The Sand Pebbles - Steve McQueen (1966) - Tai Tau Chau, Sai Kung

I haven't really covered much of The Sand Pebbles despite the fact that it is a great film. The reason is that the HK-filmed scenes were, in general, shot in some rather out of the way places in the northern part of Port Shelter that is called Rocky Harbour. We've already found out where the junk barrier was shot and so I thought this post might help to add a bit more context because it was taken around the same area but looking back towards the direction of Sai Kung town with the famous ridge line behind it

The ridge line in the background includes Pyramid hill on the left and Ma On Shan on the right and has been seen quite a few times in this blog already. In the screen grab there is also an island on the left side on the frame and this is Tai Tau Chau. If you ever get the chance to go here you'll find out that Tai Tau Chau these days seems to be largely used for burying the dead because it is now strewn with hillside graves. Anyway, following my recent trip to the reservoir area, I managed to grab the following snap from the top of the west dam wall which gives an overview of the same area albeit from a height at the top of the wall (which didn't exist until 10 or so years after the film was made).

The junk barrier was somewhere around the edge of the lake at the bottom of the screen and the San Pablo boat in the film grab is seen smoking (fake smoke by the way) its way in the body of water in front of that lower cofferdam wall. You can see Tai Tau Chau on the left in my photo too.

The Private Eyes - Hui Brothers (1976) - Perkins Road, Happy Valley

Sometimes, not often, locations are quick to find courtesy of some very obvious clues. In this scene from The Private Eyes, the road sign behind our heroes' VW Beetle tells us they are sitting on Perkins Road in Happy Valley.

Thankfully for us, Happy Valley remains one of those areas of HK where much of the older buildings still remains and looking at the current Streetview images we can see the house they are spying on (or at least its front gate) hasn't changed.

The gate is exactly the same! It's either a matching replacement or just very well maintained.

The view up the road (as in the top film grabs) shows that the road's aspect hasn't changed much either, I suspect they are the same trees seen on the film lining the pavement.

This is the current view up the side road where the Hui's had their car parked. The old road sign has gone and there looks to have been some redevelopment at the far end but the walls on both sides haven't changed much.

And finally the view from our intrepid Private I's vantage point looking down the road to the house they are keeping an eye on.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - HK Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (APA for short) is a veritable HK higher education institute dealing with degrees and diplomas in performing arts: music, acting, opera, dance, film production etc. In Noble House the main campus building along Gloucester Road doubles as the HQ for the suffering Ho Pak bank which undergoes a run thanks to some malicious rumours spread by a certain Quillan Gornt.

The Academy was founded in 1984 and not so long ago (2003) also managed to obtain a second - extremely attractive - campus in Pokfulam in the form of the Bethanie building.

If you have kids in HK then without doubt at some point you will come to the Academy to visit the various Childrens' shows that play at the Lyric Theatre (so far we've watched things such as Barney, Thomas the Tank Engine, Room on a Broom, The Gruffalo, Mr Ben and many more).

Anyway here it is as it appears on film as the Ho Pak Bank.

And here it is looking exactly the same (minus the fake bank emblem) courtesy of Streetview.

Game of Death - Bruce Lee (1978) - Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

Some shots of the TST Star Ferry and adjoining bus terminus from 1978 that I had neglected to do last year (yes, by now you should have realised how disorganised and adhoc this blog is).

Dragon Garden - some extra info

Thanks to AP for pointing me in the direction of a video posted on YouTube by the Dragon Garden Charitable Foundation. It's just one of those HK stories that are few and far between and it's nice to see a unique piece of HK being preserved for everyone to see (no thanks to the Govt, I hasten to add...).

Edit: I believe that since I first posted this, the owner of Dragon Garden decided against opening up for the public and has since expressed a desire for it to remain private. What a shame after all the publicity surrounding its rescue.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Dragon Garden, Tsuen Wan

A popular location for foreign film crew because of its 'Chinoise' style, most people will remember it clearly from The Man with the Golden Gun but here we also get to catch a proper close-up glimpse of the house within the extensive grounds.

The famous red front doors to the garden were put into storage when the Govt clawed back some land to widen Castle Peak Road (it went from being a nice bamboo surrounded lane into a highway. One of the doors was reinstalled a while back in its new place and you can see the Streetview below.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Okay, so in the book, the hotel in question is actually named The Victoria and Albert Hotel, but anyone who has been to HK will know that it is the grand old lady of TST that our American protagonists settle down in. In the TV show, I think perhaps the name was a bit too prominent for our film makers to cover up, so they just left it as is.

Back in 1989 we can still see the place before it was given its additional office tower (added in 1994) and the basement carpark that is now accessed from the main driveway seen above. Actually, I'm not sure when the carpark was added, but perhaps at the same time as the 30-floor office block? As a result of the carpark the front driveway was raised a couple of feet and the main entrance lost its steps as a result.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan

The Shun Tak Centre - the locations of the HK/Macau Ferry Terminal for those who are not familiar with HK - is used on a couple of occasions as a stand in for Kai Tak Airport Terminal. First there is this shot of Gordon Jackson walking past the ground floor escalators.

When I was first writing about Noble House locations on my other blog, I had initially mistaken this for the real Kai Tak terminal because there was a similar escalator system that led up to the terminal viewing gallery and cafe. Anyway, following a quick trip to Macau on Saturday I managed to get a reasonably similar angle with my phone. See below. 

As you can see it hasn't really changed at all in nearly 25 years.

