The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Kwun Tong Police Station

It all ends at the police station as Gen Lai takes Xiao Rong in for all the naughty stuff he's been doing. Once again, it's a Shaw movie so it must be Kwun Tong Police Station.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Tung Ming Street, Kwun Tong

Agent 009, along with his newly acquired sidekick (Lee Kwan) who he first met when he was arrested, heads off to the company where the two assassinated agents worked. The building where the company was based was located on Tung Ming Street in Kwun Tong. The initial view below, looking up Tung Ming Street, is remarkably similar today. The building on the left is the St. John the Baptist School. However, the building the actors go into, located on the corner with Yee On Street, was replaced by the Kwong Ming Building in 1987.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Kwun Tong Police Station

Following the altercation with his brother, Ling Xi tries to break into Cindy's house but is caught by the police, assaults them and is arrested. He spends the night at Kwun Tong Police Station where he meets one of the gangsters whose gang he later joins.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Lam Tin Estate, Kwun Tong

Next up, Wong goes on a one man raid against a group of gangsters who are tooling up on a rooftop. This was filmed on top of one of the blocks of the old Lam Tin Estate. The first image shows Wong and side-kick (Fung Hak-on) standing on Kai Tin Road with Block 11 behind them. The small block was the fomer Pooi Shing Primary School. 

Judging by the angle on Kwun Tong Police station - which also features in the sequence when a bunch of cops are sent in as backup - then it looks like the rooftop fight was also filmed on top of Block 11. The whole estate underwent a staged demolition that was completed by 2002 and new blocks built to replace the old ones. In terms of the current area, Kai Yan House of the Kai Tin Estate, and the neighbouring carpark occupy the site where Block 11 used to stand.

Kwun Tong Police Station

Kwun Tong Police Station top right

The Head Hunter - Chow Yun Fat (1982) - Ngau Tau Kok, Kwun Tong

As Vickie and her cameraman do some more investigation into the mysterious goings-on at the film company, they install themselves on a nearby rooftop to do some reconnaissance with their binoculars. The location was a building located at 367 Kwun Tong Road looking towards Ngau Tau Kok MTR station. The area has changed, as you would expect, and the building they are on has been replaced by a residential building called the Lai Yue Building. Having said that, the large industrial building in the first image (it looks like two buildings because of the different facades) is still around. It's the Meyer Industrial Building - owned by the famous cookware company. The second image shows Ngau Tau Kok MTR station.

Black Mask - Jet Li (1996) - Kwung Tong Promenade

I'm finally back in Hong Kong and the next location is from the scene where one of the drug kings, Ricky Tai (Henry Fong Ping) - I seem to remember Rush Hour 2 reused that name for John Lone's character - is on his way to a gang meeting at the beginning of the film. It was partially filmed along what is now the beautified Kwun Tong promenade. It wasn't so tidy back then and you can see all the floating construction rigs at the waterfront on the left hand side. The same location was seen in La Moustache.

To Be Number One - Ray Lui (1991) - Jordan Valley Resettlement Estate, Jordan Valley

In reality, Ng was a prolific drug dealer in the Shek Kip Mei resettlement estate, selling drugs via a network of mobile carts selling noodles. However, I think by 1991 (when the film was made) much of the old estate had already been changed and some of the older blocks had already been replaced by taller ones. As a more authentic-looking stand-in, the film crew were able to use the soon-to-be emptied Jordan Valley Resettlement Estate for the "Shek Kip Mei" fight scene as Ng takes out his main competitor, Gold Teeth Ping (Ng Man-tat).

The estate was emptied in two stages in 1991 and 1996 and the area has since been turned into a small park and public swimming pool. However, some of the infrastructure seen in the film remains including the Jordan Valley River nullah and the main road that curved into the estate (first image).

Desperate Mission - Germán Cobos (1965) - River Jordan Nullah, Kowloon Bay

It does appear that much of the car chase was filmed along various points of Kwun Tong Road, however, this small snippet below is interesting enough to include separately because it shows a piece of infrastructure that seems to have disappeared into the mists of time.

The shots below show Agent Z-55's escape vehicle driving alongside a nullah (in Hong Kong this term refers to what is essentially a former natural waterway that has been concreted for easier control). This was the River Jordan that flowed down from the Kowloon hills, through the Jordan Valley and emptied into Kowloon Bay. This road doesn't appear to have a name but at the time connected Kwun Tong Road with the nearby Jordan Valley Resettlement Estate.

The nullah is actually still around. The aforementioned resettlement estate was demolished and the site now holds the Jordan Valley public swimming pool, and the nullah - now called the Jordan Valley Channel - can still be seen running along the north side of the site. However, it disappears underground by Choi Ha Road and on some maps is marked as continuing under Ngau Tau Kok Park, then under the Kowloon Bay MTR Depot, and then continuing onto somewhere near Sheung Yuet Road. I can only imagine it continues under here until it discharges into Kowloon Bay, but if any local engineers out there know any better please feel free to comment.

For some modern day context, the junction with Kwun Tong Road seen in the last image below - where Kwun Tong road bridges the channel - was located at the point where the footbridge from Exit A of the nearby Kowloon Bay Station now stands.

