Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Man Cheong Street, Kowloon

Once upon a time, before the west Kowloon reclamation came along and filled everything in, yau ma Tei Typhoons shelter came right up to the north side of the Ferry Point Estate - a cluster of eight 1960's built tenements that sit just north of the where the old Jordan Road vehicular ferry terminal was located.

The estate is still around and we get to see the northern side of the Man Wai Building when Marenta (Robert Taylor) and co drive their car along what was once the waterfront of Man Cheong Street.

The angle above has us looking west along Man Cheong Street towards Yau Ma Tei and the building behind the Rolls Royce is the Man Wai Building. Here is the current Streetview.

You will spot a few familiar sites if you compare the middle screen grab with the Streetview, but of course the most striking difference is that Man Cheong Street is no longer along the waterfront. In fact the old line of demarcation between land and sea looks to coincide with the double white line on the modern view. Everything to the right of that double white line used to be water, and now carries a huge road network, the Olympian City development, Olympic Rail station and much much more.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry, Kowloon

I'm gonna kill a few birds with one stone here. As the number 1 thing to do on a foreign film shot in HK - we get the requisite shot of the famous Star Ferry ferries (now under-utilised and under threat due to stupid, but expected nonetheless, Govt planning and bureaucracy) and their Kowloon-side berth.

The first few shots show the ferry heading off to Kowloon-side, the film camera being positioned on HK Island looking north across the harbour. We know this because in the background we can see the Man Buildings (aka Ferry Point Estate) again.

On the last grab we can just see the gold buildings of the 中港城, or China Hong Kong City building that stands on Canton Road in TST - they are the 4 patterned glass buildings top right. Then we see the ferry pulling into the TST pier, this time with the camera on Kowloon-side looking south towards HK Island with Victoria Peak in the background. Look through the haze and you will see Jardine House just to the right of the ferry, and further to the right of that building are those that we just saw along Connaught Road. as mentioned in previous posts, this whole view has changed immensely and is now dominated by the IFC development which includes IFC2 - HK's second tallest building.

Finally we disembark the ferry and take a right along the sea front right next to the public piers. If you have ever caught a shuttle over to the restaurants on Lamma Island - this is the place you are usually picked up. The round metal railings you can see are still there, as is the ferry building behind.

The last shot shows us looking back towards the bus terminus behind JCVD. This was for a while under threat of being redeveloped into a sterile plaza - the bus terminus was going to be relocated to the other side of Nathan Road - almost certainly the final nail in the coffin of the Star Ferry. Thankfully, in this case the uproar was so loud that the Govt suddenly woke up to the nonsense of the idea and the Star Ferry lives on...until the next time that is.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Opening sequence, Various locations

The opening title sequence gives us a different view point though and takes us from west to east. First off we get to see the backside of High West (Lung Fu Shan) as the camera sweeps across and reveals Mount Davis and Kennedy town. Look carefully and you may be able to see the twin chimney stacks of what I believe was the Kennedy Town Abattoir, as well as Green Island and just to the distant hazy left is Kau Yi Chau (aka Han's Island from the B&W composite photo in Enter the Dragon).

Next we move over a little more to the east to just behind HK University and can see various buildings that are still around - not surprising seeing as this film is only a little over 20 years old. For example in the shot below the three buildings at the front bottom are on Po Shan Road and are called Piccadilly Mansion, Hamilton Court and (one block of) Po Shan Mansions, respectively. The tall building top left is Hong Kong Plaza and the three identical blocks on the right are the three blocks of a development called Connaught Garden.

Next as we move along we now look over the harbour. I like this shot because I can actually see where I live (although it's a wee bit blurry) in the far distance. But you can make out the transceiver on top of Beacon Hill (that tiny white splodge on the hill in the back centre and if you know your HK geography you should be able to guess that the next major bump in the ridgeline (to the right) is actually that of Lion Rock.

The camera keeps speeding east (to the right) and this time on the far right we can just make out the Ferry Point Estate a.k.a Man Buildings - they've been around since the early sixties and are fairly recognisable, however, this is a view that can no longer be found because the West Kowloon reclamation has blocked it all off and instead these days you will just be able to see the skyscraper development which has the new ICC as its centrepiece.

I was expecting the skyline to be a bit clearer on this DVD - but it seems as though even back in 1991 (well, actually I think the filming took place in 1990) there was a fair amount of haze over Kowloon. Not as much as today but more than I expected...