...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

Gallagher meets his crooked cop contact, Wilson, at the shorefront in Causeway Bay. As Gallagher walks away you can see the Excelsior Hotel again in the background.

The Ghost - Julie Lee Wah-yuet (2001) - Causeway Bay Waterfront

Some more library footage, this time it's a nice aerial shot of the Wanchai waterfront around Causeway Bay. The white building in the centre of the top image is the now demolished Excelsior Hotel.

The Thieves - Kim Yoon-seok (2012) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

The gang surreptitiously arrive back in Hong Kong and are holed up on a boat in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. From here they plot their next moves.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

It looks like the pair resort to enlisting the help of some local gangster in order to get their hands on Marcone. So they go to pay a visit to said bloke on his junk, moored in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

Black Samurai - Jim Kelly (1977) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

Next up we have a 1977 action film starring Jim Kelly. Another pretty awful film on all accounts (acting, action, plot and general naffness) with the one redeeming factor of Kelly's character driving around in a blue Ferrari Dino.

Kelly is Robert Sands, an agent of D.R.A.G.O.N (Defense Reserve Agency Guardian Of Nations - I'm already cringing), who is pulled away from his tennis holiday to investigate the kidnapping of his ex-girlfriend, Toki (Essie Lin Chia), the daughter of the Hong Kong "Ambassador".

Kelly tries desperately to imitate his Enter the Dragon success and style but just looks really crap here because it's obvious he can't kick, or choreograph fights, for toffee. Anyway, the opening scenes of Toki walking through the streets of Hong Kong as she is followed by her kidnappers may or may not have been library footage with a movie scene written around them. I find it really hard to believe that this movie spent any money actually filming in Hong Kong, but then again Lin Chia is a legit Hong Kong actress - although the scene is done Gambit-style and we never see her face in the HK footage. You can decide for yourself because, again, I have had to rely on an online source for this film on Daily Motion: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8fub0u.

The film starts off with some footage shot in and around Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

Bloodfight - Yasuaki Kurata (1989) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

One of the international fighters, a Japanese Sumo wrestler, arrives in Hong Kong via a boat in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

Hard Boiled - Chow Yun Fat (1992) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

Tequila meets with Little Ko on the breakwater in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter in order to pay Ko his informant money. This is actually the central breakwater that forms the main wall of the shelter - it's not connected to land at either end so the actors (and crew) would have need to take a quick boat road to reach it.

The Suspect 용의자 - Gong Yoo (2013) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong

After quietly abandoning his enemy on board the wrecked ship in the harbor, and knowing that he has been abandoned on his mission, Ji Dong-chul (Gong Yoo) does a runner, well a swimmer really. This brief scene, shot in the typhoon shelter shows him making his escape by swimming away. After this he is recaptured by the North and tortured whilst learning about his family being killed. There is a brief snippet of him swimming away, but something tells me it wasn't filmed here and was most likely added later from the comfort of cleaner water.

Black Cobra Woman - Laura Gemser (1976) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

After their very long walk past Aberdeen and then through the Zoological and Botanical Gardens, the girls then go on a trip around Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. I think we are supposed to believe that they have just crossed the harbour but the fact is they just got on and off on the same side. The weird structure in the background of the top image (for those who don't know) is the entrance to the cross harbour tunnel.

Die Sieben Masken des Judoka - Heinz Drache (1967) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Wanchai

I was about to do my Taiwan posts for The Chairman, only to find out that my copy has developed a mould problem and is no longer playable :( so it looks like those will have to wait until I can find a new copy. In the meantime I guess I can start on the elusive Die 7 Masken des Judoka (aka Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka). I was first told of this film several years ago by Flip Jansen who runs the Movies in Concert website. However, trying to track down a DVD copy was proving difficult until one popped up on Amazon.de a while back. Unfortunately the guy would only deliver within Germany, so I was scuppered until my good friend, Stefan, offered to get it for me and send it on. So many thanks to Flip for the original tip and to Stefan for his extremely generous contribution.

