Erotic Journey: Love Affair in Hong Kong - Hirokazu Inoue (1973) - Ladder Street, Sheung Wan

Following the initial top down view, the next camera angle is located on Ladder Street as the thugs try and snatch Sumio's money before a passer-by intervenes and saves him.

Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - Ladder Street, Sheung Wan

While the Governor and Benson are out looking for clues around Upper Lascar Row, they find a pot with an emblem on it which may be related  to Clayton's kidnapping. Benson suspects someone is following them and hangs back only to find out it is Kraus. Meanwhile the Governor spots the car that Clayton was abducted in and jumps in a taxi to follow. All this takes place around the area where Upper Lascar Row, Ladder Street and Hollywood Road join up.

Blade in Hong Kong - Terry Lester (1985) - Ladder Street, Sheung Wan

After a tour bus chase (a location I haven't been able to identify yet), the bad guys run into the antique emporium on the corner of Hollywood Road and Ladder Street. The sequence starts with a view of the junction of Ladder/Square Streets as Blade loses sight of the baddies. He asks a young passerby - "Half-time" - and after some haggling learns they had entered the shop. This same location also features at the very end of the film as Blade goes back to see Half-time in front of the Man Mo Temple.

So we see Square Street, Ladder Street, Hollywood Road and Man Mo Temple. The first five images are from the initial chase scene, and the lower ones in front of Man Mo Temple are from the end of the film. 

Blades runs onto Ladder Street from Square Street

Back onto Square Street after failing to catch the bad guys inside the shop 

Kam Ho Mansion in the background is still around

La Fine Dell'innocenza - Annie Belle (1976) - Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan

This should be a familiar location for anyone who has read any of my old posts. It's the junction of Hollywood Road and Ladder Street. It first appeared in The World of Suzie Wong way back in 1960 as the location of the "Nam Kok Hotel", but has cropped up multiple times since thanks to the proximity of the Man Mo Temple next door. As you can see by the screencaps, the current bulding was already there back in 1976 with its familiar circular moon door entrance.

Harry's Hong Kong - David Soul (1987) - Ladder Street, Sheung Wan

In general the quality of the available online versions of Harry's Hong Kong is fairly low and has prevented me from really getting into the details of various street-level locations, but here is one that many people should recognise. It's the section of Hollywood Road where Ladder Street crosses on its way up to the mid-levels. You can't see the Man Mo Temple, but the corner building antique emporium (Yue Po Chai Curios Store) doesn't appear to have changed very much over the past 30+ years. The building it is in is the Tai Hing Building. This was the replacement to the older tenement building that featured (as an exterior only) as the Nam Kwok Hotel in The World of Suzie Wong. That older building was replaced by this one in 1967, so this "newer" one is already more than 50 years old. It's sobering to know that Nancy Kwan, who celebrated her 21st birthday whilst filming that movie, turned 80 this year!

Anyway, I think that's about the lot from Harry's Hong Kong. Time for another quick break before tackling the next movie.

Foxbat - Henry Silva (1977) - Square Street, Sheung Wan

In one of those strange time/space movie wormholes, after catching up along Hollywood Road, the action suddenly leaps back to Square Street right next to Man Mo Temple as a bunch of school kids and their lollipop man are nearly run over by the speeding vehicles.

It looks like the building that can be seen at the bottom of Square Street in the second picture once occupied part of what is now the back of the temple. I had no idea it encroached so far into the back of the temple until now. These days it looks like a new building has been joined onto the temple at that section and the outer wall has been completely rebuilt.

In the lower picture, the green building at the back is still there and you may or may not remember me talking about it previously during the I Spy posts.

Thomas, also recently left a message about the man playing the lollipop man, Mui Yan. Here's his comment below:

Talking about Mui Yan, he was multi-talented. He acted, was also a voice actor. He had an electronic appliance shop in Causeway opposite the President Cinema in the 1980s where I bought my first Sony Walkman there, and he used to be a Barber in a Shanghainese barber shop in Causeway Bay.

Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold - Tamara Dobson (1975) - Ladder Street, Sheung Wan

Not just Ladder Street but several parts of it including the area around Man Mo Temple. This, believe it or not, is still the same foot chase that started in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The above pictures are of the junction with Hollywood Road above. The antique shop with the round door/window is still there. The shots below though I'm not so sure - I think they might be the part of Ladder Street that joins with Caine Road - however, the block at the back has recently been redeveloped so I can't confirm.

However, if I'm right and the above bit is the Caine Road section, then this bit below, where the steps get quite wide, could be the section of Ladder Street between Caine Road and Bridges Street.

Anyway, after all that the sequence ends up back at the junction with Hollywood Road with Man Mo Temple making yet another film/TV appearance. I think it must be one of the most-filmed places of worship in HK.

Roaring Fire - Hiroyuki Sanada (1982) - Man Mo Temple, Sheung Wan

One of the standout scenes in this film is the chase sequence when Joji is seen by the guys who murdered his brother. What follows has to be one of the most crazy chase sequences I've watched for a long time, and it proves that Sanada can out-Jackie Mr Chan himself and was doing it several years before Chan's contemporary-set action films became the vogue.

Anyway, the initial part of the chase sees Joji being chased down Ladder Street and then into the Man Mo Temple itself. Climbing and jumping over the walls and causing all sorts of mayhem - it makes me wonder if the film makers had permission to do what they were doing.

Down the steps of Ladder Street

Once at the bottom of the steps he cuts across and leaps over the side wall of the temple garden. The postbox that used to stand here has been in quite a few films over the years, as has the temple itself. 

Once inside he takes out pretty much everyone who gets near to him including the following poor fellow.

Watch your step there!

After taking out the dudes, he sees his chance to escape and promptly jumps right up onto the front wall, runs along the length of it before jumping down and scarpering away.

I Spy (TV Series) - Robert Culp (1965) - Man Mo Temple, Sheung Wan

Another scene from the episode Dragon's Teeth. No surprises about this location really seeing as the last one we looked at was 50 yards away on Square Street.

But of course it's much better the see the whole area via one of AP's excellent photo stitches. Once again many thanks to AP. From this quick glimpse I would say that at the far right is the construction of the building that currently stands there and a quick look on Centamap reveals that the building (Tai Hing Building) was issued its occupational permit in 1967, which kind of fits in quite well i.e. 2 years after this series was made. The film buffs amongst you will know it was this building's predecessor which was used as the external shots of the Nam Kok Hotel in The World of Suzie Wong (filmed 1959, released 1960). And here is a similar angle from Jackie Chan's The Protector.

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong

Once Rizzo finds who he thinks he is after, a chase ensues through various locations, one of which is down Ladder Street, past the Man Mo Temple and onto Hollywood Road.

The building on the right is the one that is still there, replacing the previous building that featured as the Nam Kok Hotel in The World of Suzie Wong. The temple roof looks a bit shabby here and I am sure it has undergone a bit of a renovation since 1975, but notice the old red-painted pillar box and old-style fire-hydrant. Both of these items were visible in the previously mentioned Suzie Wong too (and Jackie Chan's The Protector) but sadly, have long since gone.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Square Street, Hong Kong

A fleeting glimpse of the road(s) around the Man Mo Temple as Holden gets driven home by the daughter of the banks boss. The Square Street and Ladder Street intersection is still recognisable today even though the old buildings have long been replaced by not-quite-as-old-but getting-there buildings.

The thing that has changed is the number of people here. These days the place is deserted, but judging from the film (and there are just too many people there for them to all be extras) it was a hive of activity in the late '50's.