Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Des Voeux Road Central

Sumio (Hirokazu Inoue) wanders around Hong Kong looking for his estranged wife and eventually goes into his company's office - located in the old Gloucester Building on the corner of Des Voeux Road Central and Pedder Street. The building was demolished in the late 80s and Gloucester Tower now stands on the site. During its time, the Gloucester Buiding was quite a highly recognisable landmark because of the clocktower on the roof.

The bottom images are from later in the film as Sumio's sister-in-law tries to convince him to return to Japan. He wanders off in front of the Gloucester Building and walks past the old Alexandra House.

Anak - Vilma Santos (2000) - Des Voeux Road Central

More opening sequence shows this view of the main junction between Des Voeux Road Central, Pedder Street, Chater Road and Connaught Place. The corner of Worldwide House can be seen on the right and Des Voeux Road continues into the distance to the right of frame.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - Junction of Pedder Street and Des Voeux Road Central

Another one of the travelogue-style transitional shots shows some trams making their way down the tracks along Hong Kong Island. This location is the section of Des Voeux Road Central where it intersects with Pedder Street. In the distant background can be seen the pedestrian walkway that crosses the road between Central Market and the Hang Seng HQ, and the stepped/tiered building further on is the China Insurance Group Building (at 141 DVRC). Although it looks like it may have been under scaffolding at the time for a facelift?

Amaya - Kaori Momoi (2010) - Various views around Central

Quite a few of the opening scenes were shot in and around Statue Square in Central. But there are also afew shots along Des Vouex Road Central, such as the reflection of Alexandra House in the windows of Chater House (image 3) and a view looking west towards the Yat Fat Stationers sign (image 5). The latter is still there as far as I know, despite all the recent sign removals carried out by the Govt.

Whicker's Orient - Alan Whicker (1972) - Des Voeux Road Central

Some more Whicker narration as the program gives us afew vignettes from around the territory including this footage below as a deliveryman crosses Des Voeux Road Central with his cargo. It's a common sight even today. We're looking west, so in the background, the building with the columns on the left was the old Gloucester Hotel building (now Gloucester Tower) and on the right can be seen the old General Post Office (now Worldwide House).

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Des Voeux Road Central

This time Wang Yu is driving back the other way along Des Voeux Road Central. The old Hang Seng Building can be seen left of screen, and if you look carefully you can see one of the red doors of the old Central Fire Station Building. For those that hadn't realised, the Hang Seng Building is still around, albeit now renamed the Nexxus Building. The old fire station was demolished an replaced by Hang Seng's new HQ building.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Des Voeux Road Central

The next shot shows the car driving into Des Voeux Road with the curved facade of the old Hilton Hotel in the background. Back left you can see the Murray Barrack building in its original location before it was replaced by the Bank of China Tower.

Tokyo Gang vs Hong Kong Gang - Ken Takakura (1964) - Des Voeux Road Central

One of the rendezvous points, where Kitahara has planned to meet Chang, is at the junction of Chater Road, Pedder Street and Des Voeux Road Central (DVRC). We can see the DVRC entrance of the General post Office in the background of several shots. I hadn't realised there was more than one entrance to the old GPO so that was a nice surprise. Other buildings include the former Jardine House on the south west corner of Pedder Street and DVRC.

GPO on the right, (old) Jardine House on the left. View is looking west

Looking east with the corner of (old) Alexandra House on the left

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

After finding out that his Indian competitors are undercutting his dodgy milk product, Matteo assumes that they are the ones responsible for the murder of his business partner and goes to confront the Indian company boss on the streets of Central. The altercation occurs outside the Supreme Court Building.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

In Double Jeopardy, the "double" in question are twin sisters, one of whom has committed a murder in order to steal a large sum of money. The money is then stashed in a safety deposit box at a local bank and the establishing shot for these scenes is an image of what I believe is the old United Chinese Bank (中國聯合銀行) building that used to stand (until around 2010) on the corner of Des Voeux Road Central and Douglas Street. Unfortunately, it has been quite difficult to track down a similar vintage street shot to confirm 100%.

Anyway, the bank was taken over by the Bank of East Asia in the 90's and this building became part of the BEA network until it was demolished and replaced by the current building, opened just a few years ago, inspiringly named "33 Des Voeux Road Central".

