Baadshah - N.T. Rama Rao Jr (2013) - Jordan Road, Kwun Chung

Another random Hong Kong establishing shot from Baadshah shows the view looking west along Jordan Road, just past the junction with Nathan Road. Looking at this shot confirms to me that this is old stock footage because the large Yue Hwa sign hasn't been located here since when I first moved to Hong Kong in 2006. So I guess that clears that up about whether or not the footage was stock or not. The Yue Hwa store is still here, it's the flagship store. The lower image shows the view when you turn the camera 90 degrees to the left (i.e. looking south down Nathan Road).

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Jordan Road Vehicular Ferry Pier 2

Lin Min takes his car across the harbour via the double decker vehicular ferry which had a "temporary" pier separate to the main vehicular ferry pier originally built for, and continued to service, the single deck ferries.

This pier has been featured before and was located at the south west extremity of the Ferry Point Estate. I believe it was in place right up until the commencement of the West Kowloon Reclamation.

Bullet in the Head - Tony Leung Chiu-wai (1990) - Jordan Road Ferry Pier

The trio have a bike race along the waterfront in a bout of friendly rivalry, with Frank (Jacky Cheung) being saved from plunging into the water by Ben (Tony Leung) just at the last minute. This scene was filmed at the Jordan Road Vehicular Ferry Pier - the later version that catered for double-decker ferries. The small raised ramp is the upper deck access ramp. The whole place disappeared in the early 90s when the West Kowloon Reclamation commenced (it was still ongoing when I made my first trip in November 1995, thirty years ago this year!!).

Ferry Point Estate in the background

We Owe It to Our Children - Cheung Wood-yau (1955) - Jordan Road, Kwun Chung

This following image shows the view looking sort of northwest from Nathan Road area over towards the Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter in the background (with Stonecutter Island just peeping out at the back).

Given the height of the image this could only have been filmed from the top of the Shamrock Hotel, which in 1955 was officially the tallest building in Kowloon. I'm not particularly familiar with the 1955 version of Jordan Road, which is the main road running across the middle of the frame, but I think the brightly lit restaurant may have been the precursor to whatever now stands on the corner of Temple Street. Just behind it I can make out what looks to be a gas holder belonging to the former Jordan Road Gas Works.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Jordan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Following on from this post, I suspect these shots were all done at the same time because if you turn the camera to the left at the junction of Nathan and Jordan Roads, you will get the view down Jordan Road that appears below.

The Heroin Busters - Fabio Testi (1977) - Jordan Road, Kowloon

We are also treated to some neon street signs as Testi wanders around. One of the signs is the Millie's Centre sign that used to be on the Everest Building on the corner of Jordan Road and Nathan Road.

The most recent Streetview shot shows that this place is now occupied by a (surprise surprise) jewellery shop. If anyone can remember what Millie's used to sell, please let me know in the comments.

There is also an earlier bit of the same scene that looks to have been filmed further along the road towards the junction with Temple Street because it looks as though the Liberty Theatre can be seen in the background (showing Rocky!) which puts the filming year of The Heroin Busters firmly in 1977 (Rocky was released in HK on May 19th, 1977).

Jason King (TV Series) - Peter Wyngarde (1972) - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Some familiar neon in this post from the section of Nathan Road between Jordan Road and Gascoigne Road. The Yue Hwa Chinese Products store was once on the NE corner of the junction with Jordan Road and is now on the opposite NE side. We can also just make out the Tai Lin electronics sign behind it. This was still around (or at least a version of it , if not the original) until just a while back and I can confirm has now been removed after the company folded after the 2008 financial crisis. Further down the road you can see the sign for the Royal Hotel. This was the precursor to today's Eton Hotel which now occupies the site.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Jordan Road, Kwun Chung

Speaking of Jordan Road, one of the next shots we see is the viewpoint from the car driving along Jordan Road, albeit back towards the ferry pier. The two curvy buildings seen on the picture are still around - at least assuming I am correct in my identification (corrections welcome, as always).

It looks like the nearer curved building is the still standing Woo Sung House (built 1960) with a vertical blue sign for the Far East Bank Ltd. That means the building on the far right in the top picture is the precursor to today's Pak Shing Building with Woosung Street running between the two. In the background is another curved building that is still around. It's United Mansion and that particular section is Block A. Shanghai Street runs in front of it. Note the sign of a famous restaurant on a vertical blue signboard on the lower left of the bottom picture. It was the 雲天大茶樓 (Cloudy Sky Restaurant). The smaller buildings have all been replaced.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Jordan Road Ferry, Yau Ma Tei

This one is a bit more interesting compared to the usual Jordan Road ferry pier because of the red painted sign that appears in the background.

