Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Kai Tak Airport, Kowloon

The final shot from the series pilot is when Evans' female colleague is shown off at the airport. This image below shows the not-so-clear RAF Officer's Mess on the hill in the background which puts the plane in the RAF section of the airport.

Actually, by 1960 when this series was filmed, the new runway had already opened so this looks to me as though it was most likely stock footage. This isn't surprising given that this was the pilot episode intended only as a showcase for the show in the hope that it would be commissioned. This also explains why much of the on-character shots are either on a studio set or use back projection (in one scene, Taylor is filmed against a back projection that has been reversed - showing the Chinese characters written backwards).

Luckily for us, the series proper does use proper location filming and we'll get to some of those over the next few episodes.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Port Shelter, Sai Kung

This pilot episode involves Evans and a fellow journalist being kidnapped and a attempt made to take them over into "Red China" for propaganda purposes (the story was worked into a longer version for one of the proper aired episodes called Blind Bargain) and the vessel on which they are stowed is a wooden Chinese junk.

The footage shows the junk "near the border" but in actual fact I can tell you exactly where it was...Port Shelter in Sai Kung, between Hebe Haven and Sharp Island.

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.

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.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - View Over Central, Hong Kong

Another brief shot from the opening credits of Hong Kong has us looking down at the bank buildings in Central. The quality isn't very good but I think most of those familiar with Hong Kong at the time would be able to recognise a few buildings, some of which are still around including the Bank of China Building and the US Consulate and old Govt offices on Garden Road. Notably missing is City Hall which had only just begun construction  in 1960.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Victoria Harbour

Another shot out to Steve Monticelli for pointing me towards Rod Taylor's website and its links to all of the episodes of Taylor's 1960 series, Hong Kong. I had heard of this show a while ago but it had been relegated to the back of my memory with everything else that I was finding so it's nice to have finally get to watch it.

The premise was apparently inspired by the Soldier of Fortune novel/film with Taylor as a foreign correspondent getting involved in all manner of subterfuge as he seeks out stories on the criminal goings on in the British Colony. He's aided in this by the Police Chief Inspector (played by Alex Davion in the pilot, but then changed to Lloyd Bochner in the subsequent series) and sometimes his butler/manservant, Ah Ting (played by Harold Fong).

It looks as though there was some location filming in Hong Kong, but very little of it actually involves the main actors and there is widespread use of back projection for some of the supposed local close ups. However, there is enough in there worthy of identifying and starting with the 30 minute pilot and its opening aerial shot of the harbour.

It's interesting to note that the opening credits features a bit of a blunder as the Chinese characters for Hong Kong are mixed up. See below. The characters read from right to left, and then move into vertical alignment with the 'Hong' (香 - heung1 in Cantonese) at the bottom and the 'Kong' (港 - gong2) at the top. The characters then spin and turn into the anglicised version of the words, but now the right way around. Someone must have tipped them off because the error was fixed for the start of the proper series.