Love Circles - Michelle Siu (1985) - Central Waterfront Walkway, Central

The journalist follows Ko-ko to the old waterfront walkway that used to run along the water-side facade of the G.P.O building. In the first image you can see the former Blake Pier in the background and the covered restaurant at the end of the pier (seen in a couple of films over the years here and here).

I'm not sure when the walkway was taken down but I think it was around the same time the Star Ferry Pier building was demolished in 2006 (you can see the Star ferry in the background of the last image). Anyway, the space is now occupied by a paved area in front of the GPO.

I forgot that I was here not so long ago and took a photo. Basically the space right in front of my camera is where the walkway extended to and where the lower two screen captures would have been filmed.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Jardine House, Central

The finale of the film takes place on what would have been the territory's highest structure at the time, the Connaught Centre, now renamed Jardine House. We get some great views from the top looking down onto the neighbouring roads, as well as a rather impressive shot or two of some intrepid (and sadly anonymous) stuntman crawling up the side of the building.

But first some establishing shots showing the area around the building including the various piers we saw in earlier posts.

Vehicular ferry pier bottom left

Blake Pier

Blake Pier and the later version of the General Post Office. Star Ferry at the back

The GPO and Jardine House next door.

Can you see the small dot on the side of the building? It's our intrepid stuntman, attached by wires to a cradle at the top of the building. We get a close up as well which reveals the concrete finish on the building before it was clad with aluminium tiles.

Definitely not Nichloas Hammond!

Once at the top, Spidey uses his radio transceiver to try and locate his buddy. Cue some rather spectacular views from the top of Jardine House.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Central Waterfront, Hong Kong

The following screen grabs show a decent swathe of the Central Waterfront prior to the reclamation that saw the Connaught Road ousted from its long-standing position next to the harbour (of course the road didn't move, the waterfront did). We'll start off with a couple of nice harbour shots showing some very small boats bobbing up and down in the harbour. In all honesty, I'm not sure if any of these smaller boats are brave enough to risk going into the harbour these days with all the big boats passing through, but I rarely go there these days despite it being just a few kilometres away. Note Jardine House (formerly the Connaught Centre) centre screen in the top picture followed by a closer view of the General Post Office (with Jardine House being) in the lower picture.

The next few pictures though show the various piers that used to sit along the waterfront. Starting with the outer-island piers (top picture) and moving over past the vehicular ferry pier (left side of picture 2/right side of picture 3) to rest upon the dogleg shape of the final version of Blake Pier and one of the Star Ferry piers. Of course reclamation has long since removed these from their original locations, but the Star Ferry did manage to survive here until 2006.

Target Hong Kong - Richard Denning (1953) - Central Waterfront, Hong Kong

Target Hong Kong is a bit of an anomaly for this site because so far it's the only film that wasn't actually shot here - not even partially. The low-budget film relied entirely on stock footage of HK and other places (including Shanghai) in order to convince us we are viewing HK-based action. It seems that the viewing film public in the early 50's was none the wiser and I suspect many people even now would be too.

Never mind, the stock footage still has value and historical significance including this quick scene taken at the Central waterfront. The partial roof on the right in the top photo is actually the 2nd generation of the Star Ferry Pier that was in place between 1912 and 1957. Looking at the fashion in the pictures though I would say this is possibly 1920's or 1930's vintage.

Some of you may recognise the pier at the back. It's the original Blake Pier that was removed in 1965 and was recently reconstructed over in Stanley. I say 'reconstructed' but I have no idea if the original ironwork has been used. There is a tendency for the Govt to oversell its heritage concern in this respect and it still genuinely tells people the Murray Barracks building (also in Stanley) was reconstriucted "brick by brick" when it wasn't, so I shall reserve judgement.

Just for reference, the old Blake Pier used to sit at the waterfront in front of the old General Post Office which puts it at the end of Pedder St. This equates today to roughly where Pedder St turns into Connaught Place at the junction with Connaught Road.

Soldier, Soldier - Robson Green (1992) - Central Waterfront, Central

At the end of the Lost and Found episode we are shown a  section of the waterfront between what was then Blake Pier and the Vehicular Ferry Pier.

Blake Pier in the background

This whole area has since been reclaimed and redeveloped into the IFC and this short waterfront pathway area was turned into Harbour View Street sitting between Exchange Square and the IFC. In fact, earlier in the year I posted some screen grabs from Yellowthread Street that showed this whole area from a higher angle.

Here's the reminder: http://hongkongandmacaufilmstuff.blogspot.hk/2015/01/yellowthread-street-tv-series-central.html

In case you are curious as to how much this area has changed, I've taken a Streetview image of the place from around the same place as the lower screen grab.I think you'll agree it's quite a change! At least the street's name makes some sort of sense even though there is no longer a view.

Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold - Tamara Dobson (1975) - Blake Pier, Central

Although not the original (which has been recreated/reconstructed in Stanley next to the recreated Murray House) the 1970's version of Blake Pier (actually built in the mid-60's) was angled and had an open air restaurant at the end. We've seen it several times on this blog already - though that's not surprising given its prime waterfront location. The view was nice, as you will see, but apparently the food left a lot to be desired.

