She Shoots Straight - Joyce Godenzi (1990) - HMS Tamar

The first mission we see that the police group assigned to is the protection of a foreign (Arab?) princess who is attending a fashion show. The entourage starts the journey to the show from inside the HMS Tamar compund and exits via the main gates leading onto Edinburgh Place. This area is now the PLA Central Barracks.

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Harcourt Road, Central

Here's a nice view of Harcourt Road as the pair arrive at their hotel (the Furama, see next post). The interesting thing for me can be seen on the left hand side (lower image) where you can see the old dock buildings inside HMS Tamar that were replaced, not long after actually, by the former Prince of Wales building (now known as the "Chinese People's Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building"). On the right you can see the lower floors of the (now demolished) Hutchison House and Bank of America Tower (although at the time it was still called Gammon House).

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.

The Medallion - Jackie Chan (2003) - HMS Tamar, Central

Okay, I'm being a bit cheeky by referring to this place by its former Colonial name. HMS Tamar was the naval base located at the Central harbourfront. These days though it is known as Central Barracks.

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.

Codename: Wildgeese - Lewis Collins (1984) - Central Waterfront, Hong Kong

Here's an offering from Italy starring Lewis Collins as an ex-Paratrooper taking on a mercenary contract on behalf of the US govt. Collins, more famous for his role in The Professionals, did actually complete his proper paratrooper training as part of 10 Para (the reserve battalion) in the late 70's and I have a buddy who was in 3 Para at the time who remembers him being there and training.

Anyway, the film spends much of the time in what is supposed to be the Golden Triangle but I suspect is probably either Thailand or the Philippines, interspersed with brief moments over in HK where Collins's bosses (one played by none other than Ernest Borgnine) are safely holed up.

Here is the scene where Collins arrives in HK for the first time via helicopter.

 

The area it's landing on was the helipad on the stone pier that enclosed the dock at HMS Tamar. The dock has subsequently been reclaimed and the new Govt headquarters have been built on the site, so this site is now probably, most likely, where Tamar Park crosses the new Lung Wo Road. The black building in the background is the Great Eagle Centre in Wanchai.

Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold - Tamara Dobson (1975) - H.M.S Tamar, Central

We'll skip the rest of the Aberdeen stuff for a while and instead have a look at some shots from inside the H.M.S Tamar compound. Of course, these days it's the rather symbolic P.L.A HQ but back in 1975 it was still very much part of the British Garrison in Hong Kong. In a nice little coincidence that I thought would be interesting to mention: the vessel that the compound is named after - HMS Tamar - was scuttled in the harbour just prior to the Japanese crossing of the harbour in December 1941, and recent dredging works for the ongoing Wanchai bypass reclamation works recently discovered a large silted over metal object next to the Convention Centre that is thought to possibly be the hulk of the Tamar ship. [edit: turns out it was the HMS Tamar and rather than save it the Govt decided to dump it further out into the harbour so it didn't get in the way...)

These days the former naval base with its attached dock is now a further 150+ metres inland and there is a highway running between it and the harbour front. The lower screen captures do show the actual entrance to the place, however, since the PLA took over much has changed and I have no idea which direction this entrance faced - was it on Edinburgh Place or facing another way? If anyone can confirm that would be great. Whichever way, I believe this gate has now been removed and/or changed to remove the references to its former name.

Additional: Oh dear, a consequence of me not paying much attention to my later screen shots mean I missed off the obvious positioning of the entrance. So here it is, but many thanks to Arthur and gweilo8888 for humouring me :-)

Actually, in hindsight it seems quite obvious where the brick colour of the current wall changes, showing us where it has been rebuilt. Never mind, I'll pay more attention next time...

Anyway, as you can see, there are still some buildings around including the stripey exterior of Hutchison House and the Murray Road carpark behind it. In the top right of the screen grab is the Furama Hotel with its recognisable window shades. This was still around until just a few years ago, but now the AIG building stands in its place and I'm afraid the area is worse for it.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Queensway, Central

A quick one as we follow an unmarked cop car past the Lippo Centre et al.

Speaking of the Lippo Centre, we also get a nice fly-by view of the harbour side of the same area showing the gold Far East Financial Centre, the (now) Chinese PLA HK Building (formerly part of HMS Tamar), followed by the Lippo again and ending with a partial view of Bank of America tower.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - HMS Tamar, Hong Kong

Not a typical view of the place in that it is looking at a ship at dock on the harbourfront, but seeing as the ship is obviously a military one then it makes sense that it would be docked in front of the Naval Base that has since the handover become the PLA HQ in HK.