The film is about a nefarious criminal group who have kidnapped two airforce pilots (one played by Heinz Drache who we last saw here in Ein Sarg aus Hongkong) along with their nuclear strike plane equipped with nuclear warheads. A medallion given to one of the pilots turns up in Hong Kong and their friend (played by Marc Briand) heads out to investigate.

The action starts off in Japan before moving to Hong Kong and the first HK establishing shot is the one below, of Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

Rush Hour - Jackie Chan (1998) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong

The initial part of Rush Hour is set in the immediate run up to the Hong Kong handover in 1997, so it's not surprising that one of the shots from the opening sequence shows us the newly completed extension to the Convention Centre, which was the venue for the Handover proceedings. That's it, centre-screen of the top picture.

The rest of the Hong Kong sequence involves the raid on a ship berthed in the typhoon shelter in Causeway Bay. It's the same location that Ratner would return to to film to yacht scene in Rush Hour 2.

There's also another angle of this area in this main opening. It's the area between the Convention Centre and the typhoon shelter but for some reason shot from further away. You can see the SIEMENS and HITACHI signs attached to the Great Eagle and Harbour Centres.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Wanchai

I was a bit confused about this one at first because I initially thought it was Yaumatei, but after close inspection it turned out to be Causeway Bay, in this case the background was more of a clue than anything. Anyway, it's where Golgo goes with the prostitute after he has saved her from her abusive boyfriend/pimp.

Look carefully at the bottom right of the lowest picture and you can see the elevated road that curves from Victoria Park Road around onto Gloucester Road by Victoria Park.

Jason King (TV Series) - Peter Wyngarde (1972) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong

We see the typhoon shelter in several places during the episode because it is where the newspapers' artist is living with his family. Look closely to the left of the first (and fourth) picture and you can see the old North Point power station chimney (one of them) poking out from the side of the building with the red writing on it.

This view (above) shows us looking back the other way (west) towards Victoria Peak.

Bruce Lee in G.O.D: Shibôteki yûgi - David Lee (2000) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Causeway Bay

There's really not much to see of HK in this film but the film makers have tried to add a bit of "local  colour" by showing the odd snippet of a section of the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. I have no idea of the significance of the scene other than the fact that it may have been the most convenient to film at the time. Anyway, it's a brief glimpse looking from the middle of the shelter (it's a sturdy shot indicating it was most likely filmed from the end of the breakwater rather than from a boat) towards the Island Eastern Corridor flyover. In fact, it's pretty much the same place where Jackie Chan filmed part of Rush Hour 2 not so long ago.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Causeway Bay

There's lots to see in the next scene where Avalon's character suddenly stumbles across Nader's as he is heading back to Sumuru's island. The whole sequence takes place on the causeway that once linked Kellet Island with Hong Kong. Actually, we've seen this area previously in Suzie Wong but in this film we get a much better look at the surrounding environment.

The scene starts with the camera pointing at the water of the shelter before panning south (to the right) showing the full extent (almost) of the causeway. Notice the far East Motor Company building at the back - the same one we can see in that Suzie Wong link. This whole area was taken over as the entry/exit point for the HK-side of the cross harbour tunnel. I believe the chimneys poking up behind Avalon's head on the third picture belonged to the famous North Point Power Station. The site was later redeveloped into the City Garden development.

A rather more expansive view of the waterfront is also to be had in this scene showing Gloucester Road before the Wanchai reclamation added a whole new portion of waterfront closer to Kowloon. There's something very striking about the second picture, it's not just the buildings but the fact that you can still see the mountains at the back. Sadly, all you can see these days is just the odd bit of green poking out between the various gaps in the skyscrapers.

Finally we also get a view the other way towards Kellet Island and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. I don't think the building has changed that much, but of course the club gained a whole bunch of land courtesy of the reclamation. The steps that Avalon runs down looks to be the one that is still there. It looks quite new in the film though.