I might be wrong but this looks to me like an advert for the yet-to-be-built Ferry Point estate, or at least the first buildings on that estate that were erected. The smaller writing on the left in the lowest pictures says 建築地盤 (gin juk dei pun) which basically means "construction ground". But if you look at the larger characters on the left I believe they say 文英樓 (man ying lau) i.e. Man Ying Building which is the name of one of the blocks within the estate. Along with the neighbouring Man Yuen Building these two were the first in the estate to be built and were open by 1964 - two years after this film was made. The picture on the wall is the artists impression of how the estate would look after completion. It's a pity we can't see it in higher resolution.

So it looks like the movie caught the area just prior to the building work being started for the Ferry Point Estate.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Lung Yu Restaurant, Kowloon

The Lung Yu restaurant makes another appearance on this blog, this time though it's supposed to be a hotel. If you recall my very first post on this place, back when I was exploring I Spy locations, you'll see that the building it was in (on the corner of Battery Street and Jordan Road) is still around but now houses a bank.

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - Lung Yu Restaurant, Jordan Road

One of the benefits of going back every so often to look at films I covered when I first starting blogging here is that sometimes I see places that I now recognise. Case in point is this brief shot of the Lung Yu Restaurant from Flatfoot in Hong Kong starring Bud Spencer. We don't get to see much other than the dragon effigy above the main doors but it's still fairly recognisable. You can compare it to the shots I posted when it appeared in I Spy and Heisser Hafen Hongkong and Ein Sarg aus Hongkong.

Shirley's World (TV Series) - Shirley MacLaine (1972) - Canton Road, Kwun Chung

Back in the 1970's the area now occupied by the "Grand Austin" and "The Austin" residential developments - the stretch of Canton Road between Austin Road and Jordan Road - was a Government dockyard. The dockyards outer wall, running along Canton Road, appears to have been used by various businesses to advertise their premises in large painted characters.

The top picture below shows the wall looking north along Canton Road towards the junction with Jordan Road. Look carefully and you can see the Ferry Point Estate poking above the barbed wire by Shirley MacLaine's shoulder. Actually, the two other buildings seen at the back are also still around. The one with the large Phillips advert on it is Lee Shing Mansion on the corner of Wai Chung Street and Jordan Road.

This second picture appears to be advertising a business based at 41 Argyle Street in Mongkok. I'd be very interested in seeing any photos of this wall if anyone has one.

Thanks to Thomas for helping with this one and Paul Li (one of the world's top experts on Bruce Lee) for telling me the exact location.

Boarding Gate - Asia Argento (2007) - Jordan Road, Kwun Chung

On her way to her next contact, the taxi has switched over to Kowloon-side and can be seen driving along Jordan Road. Streetview comparison underneath. The "Sands Sauna" sign is on the edge of Lucky House that sits on Pilkem Street. The blue sign next to it is for a nightclub that sits in what was once the Oriental Ballroom.

Ein Sarg aus Hong Kong - Heinz Drache (1964) - Jordan Road, Kwun Chung

Here is a place we have seen before. It's the Lung Yu Restaurant along Jordan Road at the junction with Battery Street. We saw it for the first time when I was researching locations for I Spy - filmed the following year in 1965.

Ein Sarg aus Hong Kong - Heinz Drache (1964) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Next up in our bus journey is the junction of Nathan and Jordan Roads in Kwun Chung. This one shows a few things of interest.

The first thing I notice is the appearance of New Lucky House on the right hand side replete with its still very recognisable paint scheme. This building was opened in 1964 (the same year this film was made) and it looks as though the cameras have captured it just prior to being ready - it still has to have its windows installed.

Next up is the yellow sign at the far end of New Lucky House. Locals will already recognise this as a sign for Tai Lin electronics, but I had no idea that the company was in that same spot all the way back in the 60's. Sadly Tai Lin became a victim of the 2008 financial crisis and closed shop but the sign (or at least the most recent version of it) was still there the last time I looked. It was a fairly iconic bit of neon (we last saw it on this blog when I was researching locations for Albert Pyun's Hong Kong '97).

Finally, on the left hand side you can see there is a fair amount of space between the pavement and the building that sits just next to it. These days the place is occupied by the Champion Building (built 1977) and all that open space is gone, but prior to that it was the site of a grand old building called Wong Tong Kee (黃棠記) mansion. You can read a little more about it here on Gwulo.com where you can see a picture of it in more detail including the perimeter wall enclosing the private garden (hence the extra space).

Sadly, when the mansion was demolished, the Champion Building was constructed right up to the plot boundary and the area these days has a much more closed in feel as you can see from the Streetview picture below.

