Excellent Dumpling House. Comrades, Almost a Love Story

Excellent Dumpling House

Here's another Hong Kong/NYC filming location. This one is from Peter Chan Ho-sun's wonderful 1996 romantic comedy, COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY. This location is in NYC Chinatown on Lafayette St., just south of Canal St. The eatery is called Excellent Dumpling House. The full exterior is never seen in the film, only the shot of the 'Dumpling House' neon sign that is pictured below. We also see a few interior shots in the film. This scene has Leon Lai Ming and Joe Cheung Tung-cho working in the restaurants kitchen. Up front sits Eric Tsang Chi-wai, the boyfriend of Lai's long lost love, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk. A great turning point in the film, giving the viewer butterflies. A near miss. The two lovers are so close. Will they find each other? The laws of film say, "Yup!"

Dumpling House neon sign as seen in the film (1996)


Interior of Excellent Dumpling House (2010)



Eric Tsang Chi-wai perusing the escort services. 'Dumpling House' interior (1996)

OTB over Tsang's shoulder. Its still there. (1996)





Table Tsang sat at while waiting for his din din. (2010)

I went inside for some dinner. I asked (pointed) the 'hostess' if I could sit at the 'Eric Tsang' table. And I did. This was the same chilly ass day I went into the city and took pics and video of the 'Four Seas Restaurant' from A BETTER TOMORROW II and hit the Tribeca Film Festival to see DREAM HOME. I needed to warm up a bit so I ordered Seafood Dumpling Soup and a Shrimp Shanghai Egg Roll. Burned my tongue and the roof of my mouth eating the soup but it was delicious and hit the spot. I played with the shriveled piece of gum hanging from the roof of my mouth while I watched DREAM HOME.

Tsang leaving his table and the 'Dumpling House' (1996)

Just in case you have not seen COMRADES, or don't remember the scene, fast forward the above video to the 13:00 mark. Watch Leon on his cool bicycle cycle through Times Square while Public Enemy blares on the soundtrack. Has he ever covered one of their songs? Maybe 'Night of the Living Baseheads?' The film then cuts to C-town and Lai and Cheung at the 'Dumpling House'. The scene ends around the 14:22 mark.

Below is a short video I took outside of the restaurant. Again, I apologize for my awful New Yawker accent. Enjoy.

Four Seas Restaurant. A Better Tomorrow II

Was back in the city this past Tuesday to attend a screening of Pang Ho-cheung's DREAM HOME @ the Tribeca Film Festival. Hope to put up the pics I took of the event this coming week. But as you know i'm a lazy guy so no promises. Anyway, I took the LIRR in a bit early and headed downtown with hopes of getting some blog homework done. Lately I have been rewatching a bunch of HK films that have been made in NYC and trying to pinpoint certain filming locations. It's been kinda difficult seeing as the city landscape has changed since these films were produced. But I have had some luck. When I do see an area that looks familiar, I click on to Google Maps and ride the street view until I can see some resemblance. And so far, so good. So, my first stop was SoHo. The above pic should look familiar to fans. It's the Four Seas Restaurant. The joint owned by Chow Yun-fat in John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW II. Below is an updated pic of the location. 23 years later.

Intersection of W. Broadway, Broome St., and Watts St.

Kaboom! Those dastardly gwailo mob heavies didn't like Chow's fried rice. Too much msg? So what does any reputable central casting mobster do? Blow up the joint. Above is a closer look of the Four Seas in mid boom. An unsuspecting Billy Joel fan walks by.

And a present day close-up. 23 years have past and now the location has turned from film set
to trendy upscale eyeglass retailer Oliver Peoples. From Chow Yun-fat to wannabe hipster douches in 2 decades. Oy vey!

Maybe Ken's fried rice does stink!?

Caddy load full of gwailo mob types

NYPD on the scene. Nothing to see here. Keep movin'.

Along with the above pics I also made a short video of the area. I hope you enjoy. My Facebook friends have seen this one already since I posted it there a few days ago. It's kinda fun doing these little video logs. I also went over to Chinatown and shot a few pics and video of locations for the film COMRADES: ALMOST A LOVE STORY. So, look for those posts in the coming weeks or months. Depending on my level of laziness.

I'm going to San Francisco for a little vacation next month and I hope to do a few video logs there as well. Along with my NYC-HK film connection homework I am also rewatching HK movies that were made in San Fran. I have already spotted a location or two in the film SAUSALITO and an area on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge from Otto Chan Juk-tiu's GATES OF HELL. I Still have lots of work to do. While I should be out working OT or getting a second job, maybe going back to school to further my education and career, i'm instead sitting on my butt doing this crap. My family doesn't know me anymore.

