The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

Submitted by philk on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 23:26

This has already been discussed, but I felt it need some photos to add some context. Perhaps we can move the comments in line at some later point?

Some famous sites to spot in this one including the RMS Queen Elizabeth. I believe it has been used, in part, for the Chek Lap Kok reclamation, but I did hear an unconfirmed rumour that there is still a large portion of it where it sank. The submerged superstructures position is supposedly marked by a buoy - can anyone confirm this?

Hong Kong -> Macau ferry (pre-Shun Tak)

Western Market and (pre-flyover) Connaught Road

The Peninsula Hotel

Bottoms Up Club and surrounds

Dragon Garden on Castle Peak Road

Places shown in this film
The Peninsula Hotel [1927- ]
Dragon Garden [1963- ]
Western Market [1906- ]
Bottoms Up [????- ]
Hankow Road [????- ]
RMS Queen Elizabeth: final resting place [????- ]

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The next stop is at the hydrofoil, pre-Shun Tak Building. Here we can see the old bus stop, parts of Connaught Road (before the flyover was built) and Western Market.

Hong Macau Hydrofoil

Hong Macau Hydrofoil Bus Stop

Hong Macau Hydrofoil Bus Stop

Hong Macau Hydrofoil Bus Stop

Bond follows the green Rolls Royce back to the Peninsula Hotel.

The Peninsula Hotel

The Peninsula Hotel

The Peninsula Hotel

It's interesting to note (or maybe not) that the cars move in a clockwise direction around the front of the Pen, I wonder when this was changed to the current anticlockwise direction?

The site of the remains of the RMS Queen Elizabeth is now under the Container Terminal No 9 site on Tsing Yi Island somewhere around where the new bridge passes over to Tsing Yi. There was a brief mention of it in the SCMP 6 January 1997 noting that it would be buried under this proposed new terminal. The island in the film clip is the tail end of Stonecutters Island.

 

The ship was set ablaze on Sunday 9 January 1972. At around 0730 on the morning after, I was on a Walla-Walla circling the upright smoking ship two or three times photographing it from close quarters. By this time the ship was listing heavily due to the amount of water the Fire Services had pumped onto her to try and contain the fire. On the side closest to Stonecutters, hull doors were still open at or below sea level therefore sea water was pouring into the hull. At around midday the ship slowly rolled over and I took a sequence of images of this as it settled down on the seabed still pouring out smoke. Another trip was made around the hulk in the late afternoon.

 

Much later, after the Commission of Enquiry into the loss of the S.S. Seawise University as the ship was now known had concluded, the hull was cut up by Korean divers down to mud level. Over this period I took more images of it being cut up.

 

There was some urgency to remove it as it the wreck was adjacent to the shipping channel leading to the newly built container berths next to Tsing Yi Bridge. However it was several years before all salvage work ceased.

 

IDJ

Hi Moddsey

Those coordinates don't tally in GoogleEarth as they are just in front of star ferry. I had a look at another message on that forum and it looks as though the following might be more accurate:  22°18'27.99"N 114° 6'57.20"E

In fact if you look at this location on GE you will see it is slap bang in the middle of a group of 6 buoys which seem to be marking out a (roughly) rectangular area. I wonder if this is where the partial wreck still sits (assuming that rumour is true).

Cheers

Phil

I was in a rush too and didn't read the history link you gave (http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/ships/cu_qe.asp) which states that:

The bulk of the above-water wreck was cut down for scrap and the remaining underwater portion became such a navigation problem that it was eventually removed and folded into the landfill used to provide the foundation for one of the runways of the new Hong Kong International Airport.

So I guess my rumour, about it still being there, goes out of the window.

I have no idea where it was (Hankow Rd?) although i do remember seeing it in TST on one of my original trips to HK. In the film it is suposed to be located on HK Island. Edit: this sequence was filmed on Hanoi Road, most likely with a mock-up of the "Bottoms Up" club sign because it doesn't appear to have ever been located here.

Bottoms Up

Finally, Bond goes to Hi Fat's place (although in the film it is supposedly in Bangkok) which used Dragon Garden on Castle Peak Road as the filming location.

Dragon Garden

Dragon Garden

Dragon Garden

Dragon Garden

I remember reading on the original incarnation of Cynthia Lee's website (she is the custodian of the garden and the granddaughter of its creator: Dr Lee Iu Cheung) that the famous red doors were removed when they widened Castle Peak Road, and have been kept in storage until such time as they can be replaced.

