1. The History
In 1925, three Shaw brothers (Runje, Runme, and Runde) founded the Tianyi Film Company in Shanghai. They also established a film-distribution base in Singapore, where Runme and the youngest brother, Run Run (did the parents like Rs?), managed the precursor to the parent company, Shaw Organisation. Having branched out into Malaysia, building new cinemas and operating a mobile cinema in rural areas, in 1933 they produced the Cantonese opera film ‘Normal Dragon’ which proved a break-through for them in both Singapore and Hong Kong. By 1939, they had an empire of 139 cinemas across south-east Asia, but the war saw the Japanese invade Singapore and seize most of Shaw’s assets.
Regrouping after the war, they again expanded into more cinemas and increased film production. Runme and Run Run then took over the film production business of its Hong Kong-based sister company, Shaw & Sons Ltd, and in 1957, a new company, "Shaw Brothers," was set up and a new studio built at Clearwater Bay. It officially opened in 1961 as "Movietown". Employing over 1,500 people, at its height, it was the largest privately-owned studio in the world, boasting over twenty separate buildings over its 46-acre site, including residential buildings for actors and crew as well as private homes. Sir Run Run Shaw was pivotal in the studio’s success, having previously identified the potential of the market in HK that was dominated by foreign films and unattractive local productions. He was the key contributing figure to the 'Golden Era' of Hong Kong cinema.
Over the years the film company produced some 800 plus films. Some went on to be the most popular and significant Chinese-language films of the period, including many in the popularized Kung-Fu genre of films. The first breakthrough film was ‘The Kingdom and the Beauty’ (1958), which enjoyed global success. The most famous releases to come out of the studios included 1962’s ‘The Magnificent Concubine’ and kung-fu battle-epic ‘36th Chamber of Shaolin’ in 1978. The studio did have a reputation for “churning them out” with many of its films considered to be instantly forgettable. Some likened its operations to Hollywood studios in the early 20th Century where autocratic execs commissioned films for commercial gain with little regard for artistic merit. Films were frequently shot without sound and then dubbed into the language required, in one of its 12 sound studios. The place wasn’t always the best working environment for its actors, who were often subject to tight schedules and high levels of pressure and stress. And tradegy struck in 1962 when Shaw Brothers were rocked by the suicide of their top actresses, the 29-year old Linda Lin Dai.
An early Shaw Brother logo:
ShawScope by HughieDW, on Flickr
And a more recent promotion poster:
Shaw Movies by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaw Brothers continued to diversify with the launch of their own TV station, TVB, in 1973. By the mid-seventies their empire boasted 230 cinemas and with another 600 cinemas on a distribution deal it is estimated that every week, over 1.5 million people saw a Shaw Brother's produced movie. However, in the early 1980s the 'Golden Era’ started to fade and in 1987, the company suspended film production in order to concentrate on the television industry through its subsidiary TVB. The last film from the studios came out in 2003, although film production resumed, albeit in limited capacity, in 2009. In 2011 Shaw Brothers was reorganized into the Clear Water Bay Land Company Limited and its film production business were taken over by other companies within the Shaw conglomerate.
The studios situated on Clearwater Bay Road and Ngan Ying Road now sit empty, along with the former TVB headquarters (occupied between 1986–2003) and the apartment blocks used to house Shaw's actors and crew. Next to them is the newer and still-in-use Shaw House and Shaw Villa. A new Shaw Studios was been built at Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate which opened in 2006. Negotiations have taken place between the landowners and the Town Planning Board who have been struggling to decide on what to do with the site. In late 2014, there was a decision to completely demolish the former studios and build housing and commercial properties. This was blocked by the Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) at the eleventh hour when they listed Movietown as a Grade 1 Historical Site, requiring certain buildings to be retained in their original state. It was also the year that Run Run Shaw passed away, aged 106:
run run shaw by HughieDW, on Flickr
The great man may have departed this world but his legacy lives on. I’ll leave the last words for Quentin Tarantino: “For a year, I’d watch one old Shaw Brothers movie a day, if not three.”
