Edinburgh Place - Now and Then

Whilst snapping some images for a City Hall comparison, I also took the opportunity to do the same for some stills from Weiße Fracht für Hongkong (aka The Mystery of the Red Jungle). Also shot in 1963, this movie was filmed in colour and shows the area around the soon-to-be-demolished Star Ferry multi-storey carpark.

Honestly, just looking at the background of the first images below is enough to make me depressed. Apparently it's called "progress".

City Hall high block as seen from Edinburgh Place

City Hall - Now and Then

City Hall was opened in 1962 and was fairly new when the French production, L'inconnue de Hongkong (aka Stranger from Hong Kong) arrived to film here in 1963. The movie was shot in black and white which adds a nice bit of atmosphere to these images shot under the covered walkway between the low and high blocks of the building. I was here today to visit the library and took the opportunity (in the absolutely sweltering heat, I hasten to add) to try and get some modern day comparisons.

The sequence shows Mitzi (Tania Béryl) walking along the walkway silhouetted by the bright sunshine behind her.

I couldn't quite get the angle right for the next comparison because there is a fast food restaurant in the place where I needed to stand. So you can see the Supreme Court Building (now the Court of Final Appeal) is in full view rather than being partially covered by the pillar.

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - City Hall

The bloke harassing Musashi at the airport continues his haranguing of the man even after he has left and is strolling through the local streets. For a man who has come to Hong Kong looking for a fight, Musashi doesn't seem very keen to take this bloke up on his offer. He finally caves and the pair square up in front of City Hall. This is the fight where Musashi is observed by some local gangsters who later approach him to see their boss.

Desperate Mission - Germán Cobos (1965) - Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

Next up is another eurospy adventure film, this time a Spanish-Italian-French co-production called Desperate Mission, released in 1965 and starring Germán Cobos as "Agent Z-55" (also the name of the film when it was released in other territories), a sort of low-budget James Bond. As far as I am aware this has never been released on home video format, but thanks to Youtube you can watch it too (English dialogue as well).

The film plot is a bit convoluted but revolves around Z-55 being pulled back into service for an American Secret Service agency to pick up where a previous agent left off after being killed.

Following the opening credits we get some driving scenes filmed along Connaught Road Central. The first image below shows the old General Post Office on the left and the mail bridge that crossed the road to supply the mail boats. The camera pans right as the car goes by and we can see Edinburgh Place and City Hall in the background.

Tokyo Gang vs Hong Kong Gang - Ken Takakura (1964) - City Hall, Central

As the opening credits are still rolling, the next view is a panorama of the area around City Hall courtesy of a camera shot taken from the walkway that surrounds the memorial garden. In the first image we can see the old Hong Kong Club, with the Hilton Hotel behind it (more on that later), the old Cable and Wireless building (now CCB Tower) as well as both the low and high blocks of City hall. 

In the next frame we can see the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the old Star ferry carpark (soon to be demolished I believe, if not already), the previous, tiny (by comparison) St George's Building with Swire House (although called Union House at the time) behind it. In the final frame we get a nice view over the old Star ferry pier.

DOA: Dead or Alive - Devon Aoki (2006) - Connaught Road, Central

More sights from the bike escape as we drive back towards Central along Connaught Road. The first image shows the bike heading east along Connaught Road right in front of the Admiralty Centre. This area has changed a fair bit due to the construction of the new Govt HQ building on the north side of the road. There is now a foot bridge that links both sides of the road almost directly above where the bike is. Also, for some reason the MTR decided to take down their large illuminated sign.

Then, all of a sudden we are heading back in the opposite direction, but along the same stretch of road. In the first image below, the illuminated building in the far right is Exchange Square and if you look carefully you can make out City Hall in front of it. On the left is the AIA Central building which replaced the Furama Hotel just a few years prior to filming. The second image shows the view looking back in the opposite direction with a bus pulling out in front of the Hong Kong Club building (far right of image).

Oliver's Story - Ryan O'Neal (1978) - Central Waterfront, Hong Kong

The final shot from this film comes at the denouement of Oliver's relationship with his heiress girlfriend/ It all takes place along the old Central waterfront. We can see Jardine House (Connaught Centre) and the post office in the background which shows that this particular area of seafront is now part of the IFC development - in fact probably slap bang where the centrepiece IFC2 now stands.

To Candice Bergen's left is the City Hall block, followed by the Furama Hotel and then Hutchinson House etc. But interestingly, in the lower picture you can see the under-construction Prince of Wales building that still forms part of the former HMS Tamar (now the PLA HQ).

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Connaught Road, Central

The tsunami strikes Hong Kong Island after it washes away most of the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. The first place it hits here is the waterfront between Jardine House and City Hall right smack on top of the Edinburgh Place carpark.

