Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Pitt Street, Yau Ma Tei

The foot chase continues along Pitt Street as the badly injured Playboy Lung desperately tries to escape. He runs to the end of Pitt Street and jumps over the railings on Ferry Street onto a passing truck. Again, this area has changed a bit. The area around Ferry Street is now a large highway with a flyover sitting above it. The last image shows the truck driving off down Ferry Street with the Yaumatei Catholic Primary School in the background on the south side of the Fruit Market.

Bamboo Gods and Iron Men - James Iglehart (1974) - Ferry Point Estate, Yau Ma Tei

As mentioned in the last post, as the Jeffersons get into a cab on Aberdeen Praya Road following the rescue of Charley, there is a brief shot of a soaking wet Charley supposedly running towards their cab which was filmed elsewhere. As you can see from the image below, this was filmed at Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter with the Ferry Point Estate in the background. Maybe the film crew just ran out of time and Aberdeen was too far away to return to for a brief pick-up shot like this?

The location shows the additional reclamation of the typhoon shelter that was going on in the early 1970s and the kink in the sea wall behind tells me that Charley (Chiquito) was standing roughly on the opposite side of the road to where the Public Square Street Playground is located (next to the old YMT Police Station). It's a busy road junction here now.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Ching Ping Street, Yau Ma Tei

Next up is Ching Ping Street as the pair walk along the old waterfront at Yau Ma Tei. Ching Ping Street still exists as a much reduced version of itself - a small side street that runs a short distance parallel to the now much larger Ferry Street extension. We've actually seen this road many times before but in older posts I referred to it as Ferry Street to avoid confusion (examples here and here). Joining with Ching Ping Street were a couple of side streets that have since disappeared thanks to the redevelopment of the area into the "Prosperous Garden" government housing estate. One was Lee Tat Street, perhaps better known to those familiar with my Bruce Lee posts as one of the old locations of Yip Man's Wing Chun school, and the other was Cheung Shui Street.

In following images, the building in the foreground was located at the corner of Cheung Shui Street. That big red smudge on the side of the first floor balcony can also be seen in the posts I linked to above - not surprising given that they were all shot around the same time.

The Peking Medallion - Robert Stack (1967) - Ferry Street, Yau Ma Tei

After dropping Elke back off at the floating casino, Stack grabs a rickshaw and heads back to his hotel. One of the roads he goes donw on this journey is Ferry Street right next to the old waterfront of the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. The last picture is of course looking up Public Square Street with the Yaumatei Police Station visible on the right hand side.

Coincidentally, another film shot the very same year also used this location. Here's a reminder.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Mongkok Ferry Pier, Mongkok

Until I saw this film and started investigating this location, I had no idea that there was a ferry pier in Mongkok. I knew about the old vehicular ferry pier at the end of Jordan Road but this one was a new discovery for me. You see, I also widen my knowledge about HK thanks to these films.

Anyway, after chasing the runaway king size around the southern parts of HK island for the best part of a few minutes, it finally comes to rest in front of a ferry pier. The pier is actually disguised and has a sign on the front saying (in English) "Ferry to Sey Chang".

Of course "Sey Chang" is a made up place name and the location used for it will be looked at in the next post, but anyone who reads Chinese will be able to see that the real sign above says it is the Hong Kong Island ferry service (the Chinese reads R->L): 來往香港.

Looking at an old map, I can see that the Mongkok Ferry Pier was situated at the very end of Shantung Street. So when the bed arrives, it is Shantung Street that the camera is looking up. You can compare it with the modern Streetview image at the bottom.

Shantung Street 1965

Shantung Street now

The reclamation of the harbour on the west side of the Kowloon peninsula is vast in scale and Ferry Street marks the previous demarcation between the water and dry land. There's now an additional 600 metres of land between the spot we see above and the current coastline. The reclamation actually occurred in the 1990's, but the Mongkok pier had already been removed by 1972 when it was replaced by the pier at Tai Kok Tsui. Both pier locations succumbed to the 1990's reclamation.

Luckily for us we get some good views from this film and it appears a couple of times as the protagonists head to and return from the fictitious island of Sey Chang. The shots below show part of the return journey.

The building under construction at the back is the previously mentioned Yuen Fat Building which opened properly in 1965. Other than the Yuen Fat Building and a building at 9-11 Shantung Street, every building seen in these screen shots has since been demolished and replaced. I'll leave you with a fairly good comparison with Streetview so you can see how much has really changed. You can just see the Yuen Fat Building poking out in the Streetview picture, it's the blue building at the end of the yellow line.

Incidentally, this same area around Shantung Street can be seen in this shot from Ferry to Hong Kong.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

When the police are about to launch their attack on Sumuru'a fortress island, they first assemble at a pier in the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. Once again the nearby Yau Ma Tei Police Station gives us a rough indication of where the pier stood. You can see the station in the top picture, it's the white building in the background. 

The position of the pier/waterfront where the actors are seems to tally with the north side of Man Cheong Street. A large portion of the Ferry Point Estate was already completed by 1966/1967, so I think I am probably correct in saying this most likely filmed on the north side of man Cheong Road in front of the Man Wai Building (completed in 1966). The low rise buildings along the road at the back (it's still Ferry Street by the way) have since been replaced by one of China Light & Power's substations and the Saigon Street Playground.