Desperate Mission - Germán Cobos (1965) - Yet More Kwun Tong Road

The police still can't catch Agent Z55 so they send up a helicopter to help. The initial aerial images after the chopper takes off is of another part of Kwun Tong Road. The following is looking south from above the old "Garden Estate" (since redeveloped from the low-rise buildings you can see in the bottom left corner into a huge high rise estate). The building in the background with the ramps along the side was the old Kwun Tong bus depot. That site is now occupied by Millenium City 1. The two petrol stations lower centre frame (2nd image) were replaced by Ngau Tau Kok MTR station.

As the camera pans right, the 3rd image shows the old Grandeur Factory Building. This was still around until quite recently and was quite recognisable thanks to the model plane shop that occupied the ground floor called World Models Manufacturing Company and had two large model jet planes attached to the top of the first floor canopy. Anyway, it's now gone and has been replaced by "Boton Technology Innovation Tower".

Next up is a big mess of white.The building in front was called Mong's Industrial Building, but I don't know what the building behnd was called. That whole block now contains Ricky Centre, Nina Hotel Kowloon East and Kinox Centre.

The final image shows the building that sat on the corner of Hung To Road and Lai Yip Street, this was until last year (2022) the Tsui Wah Group Centre. Tsui Wah being a famous local restaurant company. It's now gone. But look next door and you can see the low-rise Lay Yip Street substation and next to it the still standing (for now) H.S. Chan Building at 4 Hung To Road.

Bus Depot and Petrol Stations 

Grandeur Factory Building

Mong's Industrial Building in front

Desperate Mission - Germán Cobos (1965) - Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong

One of the roads we see during the vehicle chase is the Kwun Tong Road, although at the time of filming is was a fairly new road and development alongside it was still limited. The view of the road is very similar to this one filmed the following year for Asia-Pol Secret Service, although I think the images below were probably filmed slightly further east, but not much.

There's actually a few more images of different sections of Kwun Tong Road that I will share but will do so in a later post.

The Killer - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Kwun Tong Public Pier, Kwun Tong

Where Ah Jong goes to contemplate his life after realising he had been double-crossed. The Kwun Tong Public Pier is the smallest of the 3 piers at this location, the other ones being the ferry pier and the vehicular ferry pier. Judging by the amount of mist on the harbour, I would say this scene was probably filmed around this time of year (March/April) as the air starts to warm up and the humidity starts to creep up. The harbour does sometimes get this weird thick covering of fog so it was good timing to capture it on film.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Kung Lok Road, Kwun Tong

A sort way along Kung Lok Road and Wang Yu spots some derelict ground away from people and pulls the car over in preparation for the bomb to explode. The location of this spot of open ground was a bit difficult to find but I was helped by the buildings in the background that allowed me to pinpoint it. Remember the Johnson Industrial Mansion/Chuan Yuan Factory Building in this post? Well, it can be seen in the background of image 1 just above and right of the white car. The building that occupies the right side of the frame is the (then) newly built "Wah Mei Lau" of the Kwun Tong Garden Estate. Moving left is the aforementioned factory building on Kwun Tong Road and next to that is another industrial building consisting of two parallel low rise blocks. I dont know the name of this building, but I will tell you that it occupied the plot now filled with Manulife Place (348 Kwun Tong Road). The empty space where the car stops is where "Hyde Towers" now stands.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Hong Ning Road, Kwun Tong

The previous post of Shui Ning Street was viewed from the vantage point of the location of this next post - Hong Ning Road. All that has happened is that the camera has turned 90 degrees to the right so it is now pointed down Hong Ning Road as Wang Yu's car drives up. As you can see in the second image, the car takes the left hand turn onto Kung Lok Road. The buildings on the corner block here (Hong Ning Building and its neighbour the Tung Ming Building) are still around, so this view is very similar today - apart from slightly more development down the hill. I'm not sure what the gold cross was for but Hong Kong is a very religious organisation-dominated place so it was probably either a church or church-run school (most local schools in HK are religiously affiliated due to the Colonial Govt's policy of gifting parcels of land to them on the proviso that they set up a school on it). 

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Shui Ning Street, Kwun Tong

Another jump in geography as we are shown a wide angle shot of Wang Yu's car driving up a slope in front of a squatter village. However, we are still in the Kwun Tong area because the road the car is driving up is Shui Ning Street. At the top of the road, next to the white high rise on the left of frame, the road does a 90 degree right hand turn onto Wan Hon Street. The development (and subsequent redevelopment) here since the film was shot is immense and most of what you see is now covered with high rise apartments. However, the squatter area in front isn't - it was turned into Hong Ning Road Recreation Ground. The camera itself is located on Hon Ning Road on the west side of the ground.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong

What had started off as a logical route from Chatham Road South to North and then through to Ma Tau Wai Road now goes all weird as Wang Yu is now driving west along Kwun Tong Road. The key landmarks for identifying this spot is the ridgeline of Black Hill in the background, as well as the Far East Factory Building, Johnson Industrial Mansion/Chuan Yuan Factory Building - all still around and located on the west side of the junction with Yan Yip Street.

The Johnson Industrial Mansion/Chuan Yuan Factory Building is worth noting because it helped me pinpoint a difficult location in an upcoming post.

SPL - Donnie Yen (2005) - Kwun Tong Bypass, Kwun Tong

On their way to raid Wong Po's drug house, the police team drive along the Kwun Tong Bypass. In the background of the top image is the Kowloon Flour Mills (九龍麵粉廠). There is a good outline of the place over on Hugh Farmer's Industrial History of Hong Kong website. However, film fans may be interested to know that the building served as a template for some of the CGI buildings created for Transformers: Age of Extinction. The building with "Elite"written on the front has since been replaced.