A Queen's Ransom - George Lazenby (1976) - City Hall, Central

Here's a few shots of the area round City Hall. The first shot shows the camera looking west along Connaught Road with the City Hall building on the right hand side. On the extreme left is the lower floors of the Furama Hotel (now replaced with AIA Central building) followed by what was once the home of Cable and Wireless - Mercury House. I'm not sure what year it was demolished but it has since been replaced by the short-lived Ritz Carlton (seen here) and then again by the current building, CCB Tower. Next along is the recognisable form of the old Hong Kong Club building with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel just beyond on the other side of the square.

There is also some archive footage of the Queen visiting City Hall from the harbour side of the building (i.e. what would be off camera to the right in the top picture). 

Ein Sarg aus Hong Kong - Heinz Drache (1964) - Chater Road, Central

A while back when I was researching locations for The Million Eyes of Sumuru, I came across a few clips that had been reversed in the editing process. This always confuses me because I never know if it is done deliberately or just out of ignorance. Anyway, it turns out that I think it was done deliberately because those very same clips have cropped up in Ein Sarg aus Hong Kong and (until I find out otherwise) I think they may have been originally shot for this film and then perhaps bought/licensed by the makers of Sumuru as stock footage for use in the latter (and later) film. I'll explain my reasoning in a later post but for the time being here is the clip of the Hong Kong Club from this film (and the correct way round).

L'Inconnue de Hong Kong - Dalida (1963) - City Hall, Central

Well, not really a view of City Hall but rather a view from City Hall. In one of my favourite scenes, one of the actors walks from Edinburgh Place along the open space directly under City Hall before heading out onto Connaught Road.

This passageway under City Hall remains virtually unchanged but there have been big changes around it since including the removal of the Star Ferry terminal with its iconic clock (background of top picture), the redevelopment of both the Standard Chartered and HSBC bank buildings (picture 3) and finally the Hong Kong Club (across the road in the lowest picture). Note the empty space on the right of picture 3 - this is the area that was getting ready to have Prince's Building built on it. It opened 2 years later in 1965.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Chater Road, Central

The following screencap is the first of several that have been flipped during the editing process. This has happened in several of the films I've covered on this blog and I just think it boils down to a lack of knowledge on the part of the people responsible for splicing it all together at the end. Not really a big issue for most people, but for me it can sometimes cause a bit of confusion if I am trying to figure out the angle of an image.

Anyway, this is one of the establishing shots that confirms we are indeed in Hong Kong. The shot is along Chater Road looking at the old Hong Kong Club (and what looks like the old annexe building sticking out behind it).

There are a couple of pointers as to why this is flipped, the most obvious is then reversed writing on the vehicle on the far right. But look behind and you can also see the City Hall building in the gaps between the vehicles. Here's how it should look in reality.

According to Gwulo, the Hong Kong Club annexe was knocked down circa 1966. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't stock footage though and not shot specifically for this film at the time. I need to confirm the shooting dates but I was under the impression the film was late 1966. 

The Chairman - Gregory Peck (1969) - View over Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

In the film Peck stays at an unnamed hotel, but it's quite obvious from the view that the film crew managed to gain access to a balcony/terrace (or perhaps roof) on the Mandarin Oriental. I guess it's possible they were staying there and took advantage of the location to get some shots in before having to leave.

We see the same view a couple of times, once as a scene setter and then later when Peck's character (he's called Hathaway in the film) peers out of his room window.

First there is the initial panning shot which I also merged into a fairly decent panorama as you can see. It's a pretty good look over the harbour taking in Kowloon as well as nearer sites such as the old Star Ferry pier with its famous and dearly missed clock as well as Queen's Pier (also dearly missed but due to make a return if it hasn't already) and the white block in the lower left is City Hall.

Then later in the film we get an additional look the other way showing the buildings along Connaught Road. Some of these buildings do still exist despite everything around them changing. You can also see the old vehicular ferry pier and the large car park that was eventually turned into Exchange Square.

The Man from Hong Kong - Wang Yu (1975) - Central Waterfront

Some scenes of the Central Harbour front as the hand glider moves over to the island. Prominent in all the screen caps is the Connaught Centre (now Jardine House) which Grant Page mistakenly refers to (in his rather entertaining memoir Man on Fire: A Stunt of a Life) as the 'Conodcentre'. Anyway, apparently this particular flight was launched from the Mt Austin area of the Peak before doing a nice big circle of the building.

There are some brief glimpses of various buildings including the Furama Hotel, Hutchison House, City Hall and the old version of HMS Tamar and below we can just see the tops of both the Mandarin Oriental Hotel as well as Prince's Building.