai.

Incidentally, I havew recently come into possession of an aerial photo of Tai Tam showing Lo's house (Palm Villa) and its tennis courts - as well as Stanley Ho's old villa two doors away. Don't know whio owned the one stuck in the middle but they have all been removed to make way for the American Club. Lo's tennis courts (all three of them it seems) were all taken over by Pacific View.

Han, the evil baddy from "Enter the Dragon" (played by Shek Kin who passed away this year) lived on an Island Fortress that straddled the HK maritime border therefore taking part of it out of British jurisdiction (that's the plot, not real life).

In the film it is shown, via a map, at the south-western part of the border. There is also an island on the map that did actually match a real island in 1973 although you would be hard pressed to find it now. Look carefully on the screen shot below and you will see the distinctive outline of Chek Lap Kok. The top of which straddles the "border".

When they were doing location hunting for the film one of the films actors, Roy Chiao (very famous HK actor who died in 1999), who was qualified as a pilot, took the production crew out in his plane and the following island shot is a result of that trip.

I'm not sure this is a real island because this photo is a composite made up of at least three items: the island, the 'fortress' and the tennis grounds. It's possible the island itself is also a mixture of several locations. Unless someone can recognise it.

Look closely and you will see that the production crew did quite a good job at using another angle of King Yin lei as Han's fortress (though you can't really see this cleary in the film) and MW Lo's tennis courts for the tournament fields. The following shot shows this.

Hi Vanessa

Thanks for the reminder. Actually he was in "Way of the Dragon" filmed in 1972. I have some friends who interviewed him yesterday (coincidentally enough) for a US/Canadian documentary.

Unfortunately most of that film was shot in Rome and in the Golden Harvest studio. There is only one outdoor scene filmed in HK and it was shot at the (now) tennis courts behind Woodland Crest in Sheung Shui near Wa Shan Tsuen.

Cheers

Phil

Hi IDJ

I think that book was published in 1977. Didn't it climax on Po Toi Island?

However, most people seem to agree that the plot of Enter was pretty much lifted from James Bond's Dr No (1962) with a bit of kung fu thrown in for good measure.

Cheers

Phil

Nothing very useful was in the film other than these couple of shots. But even then, not much can be seen.

T - excellent find. I matched the angle used in the film and it looks perfect.

Cheers

Phil