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.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Far East Mansion, Middle Road

Another pandemic find that never made the blog is this image from Heisser Hafen Hongkong. It shows a shop facade decorated like a Chinese temple and the misleading name of Plaza House had me scratching my head for where it could be. Luckily, regular Gwulo'er Moddsey was able to identify this location courtesy of his huge catalogue of old Hong Kong photos and he told me this was a tailor business located on the ground floor of Far East Mansions on Middle Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. It's a while since I watched this film but I think it was supposed to be the business run by the film's antagonist, Marek (Horst Frank).

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Kimberley Street, Tsim Sha Tsui

Here's another find by the master of obscure places, Thomas. I had been asking about this funny looking road and Thomas came back to me with Kimberley Street as the likely culprit. On further investigation it turns out he was spot on again. This is pretty good going seeing as this film is 55 years old (as of 2017).

On the left, just before the kink in the road are some rather interesting window shades that have tapered uprights running up the side of the window opening. Some of these still exist today on a 1953-constructed building marked as #22. Although the main portion of this block was demolished, and now the Kimberley Hotel occupies the space, number 22 is a partial remnant of this once larger block and still has the distinct tapered window shades. If you look beyond the road there is a large white building that I believe is South Sea Mansions. It's still around and was built the same year this film was made, so I'm wondering if I can still detect some scaffolding on the exterior?

Anyway, once again a big thanks to Thomas.

If anyone has any memories of "Lily's Garden" or any other bar around there, feel free to leave a comment.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Junction of Waterloo Road and Shanghai Street, Mongkok

Here is another impressive find by Thomas when you consider this film is 55 years old. The scene is not really important, it's just one of the many establishing shots that was used throughout this film, but it's just nice being able to locate these small snippets and give them a little bit of historical context. In this shot we are looking up Shanghai Street from the junction with Waterloo Road and there are various businesses that can be seen including what looks like a place called the "Mido" (not to be confused with the famous eaterie in Yau Ma Tei) and this place on the corner called "Goldengate". 

Also notice the rather new looking building on the left in the lower photo. This is #3 Waterloo Road and was built in 1962 - the same year this film was made, hence why it is looking so new. It's still there but, like with many other older buildings with balconies, the balconies have since been filled in (illegally!) to make more internal living space. Let's face it, these days the traffic on Waterloo Road is so busy it's not really the sort of place where you would want to sit outside breathing in all that vehicle exhaust!

Anyway, once again a big thanks to Thomas for going above and beyond the call of duty for this one. 

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - Connaught Road, Sheung Wan

One final shot from The Road to Hong Kong for the time being and it's a brief scene showing a car driving along the waterfront along Connaught Road. I'm not sure exactly at which point but I would imagine it is somewhere around where the old ferry piers used to be (what would be today's Shun Tak Centre). Feel free to comment if you know anymore.

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

More stock footage from this film includes this nice north looking shot of the junction with Shantung Street along Nathan Road. The Paramount nightclub and Theatre was quite a distinctive landmark at the time. 

Actually, we were here not so long ago because I believe the building occupied the whole block up to Nelson Street and this post was located at the far end.

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

One of the most used establishing shots on HK set films is the footage of a plane landing at the old airport, and this film is no different. Sadly, no low level plane landing but instead some quick footage of a plane that looks to have landed on the runway from the harbour end of the runway.

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - Hong Kong Club, Central

In a rather weird use of stock footage, the Hong Kong Club is used to establish a shot that was obviously meant to still be in India. I guess this colonial style of building is one that can be found in many of the tropical and sub-tropical places the Brits decided to invade during their empire building. In the film, we see it, and the Cenotaph, from the direction of the southern side of Chater Road near to the Supreme Court building.

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Some more travelogue style images of Hong Kong from The Road to Hong Kong, this time we are looking across the harbour towards the western end of HK Island. Of course we can still see the Star Ferry (for the time being at least...) but I think the HK harbour views really miss the old style fishing junks which have all disappeared (well, apart from the fake touristy ones which just aren't the same).

The Road to Hong Kong - Bob Hope (1962) - View over Wanchai, Hong Kong

Here's a quick look at some of the Hong Kong scenes incorporated into this film starring Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Joan Collins. It was shot entirely at Shepperton studios in the UK so of course all of our Hong Kong scenes were most likely taken from stock footage.

Here is one of the first views of Hong Kong looking east to Wanchai. It looks as though it was taken when the typhoon shelter reclamation was taking place for what would eventually become Victoria Park.The park officially opened in 1957, so it's probably safe to say this was perhaps early to mid-50's. Not too far from when the film was made (unlike Target Hong Kong which used 1930's footage for a 50's set thriller).

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

I'm just finishing this film with a shot of the harbour including a brief glimpse of Northern Star, one of the Star Ferry boats (built in 1959) that appears to still be in use today.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Tiger Balm Gardens, Tai Hang

I think we have seen Tiger Balm garden enough times on this blog for me to dispense with the usual brief description, so I shall just post some pictures. The place features fairly extensively in a couple of scenes so we get to see some areas that are not necessarily featured very often. It would be great to have a 3D map of the place so I could place all the locations, so if you know of one please let me know in the comments (and if there isn't one then that is a challenge to whoever reads this and has the ability to do that kind of stuff).

Remember that the garden's founder, Aw Boon Haw, was a staunch Nationalist/Kuomintang supporter, and I suspect that some of the Nationalist imagery in the garden was one of the reasons Li Ka-shing was so keen to bulldoze it post-handover. One example is the famous gate over the stairway that contained "Double Ten" references.

