A Cause to Kill - Ivy Ling Po (1969) - View of the Harbour

As Hsin Li starts to put her nefarious plan into place, she takes a briefcase of cash to the Peninsula Hotel and puts it in their lockers. This is where the killer will collect his reward once the deed is done. The establishing shot is this nice view taken from the top of the hotel's east wing, looking across the old train terminus and over to the island.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Tsim Sha Tsui Bus Terminus

I think this was just a transitional shot, but it's worth including because it shows the old KCR train terminus just a few short years before it was demolished (in 1978, despite much local opposition to the plan).

Many of the shots in this film are quick zooms in and out and unfortunaetly the picture quality being quite poor means that there are alot of shots in this film that are too blurry to include. This one isn't so bad despite the zoom.

Tokyo Gang vs Hong Kong Gang - Ken Takakura (1964) - Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

Kitahara is riding the Star Ferry across the harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, so we get a shot of the Kowloon Star Ferry pier and the clocktower standing next to it (when it still had a station attached to it). Coincidentally, the bell was recently restored to the clocktower and was struck for the first time in 71 years just the other day.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - KCR Terminus, Kowloon

I'm jumping forward to Ep 16: The Survivor, in this next post because unfortunately the next episode in line for examination, Ep 14: Suitable for Framing, has disappeared from the ether meaning I haven't been able to even view it let alone see what locations were featured (please feel free to point me in the direction of any copies should they appear). And Ep 15: Lesson in Fear, actually just rehashed a couple of clips already used in previous episodes. So here we are at the platform in the old KCR terminus in Tsim Sha Tsui for this episode. The story is that Glenn is involved in a helicopter crash that kills his two friends. Left behind is their young son who has a infamous grandfather in Communist China who wants him there. Cue a nefarious plot to kidnap the child by sending in fake aunts from America to secretly take him to China instead of the U.S.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - KCR Terminus, Kowloon

Another of the entry points shown in the opening sequence is the KCR terminus in Kowloon. There is a little bit of footage of some of the old train carriages and then a quick jump to the platform.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Kowloon KCR Terminus, Kowloon

Part of the plot of Clear for Action involves Evans sending his faithful butler over the border on a spying trip. He dispatches him from the Kowloon terminus on the KCR train being pulled by engine #54.

Taylor at the old KCR Terminus

For the train fans who read this site, then please check out Marcus Wong's always interesting blog. I've linked to it before but this link seems to be extra poignant as I believe Marcus has an image of the very same engine seen below in its later purple livery. It's nice to know these things are still going strong nearly 60 years later. Well, at least some of them.

Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon

Narazumono (English title: An Outlaw) is a Japanese gangster film shot in 1964 starring Ken Takakura as a hitman with a conscience (I believe John Woo cites this as one of his inspirations for The Killer). This one was a real hard one to get hold of and so I have to thank my good friend, Arnaud, for lending me the French version. Sadly, this means the plot is really not something I could follow so well, but it doesn't matter because for me it is always the locations that matter most. This is a good thing because Narazumono has a whole ton of them, split between Hong Kong and Macau. It's one of the most comprehensive films I have come across yet in terms of the variety of locations. There are so many, I am finding it quite hard to locate them all.

Incidentally, if you can read French, then Arnaud's book on HK cops and gangster films might be of interest to you.

The film kicks off with Takakura's character, Minami, waiting at the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui for something or another. It turns out he is waiting for a target an is about to carry out an assassination. We get some glimpses of the harbour, as well as the area in the bus terminus next to the old KCT terminus, as well as a view of the hillside that the Marine Police HQ used to stand on before Li Ka-shing decided to rip it all up and chuck in a bunch of high end jewellery stores.

For the hit, a car pulls up and Minami jumps in the back to carry out his contract. We catch a brief glimpse of the KCR terminus, followed by the Star ferry before the opening credits kick in with a nice long shot of the station as it used to look.

The next shot then shows the car driving out of the bus terminus. The top image (below) is the view looking towards the junction with Canton Road. The tree topped hillock is the grounds of the Marine Police HQ and in the following images you can see the stone retaining wall of the hill on the left hand side. The old white YMCA building is beyond it and behind that, the Peninsula Hotel. You can just see the old fire station with its red doors in that last photo. Of course, this was thankfully saved and is still around.

Flight to Hong Kong - Rory Calhoun (1956) - Star Ferry Bus Terminus, Tsim Sha Tsui

A fair bit of action occurs around the bus terminus next to the Star Ferry pier in TST. We get a couple of views towards the old pier building (it was replaced by the current one the following year) as well as a quick glimpse back at the end of the film so that we can see the columns at the western end of the old KCR Terminus (last image). Note that the second image is a studio based back projection. You can tell by the different lighting and focus on the car in the foreground. You can see a nice colour shot from the exact same era over at Gwulo.com.

Stoner - George Lazenby (1974) - Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront, Kowloon

In one scene, Stoner goes to get on a boat and is stopped by the bad guys who have come to beat him up. The location is the old waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui right in front of the old KCR terminus. Look carefully at the background and you can see some of the recognisable brickwork of the clocktower (bottom picture). This also goes some way to show how much the waterfront has been extended since the station was demolished.

Shirley's World (TV Series) - Shirley MacLaine (1972) - Kowloon KCR Terminus, Tsim Sha Tsui

We haven't had this building for a while. For those who don't realise, this was the train station that used to stand along the Kowloon waterfront and whose sole remaining artifact is the famous clocktower.

In Evidence in Camera we get to see a fair bit of the place, mainly from the inside which I don't think I have seen on this blog before.

Five Golden Dragons - Bob Cummings (1967) - Tsim Sha Tsui Waterfront, Kowloon

Before the KCR Terminus in Tsim Sha Tsui was demolished, the public pier was situated right behind it. You can see just a tiny corner piece of the old railway terminus in the top screen grab - it's not much but you can see the angled corner column and one of its neighbouring cylindrical columns that were evident all around the old building.

If you click on the second image of this blog entry you can see the waterfront area on the right is where the filming took place. These days it roughly equates to where Cesar's "The Flying Frenchman" sculpture currently stands.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Kowloon KCR Terminus, Tsim Sha Tsui

Some great shots here of the area around the old KCR terminus in TST - it's sole survivor being the familiar clocktower that stands on the waterfront. But how about the following shot showing the old Post Office?

Pretty cool huh? I actually had no idea it was there. Guess I need to read up a bit more. This whole area - including the station building itself, was completely redeveloped and replaced by the windowless Cultural Centre (tell a lie, it DOES have windows, but they are actually skylights on the roof). You catch a glimpse of the development work courtesy of Bloodsport. But in typical HK fashion (this is the place that took nearly 15 years to sort out what to do with the old Kai Tak Airport site), even though the station was knocked down in 1978, the development was still going on in 1986 when Bloodsport was filmed.

Here we see the guys running past the elegant columns of the station facade. In case you don't read my other blog, there are some remaining station columns making up a display in the former District Council garden in East TST.

It's a real shame that the Cultural Centre design couldn't have been adapted to preserve more of the old building (such as the facade) and I feel the waterfront is poorer for it.

To finish off we have a quick glimpse of the old station platform sign. These big white signs were used all along the KCR line at each station. The Railway Museum at Tai Po still has one (because it is the former station as well), but more about that one later. Look at the top and you can see the Peninsula Hotel poking up at the back.