I'm sure there are certain individuals out there who will be able to tell us the class and name of this vessel as well as when it was stationed here. The grabs are a little blurry courtesy of the fact it was a moving shot and this DVD transfer isn't the greatest quality, sadly.

Anyway, on that note, have a nice Xmas and I'll start posting again when I get back from my hols :-)

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Various aerial pictures of Central, Hong Kong

No specific locations here but some nice aerial views taken from the opening section of Episode 6: Fan Tan Man. The quality isn't great (remember, these are screen grabs from a DVD that was made from a VHS copy that was done when the original series was shown in the UK back in 1990/91 (can't remember when it was exactly - I just wish ITV would release a proper restored DVD...)

The first two pictures give us a nice view across the Central harbourfront. The little bit of harbour water seen on the lower right on the bottom picture has now all been reclaimed and those piers you can see have completely gone.

The above picture shows the area around the (now named) Lippo Centre. We can see Hong Kong Park being created from the old Victoria Barracks and the tall building on the left is the Queensway Govt Offices. Just to the left of that is the shell of what was to become the Island Shangri-La (2 Pacific Place). Eagle-eyed readers may also spot the Hongkong Hilton just behind the B.O.C tower.

Again, another shot that is now be water-less courtesy of the reclamation that the IFC sits on top of. Of course we can see the old (and better located) Star Ferry piers and to the right of there is the last incarnation of Blake Pier. Actually, until I saw this I wasn't too sure where it was but now I can see it started right next to the GPO in front of Jardine House. I guess Man Yiu Street occupies some of that now.

The last few shots show the old helicopter landing pad that used to sit on the waterfront in front of Caine House (that's the low-rise building we can see at various distances on all three snaps, but is at the background on the lower picture) - it's better known as being the Central Police HQ. The are where the landing was is now partly occupied by the intersection of Lung Wui and Lung Wo roads. The site is largely empty still but slowly being redeveloped (into what?). The basin on the right in the top picture was originally part of HMS Tamar and now has the new Central Govt Offices on it.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Wanchai Harbourfront, Hong Kong

The whole series of Yellowthread Street uses some great aerial shots of the territory and the next one is from Episode 3: Key Witness. We have a nice sweeping view that starts from the Wanchai Interchange (the big roundabout below) and then pans west towards Central.

The flyover that crosses the main road (Gloucester Rd) towards the sports ground is Marsh Road. Just below we can see the black side of the Sun Hung Kai Centre.

The pool belongs to the Harbour Road Sports Centre and is called Wanchai Training Pool. All seem to have so far survived despite all the current reclamation going on.

This is the interesting bit (for me, at least) because it shows the area that is now occupied by Central Plaza (opened 1992) and where then small semi circle protrudes into the harbour is now occupied by the Convention and Exhibition Centre - the venue where the handover ceremony was held in 1997. The white building behind the Sun Hung Kai Centre is the China Resources Building and in front of that is a bare site which is where Central Plaza now stands. Despite all this redevelopment, I think most of these buildings still stand including the curved structure (next to the semi-circle) which is the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel.

The final few pictures looking over towards a rather misty looking Central, with HMS Tamar obvious (the square piece of water) at the harbourfront and for the more eagle-eyed of you should see the white with black stripes side of the Bank Of America tower and next to it the golden Far East Finance Centre.

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - H.M.S Tamar, Hong Kong

No, not a ship, just a very famous military base named after a ship. The famous waterside military base was taken over by the PLA in 1997 (of course) and the iconic blocky mushroom-like building was renamed to the "Chinese Peoples' Liberation Army Forces Hong Kong Building".

Another recent change is that it's no longer prime waterfront property, but like many other previous waterside location has now been moved slightly inland (relatively speaking) thanks to the Central to Wanchai reclamation project that now has the new Govt HQ sitting on it.

In 1975 it's not so much the Tamar site that is interesting (which it is of course) but rather what can or cannot be seen in the background. In the case of the snap below we can see the hillside behind and what used to be Victoria Barracks. This view is now completely blocked by Pacific Place and the barracks themselves have been replaced by Hong Kong Park. Some of the old barrack buildings remain, but not the ones you can see here on the hillside at the back.