2. The Explore
So where to start with this epic place? I first came across this location randomly, while being driven back to Kowloon from Sai Kung by a friend. I had a poke around the private road round the back where the former ATV studios are where I managed to set a PIR off and that was that. The following year I set off to visit the site in possession of a bit more information of how to get in and what to see. I got inside the complex but nearly bumped into the security guard. That and the fact I was solo led to me chickening-out, so I bailed having done the hard bit. Hence this year one of my objects was to do a proper job this time around. This time I met up with @drhowser who is something of an expert on this amazing location and am very grateful for him showing me round.
We met outside on a day the No.3 Typhoon signal was hoisted, and it was chucking it down. We got into the complex easily enough and looked round five buildings in total. This left many buildings unexplored including the large production studios – the reasons being the torrential rain and us spotting staff on site in these areas. Despite only looking at a fraction of the site has to be up there as one of my favourite explores of all time.
3. The Photos
Front of the complex:
Shaws 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Building No.1
This place was very damp and packed full of stuff over multiple floors.
img2301 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaw's Studios 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The first few rooms we went in were packed with old film canisters and spare parts and bulbs for projectors:
Shaw's Studios 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img2257 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img2258 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img2261 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaw's Studios 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Baby’s got a gun:
img2264 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img2271 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A floor or two up and there’s a lot of machines for processing film:
Shaw's Studios 07 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaw's Studios 08 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img2285 by HughieDW, on Flickr
“Yellowthread Street” was a 13-episode series screened on Yorkshire TV in 1990 where a Hong Kong police detective Chief Insp. Alex Vale (played by Ray Lonnen) goes undercover to investigate and infiltrate a drug kingpin by acting as a buyer to purchase some of his highest priced product:
img2286 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Another floor up and they have a:
img2288 by HughieDW, on Flickr
…now slowly falling apart:
img2290 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And the projectors:
img2291 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img2293 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On the same floor is this room stacked full of mouldering film canisters. The smell of celluloid from here was intense:
img2295 by HughieDW, on Flickr
This room looked like some sort of film washing facility:
img2296 by HughieDW, on Flickr
This beast of a machine was at ground level.
Shaws 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaw's Studios 10 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaws 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaws 04 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Shaws 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr
In 1925, three Shaw brothers (Runje, Runme, and Runde) founded the Tianyi Film Company in Shanghai. They also established a film-distribution base in Singapore, where Runme and the youngest brother, Run Run (did the parents like Rs?), managed the precursor to the parent company, Shaw Organisation. Having branched out into Malaysia, building new cinemas and operating a mobile cinema in rural areas, in 1933 they produced the Cantonese opera film ‘Normal Dragon’ which proved a break-through for them in both Singapore and Hong Kong. By 1939, they had an empire of 139 cinemas across south-east Asia, but the war saw the Japanese invade Singapore and seize most of Shaw’s assets.
Regrouping after the war, they again expanded into more cinemas and increased film production. Runme and Run Run then took over the film production business of its Hong Kong-based sister company, Shaw & Sons Ltd, and in 1957, a new company, "Shaw Brothers," was set up and a new studio built at Clearwater Bay. It officially opened in 1961 as "Movietown". Employing over 1,500 people, at its height, it was the largest privately-owned studio in the world, boasting over twenty separate buildings over its 46-acre site, including residential buildings for actors and crew as well as private homes. Sir Run Run Shaw was pivotal in the studio’s success, having previously identified the potential of the market in HK that was dominated by foreign films and unattractive local productions. He was the key contributing figure to the 'Golden Era' of Hong Kong cinema.
