Christmas at the Royal Hotel

One can tell that this is not made with an unlimited budget. But it was well scripted with concise pointed dialogue, acted eith no compromise, and produced in style and period authenricity. Chinese cities were called Chungking, Canton, etc. The english dialogue were articulate in all - pleasant surprise for locally trained actors. But it was taut - every moment either something is happening or tension is building up. This is an unusual attempt at historical authenticity about a totally neglected chapter of WWII, the battle of Hong Kong. It deserves broad general distributution and I await keenly its sequel!

Putting together a period piece war drama on a micro budget is no easy task, but that's exactly what Craig McCourry and his crew pulled off.

A small, intimate story set against the backdrop of the biggest war the world would ever know. The production values are a big win for this film. I was amazed at how they were able to put together the world of these people's lives, circa 1941, with costumes and sets to match, on the kind of budget that often would only result in a running through the woods in modern day type of film. When you consider much of the movie was filmed in just a living room, repurposed to be different parts of a historic hotel, then you really have to admire how an indie crew could create from the bottom up what I would expect to see from a bigger budget History Channel production.

Story wise, it's not often that we see the lens focused on the regular people just trying to live their lives when suddenly thrown into such an overwhelming and precarious vet instanced beyond their control. We've all seen the kinds of war movies with epic battles on the beaches or the plucky gang of misfits storming the stronghold. I give a lot of credit to this movie showing us a bit of what it must have been like to try to keep a sense of normalcy while disaster looms just over the horizon. Nice performances from the whole ensemble cast of up and coming, Hong Kong based actors and actresses. I really hope this movie makes onto screens around the world.

The first film using the Battle of Hong Kong as a backdrop in a looong time. It was a great pleasure when Craig McCourry asked me to be involved as the Military Consultant. I have researched and presented the story of the 18 day battle and the following 3 years and 8 months of Japanese occupation. I must say that the director has worked wonders with so little at his disposal and I am proud to have been associated with this fine film. I love the way he pays homage to the young Canadians that came and helped defend Hong Kong in it's time of need, and feel that I must point out also that he supports the HK Ex-Servicemen's Association and the WW2 Veterans Associations by allowing some of the screenings to be used as fund raisers for these two worthwhile groups of veterans. Thank you Craig and cast and crew for a job VERY well done.

Honest and earnest, but light on fact and substance. The two female leads are easy on the eye but heavy going in the acting compartment. As others mention, the absence of insignia of rank, both British and Canadian, is glaringly and surprisingly careless and obvious. Scenes are largely confined to a telephone or switchboard, so nothing dynamic here. Very few outside scenes and most of those are night-time. The Chinese accents were all British I believe, and not a single hint of Hong Kong or Cantonese was to be seen or heard, nor did I hear any Canadian accent except in the Winnipeg scene - as I say, received British predominated. Well I stuck it out and in the end give it a generous 6, failing to understand how it has achieved almost.

If the film do not care to be accurate on even the most basic historical facts (such as Chinese was forbidden from the Peak at the time..), please at least not claim it as a "historical" drama (not that the script entitled the label "drama" either). Btw if you put a million dollars in buying those toys, please at least save some coins for decorating the soldiers with rank insignia...