Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Another snippet from the pilot show's opening credits shows us a few shots taken around Aberdeen. In the top image you can just about make out the Chinese Permanent cemetery on the hillside in the background. The bottom image shows the small promontory with the Holy Spirit Seminary rooftop sticking up above the tree line.

The Peking Medallion - Robert Stack (1967) - Holy Spirit Seminary, Sham Wan

In a first for this blog (as far as I can remember anyway) we get to visit the Holy Spirit (aka Aberdeen) Seminary as a filming location. The place has been around since the early 30's and has always cropped up - usually in the background - on many of the films that I have covered here. But this is the first time I've got to see it up close on film.

In the movie it is the "Bell Temple" where the entrance to the Emperor's tomb is located. The medallion of the film title turns out to be an intricate map indicating where the entrance is within the city.

Aside from looking pretty cool, this Christian insititute is also one of the excellent examples of Chinese Renaissance architecture that are dotted around the territory.

Around the World in 80 Days - Pierce Brosnan (1989) - Aberdeen Harbour

Finally, a shot taken in Hong Kong that is actually meant to be Hong Kong. The only problem is that this is most definitely some stock footage because is shows a view of Aberdeen harbour (looking east in the top picture) that was probably taken in the 1960's, given the complete lack of development.

Le Monocle Rit Jaune - Paul Meurisse (1964) - Aberdeen Harbour, Aberdeen

The detectives head to Aberdeen to follow up on a lead there and we see the usual montage of boat people as well as a nice view from the Staunton's Creek area looking out past the headland where the seminary is located.

The seminary is still there, but the boat people have gone and much of the area where the creek joined the harbour has been reclaimed.

There is a brief glimpse of the Tai Pak in the background of this following shot, but the floating restaurant scenes filmed later were shot at somewhere completely different. That's in a later post.

Lord Jim - Peter O'Toole (1965) - Aberdeen Harbour, Aberdeen

Although filmed in HK during 1963, this film wasn't released until 1965. Based on the book by Joseph Conrad, it revolves around a disgraced sailor who tries to make amends on past decisions by helping a local tribe (perhaps supposed to be Malayan?...I haven't read the book so can't say for sure) fight a despotic General.

Aberdeen was actually one of the main stars of the film it seems because the same location is used several times to portray different places. At the beginning of the film it is supposed to be some anonymous port on the Indonesian island of Java, and then later, with a bit of jiggery pokery (some footage of a train superimposed in the background) it gets turned into the fictional post of Batu Kring from where Jim starts his epic up river mission.

In the top picture you can see the promontory that houses the seminary (look closely and you can just make out its roof) with Brick Hill in the background. The second picture shows both the Tai Pak and Sea palace moored in the middle of the harbour.

Later in the film we get the shot below - essentially taken from the same point as the second picture above, but without the zoom, but notice that there is a trail of smoke at the back. This is actually the superimposed train. From the looks of it everything front and middle is real but the far distant shoreline has been manipulated. It's quite convincing for a film shot so long ago, but the big giveaways of course are not only the still obvious floating restaurants in the middle of the harbour, but also the obvious presence of the old Police Station on the hill on the right. This is a great shot of the building because 1963 was obviously a time before any high rises had been built along that part of Aberdeen Praya Road. I'll do a separate post later where the film used those low rises with a closer angle.

That Man Bolt - Fred Williamson (1973) - Tai Pak and Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Another trip to Aberdeen for this film - although thankfully on this occasion, it's the right way around.

This first picture shows Griffiths (played by Byron Webster) catching a sampan out to the restaurant. This is how you used to do it (and still can if you want) before the dedicated shuttle boats were introduced. Note the buildings in the background where the original pontoons were.

I wanted to show you how this part of Aberdeen has changed. Although the colourful ones behind Webster's head have since been replaced, the white building on the left (Ping On House?) is still around and can be seen on the following Streetview picture taken from the Aberdeen Praya Road exit/entry ramp. As you can see the waterfront right in front of that building is now taken up by the Aberdeen Bus terminus and a rather significantly widened Aberdeen Praya Road (not mentioning all the high rises that have risen up at the back).

Moving on and we get some nice colourful shots of the Tai Pak with Ap Lei Chau behind it.

