Christmas at the Royal Hotel

A fanciful take on the Battle of Hong Kong, which glosses over the grim realities of WW2 to bring us a charming love story of courage in adversity. It looks like a million dollars even though it was independently made for much less.

..which was that this is a horribly low budget affair, bad script, inarticulate direction with a lack of knowledge about how to tell a period piece accurately, and the acting was just..... questionable to say the least. Possibly a decent story lurking underneath the mess, but I can't say I'll bother to find out.

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.

An interesting glimpse into a part of World War II that has previously never been depicted in film. The untold story of the invasion of Hong Kong on Christmas Day is brought to life by filmmaker Craig McCourry.