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Alexandra House, Central

Another major building in the central area, this time the original Alexandra House that stood at the junction between Chater Road and Des Voeux Road Central. This art deco style version was built in the 1950s and lasted until the mid-70's before being demolished and rebuilt into the current version. I prefer the older one.

In the background on the left you can see the end of the old Prince's Building which was demolished a few years after this for another modern, less inspiring, replacement. The same can be said for the other side of the background. The Chartered Bank building lasted slightly longer (in to the 1980s) before being redeveloped.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Statue Square, Central

One of my favourite shots from the Freebooter episode is this one of Evans (Rod Taylor) parking his car in Statue Square and crossing Des Voeux Road Central. As you can see from the images below, this was a time when there were parking spaces to be had and Prince's Building was still around.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

One of the establishing shots that pops up in the pilot episode (and several subsequent ones from the series) is one looking down Des Voeux Road Central from next to the Bank of China Building. The ornate lion on the left fronts the bank's Des Voeux Road entrance. Of course, that is the old Prince's Building in the background. It was knocked down not long after Queen's Building and the newer (current) version opened in 1965.

Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

After disembarking the Peak Tram, our plotting pair jump on a normal tram and ride it for a while. An initial shot shows the tram travelling along what I can only assume is Connaught Road by the waterfront, but exactly where I can't tell. This shot though is easy because it was taken right in front of the old HSBC HQ in Central.

The Chinese Stuntman - Ho Chung Tao (1981) - HSBC Building, Central

Here's a quick glimpse of the older (and much more stylish, in my opinion) HSBC building as seen from the Des Voeux Road side. The famous lions still adorn the same entrance of the building today even though they are actually copies of the original lions that stood outside HSBC HQ in Shanghai. These fellas are still covered in bullet and shrapnel damage from when the Japanese invaded in December 1941.

Ghost in the Shell - Scarlett Johansson (2017) - Des Voeux Road, Central

One of the very brief street level shots that wasn't filmed in Kowloon. I'm still trying to figure out the logic of it but can only surmise they needed a wider road. Anyway, this bit was filmed in Central where Des Voeux Road meets Jubilee Street.

L'Inconnue de Hong Kong - Dalida (1963) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

A nice street scene here as the other central actress (Tania Béryl) goes for a walkabout in Central. The place is Des Voeux Road at the junction with Queen Victoria Street and the building she goes into is now called the Nexxus Building. In 1962 it was constructed as the Hang Seng Building but changed names later on (I'm not sure when, but perhaps when the bank constructed and moved into its current HQ next door?).

Look carefully at picture 3 and you can just see the roof edge of the Central Fire Station on the left hand side. That was the site Hang Seng took over for their new HQ.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

Moving a few streets over from the last post and this time we are at that rather large and open junction in Central formed by the intersection of Pedder Street, Des Voeux Road and Chater Road. From this angle we are standing on Des Voeux Road looking down Chater Road.

There's actually only one building in this scene that is still around and that's the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the distance. The smaller more ornate one next to it is the original St George's Building. This is possibly one of the last times it was captured on film because the building was knocked down in 1966 and replaced by the current version. You can also see the former Union House (on the left, it was later renamed Swire House but has since been replaced by Chater House) and on the right is the former incarnation of Alexandra House. The junction itself looks very similar despite the buildings all being replaced.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

For the sake of completeness, here is a brief snippet of the junction in Central that marks the beginning of both Des Voeux Road and Queen's Road. I might be wrong, but the angle suggests this may have been snapped from somewhere around the former Hongkong Hilton (replaced in the mid-90's by the Cheung Kong Centre).

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Des Voeux Road Central, Sheung Wan

Another quicky along the tram line, this time a little further up towards Western Market before the tram line veers sharply right onto Connaught Road. The giveaway here is the dead end in the background where the road terminates in front of Hongway Garden (the white building at the back) and turns into the much narrower New Market St. It looks as though the camera was probably positioned somewhere between the junctions with Hillier St and Cleverly St because the latter (and the Eton Building that sits on its west corner) can be seen on the left of the shot.

  

This is the best angle I can get from Streetview taken further forward next to the aforementioned junction with Cleverly Street.