Miracles - Jackie Chan (1989) - Santa Casa da Misericórdia, São Lázaro, Macau

Well, it's exactly one whole year to the day since I did my last Miracles location post - my word, how time seems to fly by these days! Anyway, I get the feeling this may be my last post from Macau for this film and despite being in Macau only just yesterday (first time in nearly 3 years) I sadly only had time for friend visits and none for sightseeing :-(

Anyway, this location is used in the film as the local police station. Here is a reminder.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry, Kowloon

I'm gonna kill a few birds with one stone here. As the number 1 thing to do on a foreign film shot in HK - we get the requisite shot of the famous Star Ferry ferries (now under-utilised and under threat due to stupid, but expected nonetheless, Govt planning and bureaucracy) and their Kowloon-side berth.

The first few shots show the ferry heading off to Kowloon-side, the film camera being positioned on HK Island looking north across the harbour. We know this because in the background we can see the Man Buildings (aka Ferry Point Estate) again.

On the last grab we can just see the gold buildings of the 中港城, or China Hong Kong City building that stands on Canton Road in TST - they are the 4 patterned glass buildings top right. Then we see the ferry pulling into the TST pier, this time with the camera on Kowloon-side looking south towards HK Island with Victoria Peak in the background. Look through the haze and you will see Jardine House just to the right of the ferry, and further to the right of that building are those that we just saw along Connaught Road. as mentioned in previous posts, this whole view has changed immensely and is now dominated by the IFC development which includes IFC2 - HK's second tallest building.

Finally we disembark the ferry and take a right along the sea front right next to the public piers. If you have ever caught a shuttle over to the restaurants on Lamma Island - this is the place you are usually picked up. The round metal railings you can see are still there, as is the ferry building behind.

The last shot shows us looking back towards the bus terminus behind JCVD. This was for a while under threat of being redeveloped into a sterile plaza - the bus terminus was going to be relocated to the other side of Nathan Road - almost certainly the final nail in the coffin of the Star Ferry. Thankfully, in this case the uproar was so loud that the Govt suddenly woke up to the nonsense of the idea and the Star Ferry lives on...until the next time that is.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Connaught Road, Central

I'm just rounding off the Double Impact locations with a few no-brainers - odd shots that are easy to place but should be included anyway - starting with some of the buildings that line Connaught Road in Central.

For obvious reasons, filmmakers like to include helicoptered shots of the HK skyline and here is one in which we can see a few recognisable landmarks. Starting with picture one below we can see the east tower (i.e. Block 3) of Exchange Square and next to it the towering blue-glassed oblong of the Hang Seng Bank HQ. Incidentally, this latter one stands where the old Central Fire Station used to stand.

Believe it or not even this angle from a helicopter is no longer possible because right smack bag in front of  the Hang Seng Building now stands IFC1 - part of the IFC development that includes what was once HK's tallest building (until the ICC was built in Kowloon) - the IFC2 - and a huge mall.

In these next couple of shots we can see some much smaller buildings to the right of the Hang Seng HQ. It looks as though the next 4 buildings have already all been demolished - up to and including the gold one with the red sign at the top. What stands in their place now is the new Hong Kong HQ of the Agricultural Bank of China.

All other buildings (including Chinachem Plaza with the red top) on the right hand side still remain, as can be attested by this Streetview grab.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Worldwide House, Central

Worldwide House is well-known for its lower floors' dedication to the local Filipino community. It has a whole load of shops on the 1st floor that cater specifically for Filipino tastes and needs. Just head down there any Sunday and you'll see what I mean. In Noble House the building is the HQ for Gornt's empire, Rothwell-Gornt, and we get to see the ground floor entrance as well as the odd scene shot inside Gornt's office which does appear to be inside the building itself.

Not many people realise that the building itself is built on the former site of the rather elegant General Post Office that sadly, along with many other very grand and unique colonial-era buildings, disappeared throughout the 70's and 80's. On an aside, the sole remaining pieces of the old GPO building are several columns that were donated and moved to Kadoorie Farm in Lam Tsuen where they still stand today. Anywhere, here is the current building we are talking about.

The ground floor is also Exit A of the Central MTR station, hence the MTR sign on the wall.

The views from Gornt's office show not only Exchange Square on the left but also Jardine House. The lower picture seems to be showing the previous building to the current Chater House. It was in fact the old Swire House (demolished in 1998) with its rather more stylish rooftop - the current building is, unsurprisingly for modern HK, just a boring generic glass box.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Tsing Yi Container Processing Terminal, Tsing Yi

Yes, that's right, the same place I just posted used in the finale of The Protector was also used 5 years later for a scene in Double Impact when JCVD is taken by the gang boss to a deserted area and promptly beaten up inside a container by Yang Sze (aka Bolo).

I had been wondering where this place was for a while although I already knew it was the same location for both films, but have finally seen some clues on screen that link Tsing Yi with this place.

This was a toughy, but the combination of the yellow derrick, the raised appearance of the area and the nearby slopes, as well as the glimpse of the NW corner of Lantau Island in the background mean that this area is the upper storage level of the container processing terminal along Tsing Keung Street on the west side of Tsing Yi.

Of course, as I mentioned in the The Protector post, this whole area has changed significantly with much of the cargo processing moving to the Kwai Chung side of Tsing Yi as well as the creation of the Lantau Link (i.e. Tsing Ma Bridge et al) which now occupies much of the skyline in the background.