Bons Baisers de Hong Kong - Les Charlots (1975) - Kam Shing Pharmacy, Kwun Chung

This one proved to be a bit of a toughy, largely because initial searches for "金城大藥房" led me to a reference to the place being on Kingston St in Causeway bay. After realising this couldn't possibly be correct I drew a bit of a blank until Thomas found a reference to it on Uwants. The real location? Well, it turns out it was on the corner of Jordan Road and Parkes Street.

The camera is in a car driving along Jordan Road from east to west and Parkes Street can be seen leading away to the south. Judging from the current Streetview images, it looks as though the extended upper floor section still exists although it has had its windows enlarged since 1975.

In case you want to see the Uwants forum thread, it's here courtesy of the indefatigable Thomas Ngan, so many thanks to him once again.

http://www.uwants.com/viewthread.php?tid=11902654&page=117

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Nathan Road, Kwun Chung

I really should have covered this place at the same time as the earlier Tai Lin post, but didn't realise it was the same location until now. Just after the shoot out on Lockhart Road, Patrick's character (he's called Reginald Cameron in the film) does a runner to escape and soon after leaving the scene at Marsh Road finds himself running down Nathan Road just past the junction with Jordan Road. Once again a great example of movie land taking liberties with geography. The fact that this is right next to the other quick shot earlier of the Tai Lin sign makes me think this must have been filmed at the same time.

Just a note about names. Many people incorrectly refer to this area as Jordan because of the MTR station nearby. The station is actually named after Jordan Road and there isn't actually any official location in Kowloon called Jordan. The area is still referred to on maps as Kwun Chung.

Anyway, check out the massive Fairwood (大快活) neon sign that used to stick out of New Lucky House. The curved building at the back is National Court on the south side of Jordan Road.

Sadly, that huge piece of pulsating neon has long since gone (in fact almost all the the neon along this strip is no longer there). Fairwood actually went through a rebranding in 2003 and the logo has been changed from the scary clown face to a sort of  splodgy jumping man. New Lucky House these days hosts various small backpacker hostels and a bodybuilding gym. Here's a rough approximation of the film angle.

Anyway, he then runs across the road to get picked up by his buddies in the car.

Roaring Fire - Hiroyuki Sanada (1982) - Liberty Theatre, Jordan Road

As you can probably tell, I am playing a bit of catch up here as I go over some older stuff I had forgotten about. This one should've been put up a year ago but slipped my forever ageing memory.

It's a brief glimpse of a since demolished cinema called the Liberty Theatre that used to sit on Jordan Road between Temple Street and Woosung Street. As you can see, at the time of filming it was showing some classics...

It seems that Zombi Holocaust is indeed the 1980 Italian film Zombie Holocaust (the Chinese name - 鬼食鬼 - means 'ghost eats ghost'). According to the Cinema Treasures (link above on the theatre name) this cinema showed first run foreign films and Zombie Holocaust this film according to IMDB was released in May 1981. It gives you a rough ballpark of when filming for Roaring Fire actually took place. Patricia was also released the same year (1981) but I can't seem to find a specific release date for HK.

Anyway, the cinema closed in 1997 and has since been replaced by a residential block by the name of Liberty Mansion, so its name lives on even if the building itself has gone. Here's the current Streetview. The building on the left still survives but has been covered up by the bank's banners.

The Chairman - Gregory Peck (1969) - Jordan Road, Yau Ma Tei

Is it Yau Ma Tei or Kwun Chung? I think the former as this location is on the north side of Jordan Road whereas Kwun Chung seems to mainly occupy the southern side (I bet most of you are wondering where on earth Kwun Chung is - it's the proper name for the area generally referred to these days by its MTR station: Jordan.

Never mind, this is actually a great piece of detective work by Thomas, so many thanks to him for once again coming through and pulling this one, seemingly, from nowhere. The shot is just one of several scene setting short shots that establish HK as the location for the following bit of film, and as we already mentioned on previous blog posts for this film, the director had been barred from filming and was told to leave HK a.s.a.p due to the politically charged nature of the film (let's just say it shows Chinese Communism for exactly as it is/was). So, I imagine this small shot was taken sneakily, I'm just a bit confused as to why this particular piece of Kowloon made it into film as opposed to any other.

Amazingly (or not) most of the buildings in this screen grab can still be seen today (or at least they can on the current version of Streetview which, I believe, is about 5 years old now). Here's the modern view. I'm wasn't convinced as much by the building on the left hand side, but after checking on Centamap, it is indeed also the same block as seen on film - the three closest blocks all being built in 1966 and the one with the angled front (far right in the screen cap) was actually built in 1960.