Honor Blackman & the late Stanley Baker - The Last Grenade -1969

Tue, 09/23/2014 - 07:52

Parts of a lesser known film 'The Last Grenade' with the late Stanley Baker, Honor Blackman and Richard Attenborough were shot in HK and the New Territories in 1969. It was banned from showing in HK because of its political content and the situation with China at that time.

Took these pics at a makeshift tented location near Tolo Harbour before being shooed away by security.

Date picture taken
1969

Comments

Thanks,phil - and yes your link was indeed interesting and brought back many memories. I was asked at the time by Mrs Barbara Schofield who then managed Manpower (HK) to stand-in at short notice because their stills photographer had been taken ill. As well as the 'sneaky' black & whites, I took many rolls of colour film at various locations - including interiors of the Aberdeen floating restaurant -  but didn't see the results because had to hand them in for processing by the Studio - some I believe were used for reference constructing studio sets. One lasting memory (well almost, due to the amount of drink on offer)  was 'farewell' party for all the stars and staff held in a private suite of the now demolished President Hotel.

Interestingly,  phil, during the HK shoot, the film title was always referred to as 'Grigsby'.I thought the film had flopped. It was a few years later I found out that it had in fact been released as The Last Grenade - but still banned in HK.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Grenade

H.

 

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I was surprised about how much of the New territories locations were utilised in the film. Out of all the movies shot here, this film seems to have outdone them all in terms of location obscurity, so feel free to let me know if I have missed any. There are some I just can't figure out given the amount of development that has happened in the meantime.

I guess at least the Colonial Govt let them film here even if they banned it from being shown. The announced filming in HK of the The Chairman (filmed the year before and starring Gregory Peck) caused the local Communist faction to rise up and burn effigies of Gregory Peck and the director. The crew was kicked out of HK and the final movie also banned - though in this case it's more easy to see why (it was not a flattering portrayal of either Mao or the Red Guards - but I'm not sure they can be shown in a flattering light anyway :-)). I guess it was too soon after the riots.