Several things to note on these few screen caps. The first thing of note is the vehicular ferry in the background. We know from those previous blog posts that the ferry was right next to the old Central Vehicular ferry pier. In the second picture the things that stands out for me is the old Central Fire Station - the white building in the background. A very grand affair that has now, sadly, been replaced by the Hang Seng HQ building.

The approximate location of where these guys were sitting is currently around where Man Cheung Road passes the southern side of the IFC2.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Central Vehicular Ferry Pier, Hong Kong

In the spirit of true nostalgia, here is a sequence from the beginning of Chinese Boxes in which we see the camera pan from Blake pier down to the vehicular ferry pier in Central - neither of which are around today (largely because the water here has also been replaced by land!).

Above we see the familiar angled shape of the final version of Blake Pier with the two Star Ferry piers behind it. As the camera moves downward we can see the small flyover that led from the upper deck of the vehicular ferry. On the right is Exchange Square which means the small road in front (with several walkways across it) is today's Harbour View Street. The waterfront next to it now occupied by the IFC complex and Hong Kong Station.

The vehicular pier itself - at the end of Harbour View St - was sited where the smaller IFC tower now stands.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Various aerial pictures of Central, Hong Kong

No specific locations here but some nice aerial views taken from the opening section of Episode 6: Fan Tan Man. The quality isn't great (remember, these are screen grabs from a DVD that was made from a VHS copy that was done when the original series was shown in the UK back in 1990/91 (can't remember when it was exactly - I just wish ITV would release a proper restored DVD...)

The first two pictures give us a nice view across the Central harbourfront. The little bit of harbour water seen on the lower right on the bottom picture has now all been reclaimed and those piers you can see have completely gone.

The above picture shows the area around the (now named) Lippo Centre. We can see Hong Kong Park being created from the old Victoria Barracks and the tall building on the left is the Queensway Govt Offices. Just to the left of that is the shell of what was to become the Island Shangri-La (2 Pacific Place). Eagle-eyed readers may also spot the Hongkong Hilton just behind the B.O.C tower.

Again, another shot that is now be water-less courtesy of the reclamation that the IFC sits on top of. Of course we can see the old (and better located) Star Ferry piers and to the right of there is the last incarnation of Blake Pier. Actually, until I saw this I wasn't too sure where it was but now I can see it started right next to the GPO in front of Jardine House. I guess Man Yiu Street occupies some of that now.

The last few shots show the old helicopter landing pad that used to sit on the waterfront in front of Caine House (that's the low-rise building we can see at various distances on all three snaps, but is at the background on the lower picture) - it's better known as being the Central Police HQ. The are where the landing was is now partly occupied by the intersection of Lung Wui and Lung Wo roads. The site is largely empty still but slowly being redeveloped (into what?). The basin on the right in the top picture was originally part of HMS Tamar and now has the new Central Govt Offices on it.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Blake Pier, Central Waterfront

I just mentioned Blake Pier in the last post after checking a 1990 map (close enough, even for somewhere as rapidly changing as HK) and can confirm that it was also used in the following scene when the two US cops are eating some food with the Central Vehicular ferry pier in the background.

The last generation of Blake Pier (the original one can now be found over in Stanley) was a dog-legged affair that zig-zagged out from the Central waterfront almost slap bang in the middle of where the Star Ferry and Vehicular Ferry piers were located. Judging from the screen grabs below I would say that the actors were eating at the far end of the pier along the portion of the pier that ran parallel with the waterfront.

I'm sure some of the HK locals that read this blog will be able to confirm that there was a restaurant at the end of the pier. Anyway, in case you are curious about the shape, you can see the pier (being constructed, bottom right) in this postcard image over on Gwulo.com.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Central Ferry Pier, Hong Kong

Brief scene in the film when the hero's love interest tries to get him to spill the beans on the Kumite. Look closely and you will see the hazy distant shape of what looks to be Ocean Terminal when it still had signage on top. We're sandwiched between two ferry piers at this spot, behind Leah Ayres you can see the old HK-side Star Ferry pier, but look back behind JCVD and you will see the old vehicular ferry pier. I initially thought this may have been just along the waterfront, but the angles of the buildings at the back are not quite right, and after a bit of digging around I found a map from 1990 which shows that Blake Pier was still around at this time. So I will stick my neck out and say this scene was filmed from Blake Pier, corrections welcome.

Sadly, both of these piers are no more. The vehicular ferry was closed in 1994 and was consumed by harbour reclamation on which the IFC complex now sits on top of. Although you can still see a few of the old car ferries being used for Bauhinia harbour cruises. The Star Ferry pier went much more recently (circa 2006/7 - around the same time I moved out here) in a flurry of protest and demonstrations and the area was quickly absorbed into the most recent round of Central waterfront reclamation that is, quite literally, a unnecessary waste of space...*sigh*