A Countess from Hong Kong - Sophia Loren (1967) - Former Kowloon Docks, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another notable glimpse of the real Hong Kong from this film is a quick view of the wooden pier that used to occupy the spot now taken up by Ocean Terminal. It shows a large cruise ship at dock - the one that all the subsequent action is supposed to take place on - which can just be identified as the SS President Wilson.

We know that this film was released in 1967 which means it was most likely filmed either earlier that year or sometime in 1966. The problem is that Ocean Terminal also opened in 1966 (on the 22nd March according to wiki), quite early on in the year. So either the limited HK locations on this film were shot a couple of years earlier or the film was perhaps some unused footage shot for another movie and incorporated into this one. My gut tells me that the HK images we see on film were licensed from someone else - there is just too little footage to justify spending money on a separate film crew to capture some brief scenes.

Well anyway, if you look at the screen grab below taken from the beginning of The World of Suzie Wong (the original post can be seen here), it's interesting to note that it shows the very same ship berthed at the very same wooden pier - you can even see the curved canopy that runs along the centre of the pier.

The World of Suzie Wong (1960)

I wonder if anyone out there knows how often the SS President Wilson used to berth at Hong Kong in the 1960's? It seems to have been a regular visitor and was eventually bought by CY Tung anyway.

A Countess from Hong Kong - Sophia Loren (1967) - Sun Ya Hotel, Mongkok

A Countess from Hong Kong, starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, only features a couple of short snippets of Hong Kong despite its title. The rest of the film is set on a cruise ship and was thus filmed entirely in the studio. Never mind, because we get a couple of decent locations including this one at what was 639 Nathan Road close to the junction with Argyle Street.

You can just make out the hotel name behind the string of lights on the lower left, but look closely at the background and you can also see the old neon sign for the Broadway Cinema that sat on the corner of Nathan and Argyle St. It was later replaced by the HSBC building that still stands there. It ceased operations in 1966 which means that this little bit of footage was possibly filmed just before its closure.