Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Here is a shot from Heisser Hafen Hongkong showing the stretch of Nathan Road close to the junction with Mongkok Road. The building in the distance centre frame was the old Pioneer Building which contained the Royal Theatre. The red/blue glass windowed Pioneer Centre now stands there. Michael Hui shot the cinema heist scene at the Royal Theatre for The Private Eyes. This movie was shot in 1962, so only about two years after the building was opened.

Cornwall Street - Now and Then

After recently covering The Angel Strikes Again, I thought a modern day comparison for the Cornwall Street shots might be interesting. It's a good way of showing just how cluttered Hong Kong is these days compared to back in the 1960s before mass redevelopment took hold (and never let go).

This initial shot shows the view looking towards Waterloo Road and Baptist Hospital from just near to the Cornwall Street Children's Playground. The building in the background is the original block of Baptist Hospital that was demolished just recently (at the end of 2025). The multi-port hydrant was part of the emergency infrastructure for Kai Tak airport in case of a crash in the vicinity. The hill on the left hand side is where the original Baptist College and sports ground were located, and just visible in the background, barely discernable, is the further hill where Broadcast Drive is located. Let's just say there have been some changes.

In my lower image above (taken on 7th May 2026), you can see the sole remaining item from the original film capture is the multi-port fire hydrant. As mentioned, the original block (later renamed Block A) of the Baptist Hospital has now gone. The slope contained the Baptist College is now taken up by more buildings belonging to what is now called Baptist University. Notice that the hydrant is still at the edge of the pavement, however, there is now a second kerb further to the left and the space inbetween is filled with planters and trees. This is the same along this whole stretch of road. Perhaps the biggest change though is the flyover above Waterloo Road which allows traffic to skip the lights at the intersections with Cornwall Street and Junction Road.

Here's the view looking the other way. The current development here is more obvious because there is now a row of mid-rise apartment buildings along the opposite side of the road in the distance. A comparison shot is underneath. You can just make out the old property located at #2 Cornwall Street that was replaced by the rather unsubtle Mormon Church building. I do like the fact that the current view has a lot of trees though. You can see in the lower image where the extended section of the pavement, filled withtaxis in the film capture, now has trees and other plants.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

Many years ago when I covered Ferry to Hong Kong, I did a general post about the old Yaumatei Typhoon shelter. I was recently looking at my screencaps again and spotted the following image that I assumed was somewhere in the Typhoon Shelter but I didn't really give it any more thought.

The metal containers in the background piqued my interest and I found out that they were silos containing vegetable oil located at the corner of Shantung Street and what was (it seems to have been subsumed by Ferry Street) Tak Cheong Street at the Yaumatei waterfront. Look carefully at the far left hand side of the image and you can just about make out the edge of old Mongkok ferry pier at the very end of Shantung Street.

Sai Yeung Choi Street South - Now and Then

Following on from my recent post for The Angel Strikes Again, I thought I would take a quick trip down to the junction of Sai Yeung Choi Street South and Soy Street to try and grab a comparison photo. Bear in mind that this area in Mongkok is one of the busiest places in Kowloon these days, not just for people but also for traffic, and so getting an exact match of the angle seen in the screen capture was a bit of a faff.

The Hollywood Theatre, where much of this scene played out, was off camera to the right. It closed in 1980 and the building was demolished and replaced by the current one, Hollywood Plaza - HK loves to maintain names of older buildings for their newer replacements - was completed in 1984. You can see in the image below though that the new building has a similar square canopy over the pavement area. 

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Green Jade / Tsing Bik Villa, Tuen Mun

As mentioned in my first post, this property is the main reason to include this film. This is Yung's palatial home and is the location of the film's finale as it gets completely obliterated by Chai and Kwok as they exact revenge on Yung and his men for killing all their family in Malacca. You can compare the images to how it looked in the 1960s for Kill a Dragon. As mentioned previously, the property was demolished almost immediately after filming was completed and the site was cleared to make way for the current "Bayview Terrace" residential development.

The old entrance way on Castle Peak Road

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Queen's Pier, Central

This is one of the locations that Yung and Kwok's adoptive father goes to when he arrives back in Hong Kong from Malacca. Yung is having him followed by one of his goons so he knows whether or not his dad is on his side or Kwok's. My understanding is that the old structure - removed when reclamation started back in 2007 (after a delay due to the growing awareness of heritage protection in HK). The pier structure is supposed to be restored back to its original, although now landlocked, location in front of CIty Hall, but I haven't been there for a while so can't confirm whether or not it has been done. I'll confirm later.

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Following his return from Malacca, Chai makes a call to Inspector Cheung (Danny Lee) telling him his plan to take out Yung so that Cheung can take all the credit. He makes his call from a phone box located on Nathan Road opposite the Peninsula Hotel. It looks to me like a prop because in one shot the phone box is facing the hotel on the other side of the road, and then in the next it has turned at an angle so that we can see the end of the hotel building facing Salisbury Road.

Notice in the top image how the left arched window aperture is missing the molding from its keystone? That has since been replaced and the rectangular hole next to it has been filled in. As you can see, most of the things I notice in these images are of no interest to anyone...

No doubt the Google location marker will have jumped to a nearby building, but to be clear, this is on the south east corner of the Nathan/Middle Road junction.

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Shaw Bros Dormitories, Clearwater Bay

The exterior scenes of the police station where Chai's wife, Po (Carina Lau), is being held were filmed at the old Shaw dormitories next to Movietown. The interior scenes were shot somewhere else though (looks like a real, but old station - yet to be determined).

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Sun Wong Toi Road, Kowloon

Kwok heads back to Malacca after arriving in Hong Kong to plead with Yung to end his quarrel with Chai. Not much of a scene other than a view of his car supposedly driving towards the airport along Sung Wong Toi Road.

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Fu Uk Tung Kei Joint Garden, Tai Chung Hau Village

Following the execution of Big Eye, Chai calls a meeting with all the disparate groups of triads to work out a plan to deal with Yung. However, they have all been set up and the police raid the meeting, kill a couple of the gangsters and to save his brothers, Chai gives himself up to the police and takes all their guns with him.

This was filmed at a small horticultural co-operative in Sai Kung called Fu Uk Tung Kei Joint Garden (富屋東記組合花園). It's still marked on some maps as being located right next to the junction of Tau Chung Hau Road and Hiram's Highway. It may have moved around a bit over the years, I have no idea, but at least one of the angles matches the ridgeline in the top image below.