In the lower picture you can see the old tenements that used to line Ferry Street that have since been replaced by Prosperous Gardens, but the building at the back between Maria Rohm and Paul Chang's head (he played the Police Inspector) is the still-standing Wah Tak Building along Waterloo Road.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Ferry Street, Yau Ma Tei

Maria Rohm's escape through the streets of Kowloon terminates at a ferry pier along, fittingly, Ferry Street in Yau Ma Tei. In fact there are two locations used in this shot, the first is this one Ferry Street, and the second one appears to be the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui. A quick editing job makes it look like they are the same place. The older buildings along ferry Street seen below have long since gone, they were once part of the "six street slum" that was replaced by Prosperous Garden, but the Yau Ma Tei Police Station is still around for the time being and you can see it in the lower pictures where it sits along Public Square Street.

We had a glimpse of this area when we were looking at Ferry to Hong Kong a couple of years ago, and in fact this jetty is the same one used for the berth of the ferry in that film. I keep banging on about how much this area has changed, especially with the creation of the west Kowloon reclamation (which basically filled in the old typhoon shelter). But pictures speak a thousand words, so here's the Streetview.

Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold - Tamara Dobson (1975) - Ferry Street, Mongkok

There's a car chase in the film that takes place along the former waterfront in Yau Ma Tei. Of course these days the waterfront has been extended significantly west (nearly 1km in places) courtesy of the West Kowloon Reclamation - the change is quite astonishing. Ferry Street marks the former waterfront and the location where some of the chase takes place and we know this because despite all the changes there are still some reasonably old buildings around. The first picture below was the most helpful in pinning down the actual location because just to the right of the kid's head is a building with some characters written vertically at the edge.

This is the Yuen Fat Building on the northern corner of Ferry Street and Nelson Street and can be seen on the following Streetview with the same writing down the side. It's had a change in colour since the film though.

Looking south we can see another building that is still with us, although I can't explain what has happened to some of it - it looks as though some remodeling has occurred. It's the yellow building below and it's called the Kwong Wing Building.

This northern end of it is barely recognisable today because the lower storey windows have all been remodeled and it looks like some of the exterior wall has been removed. However, I can assure you it is the same building.

This is the junction with Shantung Street and the building extends the whole block down to Soy Street.

The car chase moves into Yau Ma Tei territory as the vehicles speed down the road and we get a quick glimpse back up the road where both the Yuen Fat Building and Kwong Wing Building can still be seen.

I'm not sure quite how far down the road this later screen grab was made but I will say that all the buildings on the right hand side have well and truly long gone. Just looking at the Streetview below you will see that the road itself now has the West Kowloon Corridor running over the top of it.

To illustrate how much this place has changed, the following shot from the same road shows the former unfettered view down to the Ferry Point Estate - a familiar set of buildings on this blog - but this view is impossible from ground level these days and the Streetview show that follows had to be grabbed from a spot high up on the flyover and you can only just make out the buildings in the middle - now completely surrounded by all kinds of mess.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

The ferry pier seen in the film was actually one of the public piers in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter and we get a good look around the area. There are some buildings that can be seen which have helped pinpoint the exact location of the filming and they can be seen in the following screencap.

The buildings to the left of the ferry are the blocks of what was formerly known as the "Six Street Slum" - a block of land that was once known as Marine Lot 39 but was recently (relatively speaking) demolished to make way for what is now a Govt housing estate called Prosperous Garden. These tenements and several of the streets (including Lee Tat Street) that made up the older neighbourhood were completely eradicated.  The white building on the right, believe it or not, is the rear wall of the Yau Ma Tei Police Station. It is the sole survivor and is still going strong.

That means the ferry is actually hiding the public pier and the end of Public Square Street that terminated at the water. The Govt archive has a direct comparison (albeit the following picture is from 1976 - 17 years later - but you can still see the white building on the right). If you look below you can see the same three blocks and the white Police Station building at the top right of the coastline.

Trying to compare the locale with modern day Streetview pictures is an exercise in the futile because it has changed so much. The typhoon shelter is all but gone now - filled in to create the West Kowloon Reclamation. Ferry Street is about the closest we can get to the old coastline (I suppose you can guess where it got its name from) and you can see another brief glimpse of this same area in The World of Suzie Wong (filmed a year later). However, here are some screencaps that show you what it used to be like with some modern comparison to look at.

The space we see behind Noel Purcell (top picture - he played the ship's engineer) was filled up by the Ferry Point Estate (building commenced in the early 60's).

As you can see the old public pier used in the film to stand in for the HK & Macau ferry pier, has gone the way of the rest of the typhoon shelter. Believe it or not, the coastline here - already moved west by reclamation by 1959 - is no longer within sight (it's actually about 800 metres further out). The view looking back the other way has also changed a fair amount too. The old blocks replaced by the previously mentioned Prosperous Garden estate. The YMT Police Station being pretty much the only surviving relic from the period.

The old spot occupied by the ferry on film now sits under the West Kowloon Corridor (that's the flyover you can see above). I know this is all about progress but it's comparisons like these that make me wish Hong Kong had a little less concrete and a little more open space.

I'll leave you with the best illustration of how development has affected this area. Pictures say a thousand words after all.