La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Headquarters House, Barker Road

The final location from this brief delve into 1970s erotic cinema is a location on Barker Road, just around the corner from the Chief Secretary's residence. Although it is still marked as "Headquarters House" on some maps, this residence underwent a name change following the handover and is officially known as the "Commanders Residence". Before the handover it was occupied by the Commander of British Forces so it makes sense that it is now occupied by the Commander of the PLA's Hong Kong garrison.

This film appears to have captured the site before the house was built. This ties in with the information on Wikipedia that states the house was in use from 1978 onwards. Aerial images show an empty plot as late as June 1977. The podium terrace that the actors are standing on in the scene below was most likely already there for the previous occupant - a building called "Dunedin". If you look at image 3 below, you can see the edge of an empty patch on the left side of the frame, so it's possible the site had been recently cleared in order to make way for the building of the new house.

Prior to living here at 11 Barker Road, the official residence of the British Commander was Flagstaff House - coincidentally used in another mid-70s film of the same genre Emmanuelle 2 (the former resident of Flagstaff House at that time was kind enough to let me know that the interiors seen in that film were indeed the real interior of Flagstaff House at the time).

The property's driveway was also used as the driveway to the house owned by Angelo and Linda, Annie's obsessive friends, although the house in the film was definitely not one in Hong Kong. At the end of this scene, the friends are filmed coming down the driveway in their Rolls Royce as they chase her to the airport. Some geographical movie jiggery-pokery ensues as the Land Rover containing Annie emerges from the opposite driveway - the entrance to Bracken Hill (#12 Barker Road) - which is lower down the hillside from where she was supposedly picked up.

Podium of 11 Barker Road

Actually, this brief shot appears to have been filmed lower down on Barker Road

Empty patch on the left and Cragside Mansion in the background

Driveway of 12 Barker Road

Driveway of 11 Barker Road

Love Circles - Michelle Siu (1985) - Barker Road Tram Station, The Peak

Ooh, I forgot about this location. It's where Yo-yo and Ko-ko (both played by Michelle Siu) talk about how the latter was being blackmailed. This scene was filmed on the roof top of the Barker Road Tram Stop at a time when access to the flat roof was a bit easier. It seems an odd place to film given the rather simple-but-splendid design of the station interior, however, I would assume the crew needed somewhere with a bit more space and less foot/tram traffic.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Barker Road Peak Tram Stop, The Peak

Another of the series' establishing shots was filmed inside the Barker Road Peak Tram Stop. It's a more substantial stop than most on the line and therefore has been the one that has been filmed the most - so far it has been seen in about 6 movies included on this blog.

Invisible Waves - Asano Tadanobu (2006) - Barker Road Tram Stop, The Peak

After seeing his boss, Kyoji catches the funicular tram back down and we see the bosses henchman, Lizard, waiting to get on board at Barker Road.

Soldier of Fortune - Clark Gable (1955) - Behind the Scenes Photograph, Barker Road Peak Tram Stop

Another little picture that I found courtesy of a glossy celebratory magazine released in 1988 by the Peak Tram Company to celebrate 100 years of the Peak Tram.

The caption to the photo reads:

On location at Barker Road station for "Soldier of Fortune" in the 1950s, Clark Gable with John Arnold of the Peak Tramway Co.

The film was shot during November and December of 1954. Barker Road was seen twice in the film, once at the beginning as Gable surveys the view and once more at the end when Susan Hayward's character decides to stay with him in Hong Kong and goes to meet him there.

Hayward was famously unable to make it to Hong Kong to film her on-location scenes (her ex-husband had a court order issued preventing her from taking their children overseas) and so a double, Dale Logue, was used as her stand in. Hayward's close ups and dialogue scenes were all filmed back in the US studio.

Foxbat - Henry Silva (1977) - Peak Road, The Peak

This is the junction where Peak Road is joined by Barker Road and Guildford Road. The buildings at the back are the former 2 Barker Road  and 1 Barker Road, neither of which exist anymore.

I thought this would be a good time to compare the DVD versus the Bluray versions of this film. It's a great way to show how the buildings that are visible in the DVD version get cut off in the Bluray. I didn't get the exact same point for the second screencap but you can still see the difference.

The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Barker Road Peak Tram Stop, The Peak

Although it's blurry, the unmistakable design of the Barker Road Peak Tram Stop is quite discernible and looks to have added Jeff Bridges and James Mason to its list of illustrious visitors. This was 1969/1970 (I believe most of the film was shot in late 1969) so I wonder if any of these school kids are viewing this and suddenly remembering seeing these two dodgy looking geezers wandering around.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - William Holden (1955) - Barker Road, The Peak

For the ambulance scene, the film makers seem to have mixed up a lot of different locations in order to convey the journey the vehicle makes. Just after the last scene that we now know was filmed along Peak Road, there is a brief scene when the ambulance pulls into a driveway of what we are led to believe is the hospital. For the rest of the film 41a Conduit Road serves as the exterior of the Victoria Hospital, but in this brief scene we are transported over to Victoria Flats at 17 Barker Road.

By happy coincidence, this building - which is still standing by the way - stands on what was once a real hospital called the Victoria Hospital for Women and Children. By the time this film was made the hospital had been demolished and this large apartment block had been erected in its place (built in 1950). It's also a fine building but one that doesn't make it onto film so I have included and Streetview of it below. But first you can see the car park in front with the very same curved low wall. Still there after all these years.

 

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Barker Road Peak Tram Station, The Peak

We've been here a couple of times before, most notably on Bud Spencer's Flatfoot in Hong Kong and of course with Clark Gable in Soldier of Fortune. Here we are with Stuart Whitman as he ascends Hong Kong's very famous Peak.

The tram station hasn't changed at all, it's pretty much the same as it was then, but the view at the back has increased in height significantly. The lone tower block you can see on the lower picture is the circular Century Tower (1) - a rather nicely shaped residential block that is still around (and still very stylish), but these days it isn't so prominent, being surrounded with a whole bunch of new stuff. I can't recreate this view using Streetview (or anything else for that matter) because it looks to have been filmed from the side of the track itself, rather than the more easily reachable roadside below, but here is a picture of the station I took at the beginning of the year when I walked up Old Peak Road.

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - Barker Road, The Peak

After Rizzo has hijacked a car to help him chase his quarry, we see a shot of them driving up a small road and under a bridge that is part of the tram track.

Barella alights at the Barker Road stop, not realising Rizzo anticipated his movements once again.
The Barker Road station has been seen in quite a few productions covered on this blog.

Soldier of Fortune - Clark Gable (1955) - Barker Road Peak Tram Stop, The Peak

This location is actually used twice in the film - both at the beginning and end. It's where Hank Lee stands surveying the harbour just before the opening credits, and, in the final scene.

I've included the back-projected scene with hayward because it shows off the house on the Peak behind her head. Also note the green tram car - one of this vintage is now on display in front of the Peak Galleria - and a worthy addition to another wise tacky tourist area.

Barker Road Tram Stop was opened at the same time as the tram line itself - in 1888 - and is still there and in daily use by the people who live around Barker Road and surrounds. Incidentally, if anyone has read Martin Booth's Gweilo (or Golden Boy) childhood memoir, there is a chapter where he describes riding the tram with his mum as they were filming these scenes at Barker Road.