This, like the two previous photographs was taken from the Cape Collinson Road. Nowadays, the vegetation is so high on the hillside that such a view is almost impossible.
I had been warned to make sure that I was off the site before dusk. Cutting it a bit fine, I left as a lorry load of special forces arrived - armed to the teeth and ready to do some live ammunition training. That explained all the bullet and shrapnel holes in the walls!
Years later I heard that a spectacular final scene in a Kung Fu(?) movie had shown the buildings being blown up. I'd love to be able to see that if anyone can identify the film!
Date picture taken
1 Nov 1987
Gallery
Shows place(s)
Comments
I believe it was blown up in
I believe it was blown up in Jackie Chan's 'Police Story Part Two'!
Hi Beylogan,
Hi Beylogan,
I have just ordered a DVD of that film and am keeping my fingers crossed that your suggestion is right!
Thank you and my best wishes, Andrew
Hi Beylogan,
Hi Beylogan,
The Police Story 2 Jackie Chan DVD has arrived and I have carefully viewed it. Unfortunately, there is no sign of the old R.A.F. buildings at Little Sai Wan either standing or being bown up. If you check on the many photographs of Little Sai Wan on Gwulo you will see that they were essentially more like low rise residential and office blocks. The building seen being consumed by explosions(?) and fire was more likely to have been an old factory or warehouse buildings, probably somewhere on the mainland. However, I was interested to see that the villains tortured Chan using what looked like those small clay encased firecrackers that I recall from the 1950s, but they looked more lethal than the ones we were able to buy. I believe that they are now illegal.
Best wishes, Andrew
Police Story 2
I'm currently watching this film and I think that Bey is correct. The building used as the "Police Station" in the film looks very much like the "Officer's Mess" (as marked in this image: https://gwulo.com/media/32198/).
In the film there is a shot of the building showing its curved end and of course the portico above the main entrance which is destroyed by the bomb.
Phil
Hi Phil,I am now really…
Hi Phil,
I am now really intrigued by your comment. Unfortunately, I was so disappointed when I bought and carefully watched the film, that none of it bore any resemblance to how I vividly recall the old camp's buildings or how they appear on the many photographs. So, I gave it to Oxfam! Now, I cannot check to see whether I have made a mistake. Are you able to add a short clip or still from the film that might convince me that part of the film was indeed shot at Little Sai Wan in either late 1988 or early 1989 when the buildings must have been demolished?
Best wishes, Andrew
Little Sai Wan
Hi Andrew, I have just sent you an email with some images included to explain. Let me know what you think. If you concur then I will upload the screen captures and add themto this thread.
Phil
Hi Phil, Thanks for the…
Hi Phil,
Thanks for the email. Please read my reply and you will see that barring a few niggling doubts I have a strong feeling that your analysis is correct and that Bey was correct! I'll do a thorough search of all the 367 images and my later ones to see whether I can see any further evidence and proof that Bey's and your ideas are correct. I hope they are!
Andrew
Hi Phil, Somehow, I have…
Hi Phil,
Somehow, I have just managed to delete your email and my lengthy reply! Please send me another very brief email so that I can contact you again and explain my thoughts.
Best wishes, Andrew
Police Story Two
I've been doing a deep dive into the locations of Police Story 2 for my film locations blog (currently here: https://hkmacaufilmtvlocations.blogspot.com/) and, as mentioned, can concur that Bey was correct in his comment above.
The building in question was previously identified as the Officers' Mess and was used as the film's main police station which later gets blown up by terrorists . It was a large upside down F-shaped building with a curved wall at the north end (see aerial image below).
The section seen in the film has been circled below.
It appears that the production company made some aesthetic changes to the building for the purpose of filming including; adding a false facade on the roof to look like a second floor (or 3rd floor for our Chinese readers), widening some of the window apertures, and extending the portico and adding some support columns. However, in general there are still enough common elements between the film version and Andrew's images that make an identification possible.
Here's a good image of the building from Andrew's collection (the area is centre bottom):
and here is a similar angle from the film:
Some of the common details that can be seen in these images include the vertical window above the building curve on the right hand side, the ground floor door on the right of the canopy, the central window above the main door and the drainpipe on the left side of that same window, the slotted concrete walls either side of the main entrance and the view on the right hand side which shows Kowloon Peak in the far distance etc.
Anyway, thanks to Bey for the initial identification and happy that we can provide some photographic confirmation of whereabouts on the site the movie was shot.
Thank you Phil for…
Thank you Phil for confirming what Bey originally spotted. Both of you managed to spot quite small clips in the film that matched small parts of the photographs that I uploaded to Gwulo in October 2015. It amazes me that Bey, 6 years later, was able to link what can only have been a fleeting glimpse of a few seconds of the film with a small part on one or two photographs of what I remember as being the Officers' Mess, so well researched Bey!
Years ago, I picked up from a now unknown source the idea that the camp had been blown up during filming probably in early 1959, and perhaps my comment about the explosion caught Bey's attention and led him to have a good look at the film. Some time after 2015 I recall asking Phil, with his huge experience and expertise in checking out film locations, whether he had any knowledge of this and he replied that he would keep his eyes open for what had happened. So congratulations to both of you. I guess that my thoughts have always been that the explosion must have been a huge one and so I concentrated when watching the film to see whether there was any sign of one of the large buildings on the old camp, and in another part of the film it was clearly a factory, warehouse or large office building that was blown up.
Ever since uploading my photographs to Gwulo I have regretted that I was not able to supply Gwulo with many more images including, in this case, more detailed views of the old Officers' Mess building but, you will appreciate that in a hurried visit to the old camp in October 1987, I only had a limited 35mm film stock (prior to vast digital capacity) and had to concentrate on the areas of the camp that were familiar to me - a lowly airman and definitely not in the officer class!
Well done everyone, including David for hosting such a great site that enables so many people to explore Hong Kong's interesting past. Andrew