Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1962
A photo of Miss Fong Sum from the University of Texas archives.
The date is about 1962, and a promotional shot probably for the movie, “Up to the Sky” (yi fei chong tian). It was filmed at Kai Tak’s Far East Flying Training School and includes aerial shots of Victoria Peak, Repulse Bay, Shatin, Macao, luxurious yachts, etc. <Read more ...>
In the 1980s property developers discovered the large mansions with lots of land hidden along the coast stretching out towards Tuen Mun (Castle Peak) and gradually they were redeveloped into low/high rise multiple occupancy sites. This mansion with the green tiled roof situated above Cafeteria Old Beach and Kadoorie Beach was used as a film set and painted blue before it was noisily blown up and set on fire around 1986. <Read more ...>
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1959
The supposedly authorative large format book titled "Early Hong Kong Transport" by Cheng Po Hung and published by the University of Hong Kong has the above picture on page 36 captioned as being the S.S. Fa Tsan of 1919. However, this vessel is actually a film mock-up used in the 1959 movie "Ferry to Hong Kong". I have just watched the DVD. The quality of the colour image should have given the game away to the picture compiler. The paddle wheel housings are definately fakes added to an existing vessel for the film.
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1941
The island airport was flooded and abandoned when the river level periodically rose, and another airport high up in the hills further away from the city came into use. This picture is from 1941
Date picture taken (to nearest decade for older photos):
1959
This film was made at least partly in Hong Kong with Lewis Gilbert as the Director. He also made the Battle Of Britain film and a couple of James Bond epics. A website review of the film claims that there are very good aerial shots of Hong Kong as in the war Gilbert had been an RAF aerial camerman. This Rank Organisation film does not appear to be availble on Video or DVD and appears not to have been shown on TV on any regular basis. It would be interesting to see late 1950s Hong Kong in Cinemascope.
FERRY TO HONG KONG is cinematically strong for its genre, placing the film in the company of such classic sea thrillers as LIFEBOAT and THE AFRICAN QUEEN. Director Lewis Gilbert applies his previous experience directing Royal Air Force war documentaries to the film and presents viewers with an number of technically advanced overhead shots. In addition to his technical work, Gilbert captures hilarious performances from his two stars.<Read more ...>
