Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Furama Hotel, Central

One of the scenes is set in the Furama Hotel. I have no idea if the interior used was the hotel but we are treated to a shot of the exterior. Neither of these buildings exists anymore because Hutchison House next door was demolished circa 2020 - its even taller replacement is already nearing completion (as of May 2023). AIA Central now stands where the Furama was.

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Furama Hotel, Central

The hotel that the pair are staying at is the Furama. Built in 1973, demolished in 2001 and was replaced by the AIA Central building (it used to be AIG Tower but has since been renamed). It was a popular hotel with its top floor revolving restaurant (see the lowest images). One of the things I didn't know about it was that it had a carved replica of the famous "87 Immortals Painting" above the front driveway. This was based on a famous Tang Dynasty silk painting (you can see an image of it the painting here). In 1976, the management of the hotel was taken over by Intercontinental, which is why you can see the name in the screen cap below.

The "87 Immortals" relief above the front drive

I don't have any stitching software on my laptop here in London, so here is my compromise below, showing the hotel in some of its former glory.

They also shot scenes in the revolving restaurant and in the hotel lobby.

Powaqqatsi - Godfrey Reggio (1988) - Hotel Furama, Central

Here's another close up that may have been missed by those not familiar with Hong Kong's recent past. It's the facade of the, since demolished, Hotel Furama. Built and opened in 1973, this hotel was a popular addition to the waterfront in Central and a great many people mourned its subsequent demolition in the early 2000s. By the time I moved here full time in 2006, the plot had already been filled in by the AIA building.

Black Cobra Woman - Laura Gemser (1976) - Views across the harbour, Hong Kong

Coupled with the initial Kai Tak landing sequence, the opening scenes from Black Cobra Woman also show a little bit of the Hong Kong Island waterfront. Some familiar views here, even if many of the buildings no longer exist. Just in the top image you can see the Furama Hotel, Sutherland House (with the circular BAYER advert), the Hong Kong Club, the Hilton Hotel behind them all and the older HSBC building which have all gone the way of the dodo.

Spy Game - Robert Redford (2001) - Central, Hong Kong

The final sequence is the one that sells us the lie that the HSBC building in Central is actually the US Consulate. In fact, not a single on-site shot was done here and all of David Hemmings' scenes were filmed back in London - at Lloyd's of London on Lime Street. The various shots of Hemmings in the external glass lift quite clearly reveal Leadenhall Street in the background and not downtown Hong Kong as we are supposed to think. On the plus side we do get brief glimpses at the former Prince of Wales building in HMS Tamar, the Furama Hotel and Ritz Carlton. Both these latter two have since given way to redevelopment.

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).

China Rose - George C. Scott (1983) - Cotton Tree Drive, Central

One of the first things on the agenda when they land in Hong Kong is a trip to the US Embassy, which they start out on by heading up Cotton Tree Drive. The 1983 view of this area is vastly different compared to today. At the back we can see (from right to left) Fairmont House, almost brand new after being completed in 1982. Behind that is Bank of America Tower although at the time it was  called Carrian House (a big scandal revolved around it in the 80's). In front of them all is the Murray Road car park that was sold for redevelopment recently and behind that is Hutchinson House.

Now gone is the Furama Hotel and the small building next to it was Sutherland House. What's missing of course is the Bank of China Tower that was eventually built where all the cars are parked. Construction didn't start until 1985 though so this view shows the site after Murray Barracks had been dismantled but before the bank building construction started.

The second screencap shows the view up the road with the Murray Building on the right - currently being turned into a hotel - and the two towers of St Joseph's College further up the hill.

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). 

Stoner - George Lazenby (1974) - Central, Hong Kong

Stoner, also known as The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss, is the first in a series of three films that George Lazenby completed under contract to Golden Harvest. I already covered one of the three a while back (The Man from Hong Kong). What happened was that Lazenby had been to Hong Kong to sign on for the original Game of Death when it was still in pre-production with Bruce Lee. Lazenby was there to work with Bruce and my understanding is that The Man from Hong Kong was originally intended to be a Lee vehicle as well (as was Robert Clouse's Golden Needles which was also originally meant to star Lazenby). Sadly, Lee died whilst Lazenby was on his HK trip (he was supposed to be meeting him the night he died) but Raymond Chow being Raymond Chow made the ex-Bond star honour his recently signed film contract and the end result was Stoner, The Man from Hong Kong and finally, A Queen's Ransom.

This film also ties in with the documentary Kung Fu Killers because Lazenby was interviewed by Grant Page on that documentary whilst in the process of making this film and some BTS clips from it are included.

Despite being largely set in Hong Kong (as well as some shots in Sydney), there are surprisingly few locations to be found and most of the key scenes were done in the studio. But here is a brief shot of the Connaught Centre (as it was known then) as the Hong Kong establishing shot.

The panning shot finished looking over to the Mandarin Oriental and Furama Hotel (in the background). Ooh and before I forget here is another view of  some of the same buildings but from the vantage point of the harbour.