Over the years the film company produced some 800 plus films. Some went on to be the most popular and significant Chinese-language films of the period, including many in the popularized Kung-Fu genre of films. The first breakthrough film was ‘The Kingdom and the Beauty’ (1958), which enjoyed global success. The most famous releases to come out of the studios included 1962’s ‘The Magnificent Concubine’ and kung-fu battle-epic ‘36th Chamber of Shaolin’ in 1978. The studio did have a reputation for “churning them out” with many of its films considered to be instantly forgettable. Some likened its operations to Hollywood studios in the early 20th Century where autocratic execs commissioned films for commercial gain with little regard for artistic merit. Films were frequently shot without sound and then dubbed into the language required, in one of its 12 sound studios. The place wasn’t always the best working environment for its actors, who were often subject to tight schedules and high levels of pressure and stress. And tradegy struck in 1962 when Shaw Brothers were rocked by the suicide of their top actresses, the 29-year old Linda Lin Dai.
An early Shaw Brother logo:
And a more recent promotion poster:
Shaw Brothers continued to diversify with the launch of their own TV station, TVB, in 1973. By the mid-seventies their empire boasted 230 cinemas and with another 600 cinemas on a distribution deal it is estimated that every week, over 1.5 million people saw a Shaw Brother's produced movie. However, in the early 1980s the 'Golden Era’ started to fade and in 1987, the company suspended film production in order to concentrate on the television industry through its subsidiary TVB. The last film from the studios came out in 2003, although film production resumed, albeit in limited capacity, in 2009. In 2011 Shaw Brothers was reorganized into the Clear Water Bay Land Company Limited and its film production business were taken over by other companies within the Shaw conglomerate.
The studios situated on Clearwater Bay Road and Ngan Ying Road now sit empty, along with the former TVB headquarters (occupied between 1986–2003) and the apartment blocks used to house Shaw's actors and crew. Next to them is the newer and still-in-use Shaw House and Shaw Villa. A new Shaw Studios was been built at Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate which opened in 2006. Negotiations have taken place between the landowners and the Town Planning Board who have been struggling to decide on what to do with the site. In late 2014, there was a decision to completely demolish the former studios and build housing and commercial properties. This was blocked by the Antiquities Advisory Board (AAB) at the eleventh hour when they listed Movietown as a Grade 1 Historical Site, requiring certain buildings to be retained in their original state. It was also the year that Run Run Shaw passed away, aged 106:
The great man may have departed this world but his legacy lives on. I’ll leave the last words for Quentin Tarantino: “For a year, I’d watch one old Shaw Brothers movie a day, if not three.”
2. The Explore
So where to start with this epic place? I first came across this location randomly, while being driven back to Kowloon from Sai Kung by a friend. I had a poke around the private road round the back where the former ATV studios are where I managed to set a PIR off and that was that. The following year I set off to visit the site in possession of a bit more information of how to get in and what to see. I got inside the complex but nearly bumped into the security guard. That and the fact I was solo led to me chickening-out, so I bailed having done the hard bit. Hence this year one of my objects was to do a proper job this time around. This time I met up with @drhowser who is something of an expert on this amazing location and am very grateful for him showing me round.
We met outside on a day the No.3 Typhoon signal was hoisted, and it was chucking it down. We got into the complex easily enough and looked round five buildings in total. This left many buildings unexplored including the large production studios – the reasons being the torrential rain and us spotting staff on site in these areas. Despite only looking at a fraction of the site has to be up there as one of my favourite explores of all time.
3. The Photos
Front of the complex:
Building No.1
This place was very damp and packed full of stuff over multiple floors.
The first few rooms we went in were packed with old film canisters and spare parts and bulbs for projectors:
Baby’s got a gun:
A floor or two up and there’s a lot of machines for processing film:
“Yellowthread Street” was a 13-episode series screened on Yorkshire TV in 1990 where a Hong Kong police detective Chief Insp. Alex Vale (played by Ray Lonnen) goes undercover to investigate and infiltrate a drug kingpin by acting as a buyer to purchase some of his highest priced product:
Another floor up and they have a:
…now slowly falling apart:
And the projectors:
On the same floor is this room stacked full of mouldering film canisters. The smell of celluloid from here was intense:
This room looked like some sort of film washing facility:
This beast of a machine was at ground level.
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