Showing posts with label Humphreys Avenue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humphreys Avenue. Show all posts

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Desperate Mission - Germán Cobos (1965) - The Grand Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

I have to say a big thanks to "Moddsey" over on Gwulo.com for identifying this next location for me. I had thought it might be the Park Hotel until Moddsey quietly referred me to the existance of a sign at the back for a venue called "The Russian Restaurant" that used to be located on Humphrey's Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui.

This is the hotel where Agent Z-55 is staying and runs into a bit of trouble with the girl in the room next door, who happens to be working for the criminal gang he has come to investigate. The interiors were almost certainly filmed in a studio, but the external footage of the hotel matches a version of it that wasn't supposed to be opened until 1968 (see here on the HK Hotel Association website). In the film, the hotel's front entrance has a driveway, and Z55's taxi drops him off right at the front door, but this version of the hotel apparently didn't open until 1968 according to the HKHA website above, so I suspect that they have their dates wrong.

Moddsey points out that the presence of the Russian Restaurant sign in the background as well as the "Jade Pagoda" sign opposite the hotel confirms where we are. Anyway, the hotel closed in 1985 and was demolished to be replaced by a mixed mall/office block there called the "Grand Centre" -  preserving building names in Hong Kong is common, preserving actual buildings, less so.

Monday, September 18, 2017

Le Monocle Rit Jaune - Paul Meurisse (1964) - Carnarvon Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

There is a brief meeting between the main character and his love interest as he leaves a Japanese sauna. The next shot is supposedly outside the sauna as we look down Humphrey's Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui. It's possible the building on the right is Humphrey's Court but I don't have anything to compare it to.


Never mind as the next building is unmistakable, it's Carnarvon Mansion which stil sits (and looks almost exactly the same) at the junction where Humphrey's Avenue meets Carnarvon Road (amongst others).


The building at the end of the road (on the left) is Mirador Mansions.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Shirley's World (TV Series) - Shirley MacLaine (1972) - Humphrey's Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

Speaking of bars as we just were, Shirley meets a girl in a bar and finds out she is being blackmailed by a local criminal. The bar was the Apollo Bar and in the following screenshot we are kindly given the address in Humphrey's Court at 6 - 6A Humphrey's Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui. The building is still around even if the bar has long gone.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Humphreys Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another great bit of spotting courtesy of Thomas who managed to nail this rather obscure street shot via the building in the far background. Further looking revealed that the Sitlani Tailors prominently featured here used to be (until the early 2000's) situated at 10 Humphreys Avenue. I think they have moved around the corner to Cameron Road since then.


Not quite the same angle but almost, courtesy of Streetview of course.


According to Centamap, the buildings on the right are pretty much the same ones that were there in 1965, but there are only one or two on the opposite side of the road and if you look carefully you may be able to match one or two portions (such as the one directly above the parking meter in the screen grab).

The building at the end of the road certainly is the same one (which is how Thomas was able to match it) - it's called the James Lee Building and was built/opened in 1961 - just a few years before this show was filmed.