Foxbat - Henry Silva (1977) - Gloucester Road, Wanchai

The next shot of the ambulance is as it turns onto Gloucester Road from Arsenal Street. This is a great picture and it's a shame I haven't got a better quality version because there is a whole bunch of stuff to be seen. As well as the recognisable buildings in the background (which include the Bank of America Tower - then perhaps still known as the Gammon Centre? - Hutchinson House, Furama Hotel and the Connaught Centre - now Jardine House), there is a tantalising glimpse of Caine House in its former red coat of paint as well as the old China Fleet Club (behind the lamppost).

A little further on down the road and the ambulance is passing by the old Luk Kwok Hotel. That's the building with the red signage at the top. It's hard to see from this angle but it was actually a big advert for SANYO (it's the building immediately behind the ambulance in the picture below). I'm not to knowledgeable on the various buildings that can be seen but suffice to say most have already been replaced. I think the only survivors are the PICO Tower (newly built and on the other side of the Luk Kwok Hotel) and the Malaysia Building - the gold-coloured building in the background. Can anyone remember what the white building was on the right hand side?

Foxbat - Henry Silva (1977) - Queen's Road Central, Hong Kong

Immediately after Garden Road we see the vehicles - in a rare show of movie geographical accuracy - pull out onto Queen's Road Central. This was before the right turn (towards Wanchai) was replaced by a flyover.

This shot actually captures the former Hong Kong cricket ground (closed in 1975) undergoing its transformation into the now rather bleak and overly-concreted Chater Garden, which I believe opened the following year in 1978. Sorry, but in my Western-oriented foreign-deviled mind I am forever destined to associate the word "garden" with things like grass and the colour green rather than a drab grey and a proliferation of concrete. In Hong Kong, as long as it was built using Li Ka-shing's "Green Island" cement than that is about as green as it needs to be.

Anyway, note the very elegant and still standing Hong Kong club in the background. That was to stick around fora few more years before its eventual redevelopment. You can also spot the lower floors of the Furama Hotel at the back. And a little further along the road (see below) we get to glance back and can see the Hilton Hotel as well as what looks like a newly constructed Murray Road car park on the right.

Cracker: White Ghost - Robbie Coltrane (1996) - Ritz Carlton Hotel, Central

After being roped in to working on the HK Police's new murder case, Fitz wangles a deal to stay in what was once quite a swanky hotel near the Central waterfront. It was the Ritz Carlton - at the time a fairly new building - behind the HK Club sandwiched between Chater and Connaught Roads. In what must have been one of the shortest lifetimes of a building in HK the Ritz Carlton was opened in 1993 and demolished only 15 years later in 2008. An unbelievably short time even by HK standards.

Anyway, in case you don't remember what it looked like here are the screen grabs.

Notice the Furama Hotel next door on the right. Both buildings have been replaced, the Furama by the AIA building and the Ritz Carlton by the CCB Building (and this was at a time when the Govt was moaning about a shortage of hotel rooms...).

Day of the Panther - Eddie Stazak (1988) - Central Harbourfront, Hong Kong

This is the clip that confirms that Trenchard-Smith cheated a bit on the HK footage. The film was made in 1988, but the following screencaps show us this footage was made several years previously.

We have the usual suspects to look at including the Furama Hotel, City Hall, the Mandarin Oriental, Jardine (then Connaught) House. But look closely and you can see some stuff that really shouldn't have been there in 1988. The most obvious is the old HSBC Building (see second pic above the "Exe" of "Executive Producers". This building was demolished in 1984 and replaced by the current Foster designed iconic (but ugly) structure. But actually, there is a building that was demolished even earlier, it's the Hong Kong Club - you can just see it on the far left of the second picture. This place was demolished in 1981. Sadly, my knowledge can't place it any earlier than that, but feel free to comment if you can see a building in there that was knocked down even earlier.

So, I wonder if this was footage that Trenchard-Smith still had from his earlier forays into filming in Hong Kong? It certainly wasn't filmed for the purpose of this movie.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Central Helicopter Landing Pad, Hong Kong

For want of a better name (please feel free to suggest a more accurate one), this is the former site of the helicopter landing pad in front of Caine House that has since been covered over by construction where Lung Wo and Lung Wui roads meet in front of the CITIC building. You can see the actual place on this previous post courtesy of Yellowthread Street (scroll to the bottom of the post). This post isn't very interesting to be honest, but it sets up the following few posts which all involve aerial shots around the territory and I thought it was interesting to see the Prince of Wales Building over in HMS Tamar as it was nearing completion. The building was finally opened in 1978 and you can see it in the background of the screen grabs below still covered in scaffolding.

You can also spot the upper sections of Hutchinson House and the greatly missed Furama Hotel at the bottom left of the middle picture.

Soldier, Soldier (TV Series) - Robson Green (1992) - Harbourfront, Hong Kong

Another TV series for the blog and this time one that I missed when it was originally shown back in 1992 - I was grotty student in Leeds at the time spending most of my time listening to music rather than watching the box. Strictly speaking the episodes I am looking at are from series 2, when the so-called King's Fusiliers move to Hong Kong. The first two episodes of the series were still based back in the UK but the remaining 4 episodes were filmed in their entirety in Hong Kong.

One of the first scenes we are shown an army helicopter flying along the harbour front with a few sights to look at including the Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan (pic 1), the old vehicular ferry pier (pic 2 & 3) and finally the Bank of China and its surrounding buildings such as the Furama Hotel, the Ritz Carlton (both redeveloped), Hutchison House, Bank of America tower etc.