The Head Hunter - Chow Yun Fat (1982) - former Kowloon District Police Headquarters

Police districts are divided differently these days but back in 1982, the Kowloon District Police HQ was located in the building now known as Kowloon West Regional Police Headquarters - at the Kowloon City end of Argyle Street. The building has had a little change to the entrance, but otherwise looks more or less the same. This is where the police investigating the murders being committed by Yuen are based.

Crime Lords - Wayne Crawford (1991) - Argyle Street, Mongkok

Another of the few, brief, real locations where the actors (or in this case, actor) shot a scene. I wonder of part of the issue was the fact that filming permits were required at this time. I believe it's only recently that the requirement for filming permits has been dropped in Hong Kong unless the filming would require some sort of crowd or traffic control and the police would need to be used. I could be wrong of course, but it may explain why so many of these films that bothered to come all the way here to shoot, did very little other than distant street shots and establishing shots. Feel free to educate me in the comments if you know better.

Anyway, in this scene LaGrane is trying to track down his wayward partner and stops to use a phone box located at the junction of Argyle Street and Nathan Road. The first image is looking west down Argyle Street and you can just see a distant floating dredger's crane at a time when the old typhoon shelter was still around.

We Owe It to Our Children - Cheung Wood-yau (1955) - Kowloon Hospital, Argyle Street

Following her accident, the wife is taken to Kowloon Hospital for surgery and we get to see a couple of the old buildings. The great thing with Kowloon Hospital is that many of these older blocks are still utilised and I believe this is Blocks A & C as viewed from the main entrance. You can almost repeat the same view today on GoogleEarth.

Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Ma Tau Chung Road, Kowloon

After arriving at the airport we get a brief look down Ma Tau Chung Road with the Argyle Street and Prince Edward Road flyovers in the foreground.

I Come With The Rain - Josh Hartnett (2009) - Langham Place Office Tower, Mongkok

Once he has settled in Hong Kong, Kline goes to visit an old police buddy (played by Shawn Yue) whose office is located in a rather swish modern looking police station. Of course, in reality it's not a real police station but is the Langham Place Office Tower on the corner of Portland and Argyle Streets. The building on the left of the top image is the rear of the Mongkok HSBC Office and the pink building to the right is the Far East Consortium Mongkok Building. That is the view looking down Portland Street.

In the lower two images we are looking the other way to the opposite side of Argyle Street with the pink coloured building there is called Argyle House and the green building on the right with the arched window frames is the Mongkok Commercial Centre.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Mongkok, Kowloon

We also get a brief glimpse of Mongkok during the credits. It's a very quick shot of the junction between Argyle Street (running vertical at centre right) and Nathan Road and we can see the HSBC building and Wu Sang House next door. We're looking from east to west in this shot so in reality Wu Sang House is directly south of the HSBC building. The circular structure at the top of Wu Sang House was (apparently) Hong Kong's first revolving restaurant, opening in the 60's and operating into the 90's.

Weiße Fracht für Hongkong - Dietmar Schönherr (1963) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

A mystery location discovered by Thomas. This rather blurry neon shot from Weiße Fracht für Hongkong is along the Mongkok section of Nathan Road. He's right because there is an almost identical shot - but vastly clearer - on Gwulo showing more or less the same angle and neon signs. So, as we can see, the "otel" sign (top centre right) is actually part of the Sunya Hotel. This means we are looking south, probably from the junction with Argyle Street. Here's the film grab:

Boarding Gate - Asia Argento (2007) - Argyle Street, Mongkok

Still on the run, Sandra exits from an underground station that turns out to be exit D2 at Mongkok MTR along Argyle Street.

L'Inconnue de Hong Kong - Dalida (1963) - Aerial View of Kowloon Part 2

Moving to the north slightly for our next set of three pictures and the top left hand side of the top picture shows Kadoorie Hill. You can see it move to the right as the camera pans left. The main road that runs from the bottom left of the picture past the right hand side of Kadoorie Hill is, of course, Argyle Street and you can actually see more of it in the middle picture. On top of Kadoorie Hill you can make out the vague shape of the Diocesan Boys School, although the playing field is more obvious as a bare patch. Just to the right of that is St George' Court built in 1961.

To the right of Kadoorie Hill is an empty patch of ground next to Waterloo Road. It was once a hill but at the time of filming was being formed for the construction of the developments around what would become Man Fuk Road and Man Wan Road. The first block to be completed here was Sunlight Garden in 1964 - this place is perhaps more famous for being Bruce Lee's home when he first returned to Hong Kong to launch his movie career in 1971.

Look carefully along Argyle Street in the next picture and you can make out the KCR rail bridge about halfway along the road just at the tip of Kadoorie Hill. In the bottom centre veering right is Mongkok Road - perhaps better known now as the road that has the pedestrian walkway running down part of its length. Look carefully on the left hand side and you should be able to make out what looks like a river channel/nullah. This is the famous nullah that gives Nullah Road its name and as far as I know the waterway still runs underneath the road. I may pop down one day and see how much of the nullah is still visible.

The last picture below shows a little more of the Tai Hang Tung area. The large open space is still open today and consists of Tai Hang Tung recreation ground and Fa Hui Park on the other side of Boundary Street. In fact if you look closely you can see Boundary Street running through the middle of it all. On this side is the Boundary St recreation ground and the running track of what is now Mongkok Stadium. Splitting the open ground in two on the left side is the southern end of Yau Yat Chuen and at the very tip you can make out the still standing Yau Yat Chuen School.

Anyway, lots to see but too much to mention here. A little more to come in the next post.

Largo Winch - Tomer Sisley (2008) - Langham Place, Mongkok

The hospital that Largo's dad has been taken to is called St John's Hospital and seems to occupy Langham Place in Mongkok - or at least the upper part of the hospital is here - we'll get to the lower bit in the next post.

