The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Stubbs Road Lookout

We've had several productions film up around here over the years but I think 1958 may be the earliest yet. This is where Allison arranges to meet his wife in an attempt to get her away from the hotel so O'Hara (Vic Diaz) can try to search her hotel room for the stolen bonds. Rather than the concreted terrace that the lookout now is, back in the 50s (and as late as the 60s according to these screencaps) the lookout was more like a natural grassy clearance with some trees dotted around. Remember, in Hong Kong the solution to most problems that don't exist, is to pour more concrete.

I've also managed to stitch some of these frames together (with the help of Autostitch) for a nice view that gives a better sense of the area. Click in the image for a closer view.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Astor Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Marian (Carol Ohmart) is staying at the Astor Hotel. We know this because we are told by O'Hara at some point in the story. The film did use that very hotel as well, although you never really see the name properly despite it being emblazoned across the main entrance to the hotel in neon light.

The hotel was located on the corner of Carnarvon Road and Cornwall Avenue. Sadly the latter street was obliterated when the K11 Masterpiece was built and there is no physical trace of it anymore, other than an open, nameless thoroughfare alongside the skyscraper where the street used to be.

In the first two images below Vince Edwards is standing on the corner of Bristol Avenue,with the hotel entrance on the corner of Cornwall Avenue. Carnarvon Road runs along left of frame where the cars are lined up.

The hotel makes a final appearance at the end of the film and although Allison's arrival there looks to have been filmed on location, his departure soon after (right at the end of the film) looks to have been filmed on a set.
 

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Hankow Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The gang put a plan together to throw the General off their scent by pretending to buy tickets to Manila. This scene starts with Allison walking along Hankow Road next to the Peninsula Hotel before walking into the Peninsula Arcade. The molding next to the window is still on the hotel today exactly where the Hankow Road entrance to the arcade is. What follows is a shot of Allison walking through what I can only assume is the real Peninsula Hotel Arcade as he heads to the Philippine Airlines office inside.

The Scavengers -Vince Edwards (1958) - View from Penha Hill, Macau

When I fist saw this next scene it immediately brought to memory a location mystery that cropped upon Gwulo many years ago and had us all scratching our heads. If you follow that link and read the comments you'll see we had a hard time reconciling it with anywhere in Hong Kong despite the fact that the image's original title had it located in Hong Kong. I guess it's a good lesson in how you should always treat any photo description with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Suffice to say it was eventually located thanks to an local discussion forum called Uwants which I have used myself in the past when looking for older images of obscure areas in Kowloon and Hong Kong.

This is a now very much changed southwest view from Penha Hill in Macau looking towards a cluster of islands that have now been absorbed into the Zhuhai mainland next to Macau. The low, stone wall of the Penha Church courtyard is quite obvious in this image (and it remains the same to this day). It wouldn't surprise me at all if the stone bench seen bottom right is one of the ones still there today.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Hong Kong Macao Ferry Wharf

Allison (Vince Edwards) looks out of the window where he is chatting with Puan (Efren Reyes) and sees his estranged (and until then, missing) wife on the street below. We are looking directly down onto the old Hong Kong Macao Wharf where ferries such as the Fatshan and Tai Loy (later renamed to the Chung Shan) berthed. This place started life as a Japanese owned wharf called the Osaka Shosen Kaisha Wharf (O.S.K) but following the war/occupation was confiscated by the HK Govt earning it the name "Custodian Wharf" and later becoming the HK Macao Wharf sometime in the 1950s.

This film gives us a really nice view of the building that fronted the pier along Connaught Road. I've never seen it this close before. We also get some shots waterside as well as a close up of the rear of the aforementioned Tai Loy.

For modern day context, the pier was located along Connaught Road at the end of Gilman Street.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Magazine Gap Road, Midlevels

The next view is from in front of what is now the Harbourview at 11 Magazine Gap Road. The former development here was called Harbour View Mansions, but I'm not sure when it was constructed and whether it would have been there at the time of filming. I guess it's not relevant anyway. There is a large layby in front of the development where the road curves. These days it's concreted over but back in the 50s it looks like it was basically just a clearing with some great views down into the harbour area. I know the Blogger google marker will probably snap to the address I mentioned above, so here is a link to GoogleEarth showing the location now. Sadly the Google car didn't pull into the layby to provide us with a nice modern day comparison of the view.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - View from the Peak

I have to thank renowned China author, Paul French, for this next movie. Paul is well known for his deep knowledge of all things Chinese but also dabbles in some film nostalgia and can often be found posting movie clips of old China/HK/Macau on his various social media. It was via his Bluesky that I happened upon a post he made about this film, The Scavengers. I'd not heard of it before and he soon pointed me in the direction of Youtube where the film can be seen in full (at least for the time being).

The movie, shot in 1958 on location in Hong Kong and Macau (and in a Manila film studio), stars Vince Edwards as Stuart Allison, an ex-US soldier who, following the Korean war, is in Hong Kong as a smuggler. Just as he is about to hang up his smuggling boots he spots his estranged (and missing) wife boarding a ferry to Macau and chases after her. It turns out she is involved in some Nationalist-era bond smuggling and has become addicted to drugs. What follows is a fairly decent film noir story as he tries to save his ex-wife and make away with the bonds with a variety of bad men on his tail. One of which is the former RTHK journalist, John Wallace (full name: Geoffrey Wallace John Trodd), who shows of his acting chops as a rather nasty Brit gangster called Taggert. It appears to be a largely Filipino produced film but with an American director and stars (hence why it has an entry on the AFI catalog).

The film has some decent locations to see but many have been too difficult for me to track down due to lack of clues and the often night filter used for many scenes. However, the views are still good and the film is well worth a looksee if you like 50s era film noir. The opening sequence is a view of the harbour from atop the Peak on Hong Kong Island.

...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - Edinburgh Place, Central

A last post from this movie before we move on and it's the location where Gallagher's minion grabs hold of Pruit and forces him into a waiting car to take him back to the Excelsior. The building with the circular window apertures is the Connaught Centre (now Jardine House). This was completed in 1973 and by the looks of the imges below it still had some temporary construction lifts running up the side of it (second image) when the film was shot.

...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - The Excelsior Hotel, Causeway Bay

Alas no more, demolished during the Covid lockdown, the Excelsior has been a popular filming location over the years, perhaps most famously for the lift farting scene in Revenge of the Pink Panther. In this film it appears to be that Gallagher (Leslie Nielsen) has some sort of private residence on the roof, but I believe this was the "Talk of the Town" bar on the - then - top floor. At some point the hotel looks to have encapsulated the previous open roof section around the 34th floor and incorporated it into the main structure. The second batch of images below, shows the previously open roof section around the bar - behind where the hotel name sign was.

Talk of the Town? Please feel to comment if you ever went there. I only ever made it as far as the Churchill Bar in the basement with a bunch of folks from Gwulo many years ago.

The area on the roof by the bar

The scarring on the hillside in the background is the start
of construction of the Lai Tak Estate.

Roof terrace entrance/exit

We then get afew shots of the hotel interior as Pruit tries to escape from Gallagher. You can compare the entrance lobby lift shot to the same area a few years later for the aforementioned Pink Panther movie.

This clearer shot above shows the same place in Revenge of the Pink Panther

...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

Gallagher meets his crooked cop contact, Wilson, at the shorefront in Causeway Bay. As Gallagher walks away you can see the Excelsior Hotel again in the background.