Behind Williamson's head in the background of the following shot we can just see the roof of the Aberdeen Seminary top left, and the steep slope in the far distance is the side of Brick Hill - anyone who has been to Ocean Park will have seen this hill because it's the one with the Ocean Park seahorse emblem on it and the cable car running up it.

Here's another angle showing the Aberdeen Chinese Permanent Cemetery - but I'm not sure what the grey concrete structure is below it. Perhaps one of the bases of the industrial buildings being built?

And a final look behind Fred as he tackles some chopsticks, this time the camera seems to be point more north with the Aberdeen Seminary directly behind his head and a cluster of factories/industrial buildings in Wong Chuk Hang.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Aberdeen Harbour

An interesting view of Aberdeen looking easterly from the western end of Ap Lei Chau. This view is quite unique because not long after this was filmed, HongKong Electric (now one of Li Ka-shing's cash cows) built a huge great power station around here (you can see it in the background of the lower shot from this Enter the Dragon post).

A few things can be seen here including the Aberdeen Seminary (on the small hillock ion the background), the floating restaurants (including the Tai Pak, furthest away), and the old Aberdeen Police Station (on the left hillside).

With regards to the floating restaurants, this was their original location when the small ferry shuttle was located on the waterfront in front of the old town. The old pier location was reclaimed many years ago (and is now a bus terminus), the restaurants were moved further to the east - next to the hillock with the seminary - and the ferry piers are now on the other side of that same hillock just off Shum Wan Road.

The following shot - well I can't place it exactly but it looks as though they were probably taken along the Hong Kong Island side of the harbour (as opposed to Ap Lei Chau side).

This shot below shows the very distinctive Chinese cemetery on the hillside, so looking sort of NE from the middle of the harbour and our last shot should be familiar to anyone who has watched any film featuring Aberdeen harbour over the past 60 years or so - the sampan ride.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

Once again, not the first time and certainly not the last, Aberdeen is the focal point for a scene from a foreign-produced film set in Hong Kong. This was the second time a film here had involved William Holden (he made a trip to the Tai Pak restaurant with Jennifer Jones during Love is a Many-Splendored Thing in 1955).

This time Holden, playing Lomax, accompanies the Kwan (Suzie) to the Tai Pak floating restaurant. It looks a little different to the version of the Tai Pak that is currently still installed in Aberdeen and that's because this one seems to be the original. This is the version that was moved over to Castle Peak Bay sometime after this film was made (circa 1960) before falling victim to the transformation of Castle Peak into Tuen Mun New Town which saw much of the bay reclaimed for housing.

Notice the other restaurants that were around at the time: Sea palace and the Yue Lee Tai - the latter one lesser known, perhaps because it wasn't quite so aesthetically flamboyant. Neither are around anymore although if you read my other blog you will know some remnants linger on. I've heard unconfirmed reports that the Sea Palace was sold and towed to the Philippines or Australia (but probably neither).  The Tai Pak (at least a later version) remains and was integrated into Jumbo Kingdom some time ago.

Anyway, this isn't the only point of interest that we have from this trip because there is also a brief glimpse of another historic place around Aberdeen that still exists - the old Police Station on the hill.

It's the long building on the hillside just to the left of Nancy Kwan's head. These days it's used as a youth centre ("The Warehouse") and of course it is now completely obscured by high-rises along the waterfront.

Another thing to note about the above screen grab is the small hillock sticking out of Holden's right shoulder. This of course is the small headland that housed, and still houses, The Aberdeen Holy Spirit Seminary - a place worthy of it's own blog post at some point down the road. The hill on the right of the shot is actually Brick Hill and is better known these days for having the Ocean Park cable car running up the side of it.

Soldier of Fortune - Clark Gable (1955) - Aberdeen Harbour, HK Island

Aberdeen is just one of those places that keeps cropping up again and again in films - particularly ones aimed at foreign audiences. Probably because until recently it showed a very different side to Hong Kong with its floating shanty town - now disappeared.

It appears again at the beginning of Solder of Fortune and we see an angle taken from what I believe is Hong Kong side looking south towards Ap Lei Chau in the background. The presence of the northernmost corner of the Aberdeen Seminary (top left of the top picture) tells me the camera is sited along what is now Wong Chuk Hang Road (was it the same name in 1955, or all just part of Aberdeen Praya?).

Anyway, there is some familiar scenery in the bottom two pictures which show the various fishing and living vessels that still occupy Aberdeen Harbour even today.