Bullet in the Head - Tony Leung Chiu-wai (1990) - Kennedy Town Praya

The last post for this film shows the continuation of the car chase along the waterfront. If you ever wondered what Kennedy Town Praya looked like when it was a proper "praya" (i.e. along the waterfront) then look no further. This shows the road before reclamation and the creation of what is now Belcher Bay Park. The green-tinged building centre frame was demolished not long after filming and replaced by the  "Kennedy Town Centre" development.

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - Jason Scott Lee (1993) - Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

A nice angle of Kennedy Town at the far west of Hong Kong Island taken from the harbour as a fishing junk sails by.

Some of the buildings we can see along what is Kennedy Town Praya are still around, but some have also been replaced since the film was made - to be replaced by even taller residential blocks.

One thing has has disappeared for good is the sight of these traditional fishing junks, however, our good friend wikipedia assures me that the one we can see above is in fact the Duk Ling, so you can still come here and actually get on board. Unlike its rather fake looking counterpart - the Aqua Luna - the Duk Ling does have an authentic history as a fishing junk before restoration.

I'm told (but can't confirm) that before the HK Tourist Board chartered the boat for actual cruises around the harbour, the Govt paid the owner a massive fee just to have the thing sail up and down the harbour front all week.

Love is a Many-Splendored Thing - William Holden (1955) - Hong Kong Island Waterfront, Opening titles

One of the standout sequences for me in this film is the opening scene where we are treated to a birds eye view of the northern shore of HK Island. Granted, the views are marred a bit by the titles but once they have finished we still see a few seconds of film that show what the place looked like before the obsession with skyscrapers ruined the view.

The sequence starts off the west side of HK Island with Green island immediately below the camera (next to the 'g' of the top image).

 As the camera (attached to a low-flying plane I suspect) flies on we can see a road on the right hand side that runs parallel to the waterfront - (just under the name 'Doss' below). You can see it a bit clearer in the second picture below as the camera gets closer. I'm open to corrections, but this looks to me to be the western end of Queen's Road West where it joins onto to Kennedy Town Praya. The Praya is separated from the sea by slightly more reclamation now, at this area, but not significantly.

Moving a little further along again and now the camera is taking us past the waterfront Connaught Road West around the area of Whitty Street and further east. None of these waterfront buildings exist anymore and these days the waterfront has given way to some ugly reclamation that houses the Western Wholesale Food Market.

Now that the titles are out of the way the camera continues on and we get an open view of Connaught Road and Des Voeux Road West which runs parallel one block to the south. In other words the wide road we can see below. 

One of the interesting things about Hong Kong is that whilst development goes on all around on the various plots of land, the roads' general shape tends to stay the same. This isn't true all the time of course and indeed sometimes smaller roads completely disappear, but looking above you can see the bend that Des Voeux Road makes (in the bottom picture) as it turns north next to Queen Street and Ko Shing Street. For a modern reference, this corner is where the IBIS Hotel currently stands.

Finally, one last zoom over the bend in Des Voeux Road West and we can see the Macau bound ferries at the waterfront. The only building that was standing in the 1950's that is still around is Western Market, and if you look very closely you can see its roof just in front of the taller building with the arched openings (I think this was a hotel, but I can't find the name of it). These days, most of the building stock around here now dates back only as far as the early 70's.

I'm hoping a ferry fan will be able to discern which ships were at port. They look like two distinctive types one of which perhaps is the Fat Shan that will crop up in my next post, in name if not in physical form.

Soldier of Fortune - Clark Gable (1955) - Kennedy Town Praya, Hong Kong

Originally I though this was where Connaught Road turns inland into Des Voeux Road in Sheung Wan, however, given that at one point we can see what can only be the northern slope of Mount Davis in the background has led me to believe that this is the part of the tram line where Des Voeux Road West leads into Kennedy Town Praya around Shek Tong Tsui.

It's the location of Hank Lee's Godown. Here is what was a nice open view over to the Kowloon mountains in the background.

The upper shot shows the view to the immediate left of the lower one as the camera pans to the right. In Soldier of Fortune Hank Lee runs his business from the Pedder Industrial Co. Godown. Pedder is a name synonymous with Hong Kong because it was the name of the new colony's first harbour master and went on to be used for several sites around what is now Central. Pedder Street bears his name as does the nice old Pedder Building (built in 1924) along it which housed.

Perhaps this was a real building, or perhaps the filmmakers just thought it was an authentic sounding Hongkong-style name that would fit the film's setting. Who knows? Here's what the same strip of land looks like nowadays. At least this is the closest Streetview I can get without the view being blocked by a tram car.

Here is another shot from the film - looking west, which shows in the background the slope of Mount Davis. You can see how close to the water's edge the tram line used to run. No, the tram line hasn't moved at all since it was first built in 1904, but the water's edge now stands a further 100 metres to the north thanks to reclamation.

Here is another modern Streetview grab that shows the same approximate angle.