Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - Boundary Street, Mongkok

Another shot from the opening credits and this time we are looking at Boundary Street towards the west. The large open spaces are still there, albeit a bit more surrounded these days by new construction. What we are looking at here are the former Mongkok sports ground (now Mongkok Stadium) on the left. You can see it had a running track at the time. On the opposite side of the road to the sports ground is what is now known as Fa Hui Park. Believe it or not that small white structure is still there. It's now marked as a library on modern maps but I have no idea whether it has always been one. The slope on the right of it marks where Tat Chee Avenue comes down from Yau Yat Tsuen. Beyond the building is (what are now known as) the Tai Hang Recreation Grounds but I suspect at the time they were still part of the Police Recreation grounds. The buildings in the far distance mark where Sai Yee Street comes up to join with Boundary Street.

Judging from this elevated angle, I suspect the film camera was positioned on the KCR rail bridge that crosses the road at exactly this point.

Ghost in the Shell - Scarlett Johansson (2017) - Maple Street, Tai Kok Tsui

The scene when Batou and Major are driving along and Major suddenly has the flashback of the small Japanese pavilion in the middle of the road was filmed at the intersection of Maple and Boundary Streets. The camera car looks as though it was driving down Tai Nan Street to get the shot because we can see the pedestrian island in the foreground.

Foxbat - Henry Silva (1977) - La Salle College, Boundary Street

Here is a great find by Arthur Yau who answered my pleas for help (again!) on locating an old building used for the hospital scene in Foxbat. Arthur has managed to identify the location as the former La Salle College over in Kowloon Tong and with the help of a family member, a La Salle alumni, has identified the various places in the screen grabs. But first here's an old picture of the place courtesy of this website: http://globalfriends.us/cskoob/those_days_album.htm.

The school was demolished in 1978 to make way for an apartment complex called Beverly Villas. Li Ka-shing, a man responsible for a fair share of built heritage destruction in HK, struck a deal with the school to build a new campus at the back (the flat area behind the school in the picture below) in return for the school giving up the building and the land it occupied. I suspect that by 1977, the school was already empty and the film crew had the run of the place because there is a fair amount of action going on inside.

And here are the screen grabs. The first one with the ambulance looks to be in front of the school because you can see the columns on the left.

For the next shot below of an open corridor, Arthur's friend has been able to identify it as "it was one of the two corridors linking two blocks with a open courtyard in between."

Next up are some curved stairs. It looks as though there were two sets up these steps, one either side of the main entrance building. If you look at the top B&W picture you can see them next to the parked cars. The steps on films were the ones on the left (west) side of the building). You can see the same steps in the lower pictures too, which also show the side of the main building.

And for this final picture below you can see the top of the stairs that led down to Boundary Street. These stairs were located just in front of the main entrance,and once again there were two sets leading down from a curved path in front of the school (see the B&W picture). Again these were the ones on the left in the B&W picture.

Anyway, another big thanks to Arthur for spotting this one. 

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.

Kung Fu Killers - Grant Page (1974) - Boundary Street, Kowloon City

On another part of Page's trip up into the hills we see him driving back the other way, this time along Boundary Street near to Kowloon City. I didn't realise that the flyover system had been here for so long, but here is Grant Page riding his motorcycle over it back in 1974.

Interestingly a couple of the background buildings are still around. The high rise (well, at least it was considered a high rise back in the 70's) on the right is Sheffield Garden (brand new in 1974) located on the corner of Boundary Street and College Road and the older building behind Page's head is an old mansion block - built in 1956 - that occupies 188-190 Boundary Street and (on the left hand side) 314-318 Prince Edward Road West. It doesn't have a name but you can see both buildings on the following grab from Streetview (above left of the blue truck).

Sunset - Paul Chin Pei (1971) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

Just after Zhongkang departs Ocean Terminal with his mother following behind we are treated to various shots of roads around the territory as they drive towards their destination. Here is one that is easy to identify thanks to the brown building that can be seen in the background on the left.

There are various elements in this screen grab that remain intact even today, despite other radical changes. Let's start off by naming the brown building I just mentioned, it's the Mary Knoll Convent School that sits on the block of land where Waterloo Road intersects with Boundary Street. The school is one of the so-called HK 'elite' schools that sees local parents climbing over each other to send their kids to - many converting to Catholicism just to improve their chances! Anyway, here is a grab from Google's excellent Streetview.

As you can see the school's low wall on the left can also still be seen, as can the white building at the far end of the wall. What has changed is that Waterloo Rd now has a flyover as it crosses Boundary Street. I don't know when it was built but you can see the slight slope on the more recent shot as we go further into the background. In 1971 it seems that traffic for straight on still had to stop at whatever traffic lights were at the intersection.