The blue dome in the picture shows the top of the Langham Place office tower, but there is a rather peculiar mall occupying the first few floors and, of course, the Langham Place Hotel occupies the neighbouring block along Argyle Street in Mongkok.

Knock Off - Jean Claude Van Damme (1997) - Argyle Street, Kowloon City

After some hair raising action at the end of the rickshaw race the duo are picked up by the cops and taken to a police station for questioning. Is there a more logical place to go from Hong Kong island than Kowloon City? Of course there is but then again nowhere else would afford the chance of being able to snap a plane landing in the background, so here it is.

Sadly, I can't match the angle from Streetview but here is the police station as it currently stands. No more background planes and no more police sign sticking out from the front of the building either :-(

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Lee On Building, Argyle Street

Another identification courtesy of Thomas. This one has a little bit of added significance though as you will read because there is some Tai Chi history thrown in for good measure.

The scene is a memorable one because it is the one where Shatter returns to Ti Lung's flat to hideout from the guys trying to kill him and he witnesses Ti Lung putting his kung fu students through their paces on the apartment roof.

Looking west: Sincere Building (still around too) on the right

Looking north: towards Lion Rock

I did try and work out where this was myself and got reasonably close (enough to satisfy that I wasn't too far from the spot anyway) but just couldn't nail the correct building. In steps Thomas with some real kung fu history as he identified the rooftop as belonging to the Lee On Building on the SE corner of  Argyle Street and Fa Yuen Street. I've pasted Thomas' comments below.

"As for Ti Lung's flat with those Kung Fu scenes, it was Mongkok alright. That's the roof of the building at the south-east corner where Argyle Street meets Fa Yuen Street. The building is called Lee On Building and it still exists.  Tai Chi master Cheng Tin Hung used to teach there. After his passing some years ago the Building management would not allow further activities at the roof anymore...The Hong Kong Tai Chi Association is still on 12th Floor though."

I must admit I don't know much about Tai Chi or Cheng Tin Hung, but being from the UK and an avid reader of Combat magazine between '86 and '92, Cheng Tin Hung's student Dan Docherty is a name I recognise. Anyway, you can read more about him over on wiki.

It's a nice little link there I think, but I was scratching my head as to how and why Shaws were filming up there until I read that Cheng Tin Hung had been involved as a fight choreographer (and a small cameo at the beginning) in a Shaw's production -  The Shadow Boxer - the very same year that Shatter was made. Both films, The Shadow Boxer and Shatter, shared a crew member: Johnston Tsao Chuang-sheng. Incidentally, he also worked on the other Shaw/Hammer co-production The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Anyway, I guess it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the roof was borrowed as a courtesy between friends or recent acquaintances.

So if there are any disciples of Mr Cheng out there who are curious about seeing what their sifu's rooftop used to look like, look no further.

Once again, many thanks to Thomas for filling in the detail that I would never have been able to find.

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Argyle Street, Mongkok

A quick one and an area that hasn't changed too much up to now and that is Argyle Street next to the Water Supplies Dept office at the junction with Sai Yee St.

The Water Supplies Building is the low rise one on the left hand side and the tall white building at the back is the precursor to today's "Glen Haven" apartment block. Look carefully and you can also make out the KCR rail bridge in the distance. One thing I am surprised to still see is the single column on the right. Looking at our Streetview image below, I would hazard a guess that the same column is still there today - a leftover from when the original shophouses were developed into Hong Lok Mansion back in 1959.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Argyle Street, Kowloon

A quick establishing shot (for what I can't remember) that looks to have been taken from the KCR rail bridge that crosses Argyle Street.

I can't get the same angle from Streetview for obvious reasons, but the snap below gives a reasonable impression of how it looks today. Obviously there are a few extra skyscrapers in Mongkok these days, but the older tenements are still around as is the Argyle Street Water Supplies Department building (you can just make out the front face of it on the right hand side of the top screen grab).

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Argyle Street, Mongkok

Another big thanks to Thomas Ngan for nailing this one as Argyle Street courtesy of some very impressive detective work concerning a pawn shop seen in the background.

So first off, here is a reminder of the scene from Affair at T'sien Cha. The key to the identification of the area was the white building with red writing on the right in the first screen grab.

Just as a reminder, here are the comments Thomas made with regards to these pictures:

[see top picture] There was a Pawn Shop in the background (同昌大押)。 The pillars of this pawn shop had been relocated to Stanley. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/horizon616/5492025308/) The Flickr album also mentioned the Pawn Shop was in Shanghai St, around the present day Langham Place.

So, armed with that knowledge, we can say that the camera was looking east along Argyle Street.The old pawnshop was demolished to make way for the Langham Place Office Tower. The original pawnshop pillars now adorn the pavement outside the reconstructed Murray House in Stanley.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Canton Road, Mongkok

Just doing some catching up with some newly identified locations courtesy of my good friend Thomas - he's just confirmed a bunch load for me so will be putting them in as posts over the next few weeks as time allows. The first is a street shot from Affair at T'sien Cha when Culp and Cosby hop on their rickshaws and head off to the KCR Terminus in TST. Before they arrive at their destination (to catch the train into Tai Po) we get to see a few shots of local streets, one of them being this location where Canton Road meets Argyle Street. Notice the low sloping roofs on the right hand side of the picture - well, I am going to assume that this was the original Mongkok Market area. Seeing as they were filming on Argyle Street, not 100 yards from this spot for some of the other rickshaw scenes, it's no surprise they are here as well.

As you can see from the current Streetview below the market has been rebuilt, much like many other former traditional street markets, and of course the roads have been improved and cleaned up but wander around this area and you will still find some older buildings that would easily have been around when Cosby and Co were rolling by.