I think she lets in organised groups so perhaps this could be a destination for a future Gwulo field trip :-)

tngan:

The exterior of the wreck of RMS Queen Elizabeth was featured in a Bond Movie in the mid 1970's as the covert local MI6 HQ.  Hmmm....  and I thought the real MI6 was in Siu Sai Wan back then.......

moddsey:

The Bond film was The Man with the Golden Gun and it also contained scenes of TST, Peninsula, topless bar 'Bottoms Up' and Dragon's Inn on Castle Peak Road.

1972 wreck of the Seawise University, the former RMS Queen Elizabeth

1970s Wreck of RMS Queen Elizabeth

moddsey:

Thanks to Phil and IDJ for confirmation that the scene was from the Dragon Villa/Garden. 

Following notes and 1983 photos are courtesy of IDJ.

1983 Dragon Villa

1983 Dragon Villa

The lake/pond is down in the front,  the swimming pool in the centre and Tuen Mun Highway above and behind the house.  The garden still had small Tiger Balm Garden style statues same as in the film. During the spring and summer nothing could be seen from the road due to foliage growth.
Nearby is/was the layby where James Bond stopped with the Mercedes and his Chinese sidekick. 

moddsey:

A website showing the scenes from this film: http://bond.web.idv.hk/bond/007inhk.php

anonymous:

You also get a quick look at the Furama hotel, with it's revolving restaurant. No longer standing :(

According to the Cunarders website, about 45,000 tons from RMS Queen Elizabeth was recovered as scrap. Of the remaining wreckage, one quarter is said to be buried under CT9.

The definitive answer would have to come from the Marine Department's Hydrographic Office, however. If there's anything remaining of the QE's hull underwater, that would prove a potential hazard to shipping and would definitely be shown on one or more of their (reasonably affordable) charts. I'm guessing HK0803 is the best bet to show the location, or perhaps HK1502 / HK3002.

Hi there,

There had been quite a few changes after the Peninsula built their high-rise section.  The most significant change was the fountain, which is now just about less than half of it's original size (I think).

Best Regards,

T

 

The answer is to use the information in the pictures to triangulate the wreck. The middle image has the wreck lying stern to the WSW in transit with Tai Mo Shan, a pylon from the old power line (on 1989 survey maps still) on the ridgeline and the old (much still existing) tank farm on S Tsing Yi. It's probably the W tip of Stonecutters off the bow. The bottom picture seems to show Kau Yi Chau in line with the W end of the Chi Ma wan Peninsula on Lantao. That gives two lines of bearing. The puzzler is the top picture. The small island is hard to locate given the orientation of the ship. My guess would be Siu Kau Yi Chau, unfortunately not in line with anything visible for a transit. But put together it suggests the wreck was in or around a position 1.37 nautical miles 345 True from the light on Green Island.

SD

Re: Recreated scenes outside the "Bottoms Up" believed to have been taken on Hanoi Road. (The original Bottoms Up was at Hankow Road).

I was struggling to find the names of shops, businesses etc on Hanoi Road to match the exterior shots. The only feature that looks like Hanoi Road is the tree at the corner with Carnarvon Road. 

Thus, I am thinking, would the exterior shots have been taken at Pinewood Studios instead, rather than in Hong Kong?

There is a shop "Nancy's Shoes" on the right side of the street whereas its signboard is at top left and shows the business also sold handbags and plastic flowers. Handbags, yes but plastic flowers seems to be a mismatch.

This make me think the exterior shots of "Bottoms Up" and the street scene has been recreated in a studio. I had read that Roger Moore was the only actor that travelled to Hong Kong for the exterior shots.

 

 

Moore steps out from Kam Lung, also there is a "Wearbest" sign (and another one in white/red) that was also present for a German film made the year before. So I'm 100% certain it's the real Hanoi Road. I can't say for sure about the close-ups involving the other actors - these could have been done in a studio and edited in but I do know Maud Adams was here as well as Britt Ekland.

Since I did this post I was able to get better quality images, so I will make and effort to update them here in the future. In the meantime here is a link: https://hkmacaufilmtvlocations.blogspot.com/2011/05/the-man-with-golden…

 

I had based my comments on the single screen grab provided. Thanks for sight of the other scenes and shops which confirms the scenes are indeed from Hanoi Road. 

Had a quick google with the following hits:

1. Kam Lung was at 1 Hanoi Road.

2. Jimmy Sung Tailor was at Hanoi Road 2/F (street number not given)

3. Wearbest Shoes - (I have seen the sign and the company name before, so that is fine)

4. Chung Foo Kee & Co - 17 Hanoi Road

A decade earlier (1963) showing shop and business signs of Chung Foo Kee & Co selling artificial flowers, Sun Sun House and Jimmy Sung Tailor.

1963 Hanoi Road
1963 Hanoi Road, by Admin