Maggie and The Bloody Angle

I know, I know. I'm beating The Bloody Angle that is Doyers St. to death. But it happens to be a very photogenic little street, so tough! I was doing a little research this weekend and revisiting a handful of HK films that were shot in NYC. I'm hoping to do some then and now comparisons in the coming months for you guys. Anyway, I found the above shot from Peter Chan Ho-san's COMRADES, ALMOST A LOVE STORY. It's brief scene of Maggie Cheung Man-yuk (aka the love of my life) walking down Doyers St. towards Bowery after she hears the sad news that Teresa Teng has passed. I have found a few other locations from the film and will hopefully visit, photograph, and post those spots in the coming months. Below is also a screen grab from COMRADES. Images of beauty.

New York, Chinatown (1982)

Ok, so I figured that since I live in New York and visit the city enough, I would try and take you folks on a tour, so to speak, on some locations featured in a few Hong Kong productions that have filmed in New York City. First up is the 1982 crime/drama NEW YORK, CHINATOWN, directed by Stanley Siu Wing and starring Melvin Wong Gam-san, Alan Tang Kwong-wing, Maria Chung Wai-bing and a very early appearance by Don "The Dragon" Wilson. The film is part of a two disc double feature put out by BCI's Kung Fu Theater. The second disc contains MASTER OF DISASTER aka NEW KIDS IN TOWN aka NEW KILLERS IN TOWN. The transfer is pretty nice and what you would expect a 1982 Hong Kong pic to look like. It's a pretty standard crime flick with tough guys, dirty cops, bumbling small potatoes, hokey acting, questionable filmmaking, and amusingly bad subtitles. I tried my best (remember i'm a lazy body) to match the screen shots with pictures I have taken of the locale. Most of the location pics were taken before I thought about doing this so the pictures don't exactly match the location perfectly. But who cares? It's still pretty cool to compare NEW YORK, CHINATOWN circa 1982 with New York, Chinatown circa 2010.

Some Chinatown punks crossing Bowery. The Manhattan Bridge entrance/exit in the background. This is just south of Canal Street. Check out that Yellow Cab on the right! 1982

Here is the same location as the previous pic. 2010

The same 3 punks from the earlier pic. They made there way across Bowery and are now loitering in front of a restaurant. The guy in the middle is pretending to take a whizz which prompts the chick in yellow to utter that awful subtitle. 1982


The same location. Decidedly different. The restaurant is still there but i'm not sure if it is the exact same establishment. Today, the restaurant goes by the name of Sunshine 27. It has a much different facade incorporating a bunch of fish tanks into it's decor. 2010

Dirty Chinatown Dai lo Melvin Wong walking toward his car after viewing his brothers dead body below the Brooklyn Bridge. Manhattan side. 1982

Obviously this pic is slightly different than the long shot featured in the screen cap. This pic might have been taken from where my main man Melvin was standing? 2010

Pretty cool little shootout on Mott Street. On the far side of the street, to the right, is my favorite C-town eatery Big Wong's. Note the sign. Before..... 1982

And after. The 2010 Big Wong sign is, well, big and yellow. The facade is different as well. Going from a red tile finish to a nicer and more city friendly brick. 2010




Some punk ass triad small potatoes running scarred down Doyer's Street. 1982

This pic and the one above it are of the same location. This pic is the beginning of the final shootout. It's on the corner of Doyers Street and and Pell Street. 1982




The same intersecion of Doyers and Pell. 2010

I'll have to look at the film again but I believe this might be a pic of Don "The Dragon" Wilson riding the roof of a station wagon with gun-a-blazing down Pell street towards Mott Street. 1982

View from Pell Street looking west toward Mott Street....sans Don "The Dragon" and station wagon. 2010




Finally this is the view from Mott Street looking southward toward the Chatham Square and Worth Street intersection. 2010




After the carnage. Last man standing Alan Tang Kwong-wing walks down blood soaked Mott Street towards the Chatham Square/ Worth Street intersection. THE END. 1982

Hopefully in the future I will get to do this again. There have been a dozen or so HK productions filmed in and around New York City. The other films I have planned are TAKING MANHATTAN, MANHATTAN MIDNIGHT, TONGS, THE IMMIGRANT POLICEMAN, FULL MOON IN NEW YORK, and FAREWELL CHINA. I'm probably missing a few. Any others?

I'm also toying with portraying a few San Francisco based HK flicks since I was there two years ago and i'm heading back this summer. SAUSALITO immediatley springs to mind along with Otto Chan's awesome GATES OF HELL. Where did THE WESLEY'S MYSTERIOUS FILE take place? Was it San Francisco? Was it shot on location? Am I missing other films?