I personally believe the largest loss due to the redevelopment was, arguably, one of Hong Kong's most iconic pagodas. The white pagoda was a landmark and also highly ornate. It's a real shame that it wasn't kept along with the mansion.

You'll notice that the pagoda in this lower shot has the national emblem of the R.O.C on it. It's the famous blue sky with white sun emblem. Anyway, we'll finish off with some of the bizarre images that the garden was more famous for.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Nelson Street, Mongkok

Another night shot showing off some local colour, literally. I don't know what the shop was but I do know it was situated on the corner of Nathan Road and Nelson Street in Mongkok. The first shot shows us looking from Nathan Road at the shop front with Nelson Street on the left, and the second picture shows the view from the pavement outside the same shop looking south down Nathan Road. In the background you can just make out the lights of the Sun Ya Hotel which was on the opposite side of the road. The address we are at is 636 Nathan Road and it now has a commercial building called the Bank Centre.

Please feel free to comment about the shop if anyone has any information.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Public Square Street, Yau Ma Tei

This one was a bit cheeky because it is related to the last post. In the scene the actor is standing in the middle of Nathan Road at the junction with Public Square Street and then looks right to see his reporter friend turn up in a yellow taxi. Only the taxi scene below was filmed over at the junction of Public Square Street and Shanghai Street - about 150 metres to the left.

Anyway, the giveaway here is the Yau Hing pawnshop (又興大押) that used to stand on the northwest corner of the aforementioned junction. In fact, it has cropped up on this blog before because Thomas once used the very same pawnshop to identify this location from the I Spy series. Thomas's identifications just keep on giving...thanks Thomas! ;-)

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Another shot along Nathan Road, this time we are at the junction of Nathan and Public Square Street. The identifier in this shot is the brown building with the balcony to the left of the first picture. It turns out that this was the former Yau Ma Tei Government School and Richard Wong has a few pictures of it on his FLICKR page.

Interestingly, it looks as though part of the space once occupied by the school playground was never redeveloped and simply left as a...playground! It looks as though the school's wall stayed in-situ until at least the late 1990's despite the rest of the building disappearing sometime in the mid-70's. I suspect the phone booth was a prop but if anyone knows differently then feel free to comment.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Aberdeen, Hong Kong

There are a couple of scenes filmed in and around Aberdeen and its famous harbour. Some interesting angles that I haven't seen too many times including a view from the top of the building that used to stand on the corner of Aberdeen Main Road as it turns past the old restaurant pontoon area. See below. I'm not too certain about where this building would have been relative to today's configuration, but perhaps it was where the rest garden now stands on the corner of Old Aberdeen Main Street - or whether it's where there is a row of new buildings on the corner of (new) Aberdeen Main Street?

 And then moving down to ground level for some familiar scenery around the waterfront area such as the pontoons for the restaurants, the cemetery in the background and of course the distinctive shape of the (new) Tai Pak that had been installed just recently (sometime after 1960 but before 1962).

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Yes, another shot from Nathan Road, again from the Yau Ma Tei area but this time looking north towards the junction with Waterloo Road. The interesting thing here is the fact that the English character in the film works as a reporter/journalist for the Hong Kong Tiger Standard. And here we see their offices back in 1962 at somewhere around where the Bangkok Bank building is found today.

The small block building in the background was at the junction with Waterloo Road (on the northern side of the road) but I have no idea what it was. Gwulo has a much clearer picture of it here, and I suspect the presence of a "telephone exchange" tag on that picture may be the explanation of what it was. Can anyone confirm?

Hong Kong Tiger Standard was the original name of the HK Standard newspaper, still in circulation but a sad shadow of its former self. The tiger in the original title came from the founder, Aw Boon Haw, who is more famous in HK for his Tiger Balm empire. The politics of the paper (and it's Chinese sister paper, Sing Tao) is now very much pro-CCP - a far cry from its early pro-Kuomintang stance. In fact, one of its former Editors-in-Chief is Robert Chow - a name familiar to a large "silent majority" of Hong Kongers who actually secretly want to punch him.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Some more Nathan Road, this time looking south near the modern day junction with Gascoigne Road. We know this because the signs are for the (relatively) newly built Alhambra Building. The building replaced a same named art-deco theatre at the corner of Kansu St and Nathan Road in 1960. The building is actually still around although the nightclub and other businesses have long gone. You can see a daytime version of the top picture at this link.

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

Another in-car view, there seems to be quite a few of these in this film. This one is taken along the Mongkok section of Nathan Road. We know this because there is a famous restaurant in the background called the King Wah Restaurant (the white building behind the bus). The restaurant was located at 628 Nathan Road (today's King Wah Centre) on the corner of Shantung Street.

Judging from the distance I would hazard a guess that the car was somewhere just north of the junction with Dundas Street. Note the film adverts on the left hand side. HK has a great heritage in excellent film artwork, and it looks as though the scaffolding surrounding a construction site was a popular place to put them up. At first I thought it may have been the front of a cinema, but I am not sure there were any along there in 1962?

Edit: Going through some later screen shots and I realised that some more film had been shot along this particular stretch of Nathan Road with a better view of the film posters.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Shanghai Street, Yau Ma Tei

Another from-the-car perspective as we drive southbound along Shanghai Street between the junctions it shares with Public Square Street and Market Street. This one is a bit of a blur but it is the Shanghai Street end of the former public market that stood on what is now the open public square in front of the Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple.

The final couple of screenshots show us looking up Market Street towards the temple. Note the considerable lack of taller buildings on the other side of the temple (Nathan Road). A similar view taken the year after shows that the On Cheung Building had already been built at the back.