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Long before actual film¬ ing began on THE SAND PEBBLES, Robert Wise and camera scoured Tai¬ wan (Formosa) to absorb the mood and color of its customs and natives. This street scene from the film depicts how successfully the old China of the 1920's is recreated.
If past performance and accomplishment can be a yardstick of judg¬ ment for the future, Robert Wise’s THE SAND PEBBLES is a guar¬ anteed success.
With such productions as the current fabulous money-maker SOUND OF MUSIC and the Academy Award winning WEST SIDE STORY to his credit, Wise is seemingly headed for new laurels with his fullymounted new film THE SAND PEBBLES.
As filming of THE SAND PEBBLES in Mainland China was an impossibility, old China and the Yangtze were recreated on the island of Taiwan and in Hong Kong. The production began on the rainy morning of Nov. 22, 1965, in the port of Keelung. Here, the Shanghai Bund, as it appeared in 1926, was fashioned. One of the largest “shots” of the film, it covered an area of two square miles and called for one thousand extras, one hundred sampans, 14 junks, and period shipping in the harbor.
The next location was on a Taiwan military base, “8-Foot Gate,” near Keelung. It was at this point that the cast of THE SAND PEB¬ BLES met the “star” of the picture — the USS San Pablo. The gunboat, built in Hong Kong, was brought to Taiwan for four and one-half months of filming. “8-Foot Gate” represented a berth at Hankow.
While 4 HE SAND PEBBLES was filmed at various places near vicinity of Taipei — where rice paddies abound and the countryside
resembles Old China — main filming was done at the village of Tam Sui, on the river of the same name, which opens to the Formosan Straits. Tam Sui, representing “Changsha,” was home for the company for more than three months.
Also in the Tam Sui area was “Paoshan,” where one of the most gripping moments of TPIE SAND PEBBLES was filmed — “The Death of a Thousand Cuts.”
Filming was also accomplished in the narrow, crowded streets of Taipei. Under difficult conditions, a typical Shanghai street was filmed.
The back waters of Hong Kong and its green islands served as deeper water areas of the Yangtze; its waterfront also was changed at the Fire Brigade Dock to represent Hankow Bund. The company filmed on the edge of Red China for a period of two months, culminating with a battle staged in a narrow neck of water at Sai Kung.
The “junk fight” at Sai Kung, wherein the USS San Pablo is faced with a blockade, is one of the most unusual sea battles ever staged. Through the early 1900’s, river pirates sometimes blocked off waters with an array of junks bound together by a heavy bamboo rope. The 1,000 foot bamboo rope which linked the junks together weighed 25 tons. This SAND PEBBLES battle scene alone took two months of preparation.
Beside being a great historical adventure of the Far East, THE SAND PEBBLES is also a unique love story. Steve McQueen is the unhappy loner, and Candice Bergen is the lovely young school teacher.
An exact replica of the original, the Yangtze River gunboat, USS San Pablo, is an integral part of the story (the crew call themselves SAND PEBBLES) and is a focal point of much of the exciting action.
December 21, 1966
MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR
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