Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Man Cheong Street, Yau Ma Tei

A big thanks to Dave in TST for letting me know and providing me with this next title. Just when I think that the "HK-shot semi-erotic" film genre has been exhausted (I've already covered Emmanuelle: L'antivierge, Black Cobra Woman, Vanessa, Felicity, Les Fruits de La Passion, Love Circles and La Fine Dell'innocenza, so nothing is below my "locations" purview) another pops up out of the blue, so to speak. It's a good job because there are a couple of new locations here that make it worthwhile.

I'm not sure why Pauline Teutscher doesn't get top billing seeing as she is the main character in the film. She plays a journalist, Julie, who has been tasked by her boss to help stimulate the circulation of their newspaper by getting hold of something that will sell papers. For the film this means getting her two mates to Hong Kong and then getting them snapped in compromising positions with a variety of men.

The film starts with Julie standing on Man Cheong Road, in front of the Ferry Point Estate, getting hold of a scoop about some collapsing buildings. In the background is the old typhoon shelter - before it was completely reclaimed - and across the water you can just make out the Yau Ma Tei Police Station and buildings beyond.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

When the police are about to launch their attack on Sumuru'a fortress island, they first assemble at a pier in the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. Once again the nearby Yau Ma Tei Police Station gives us a rough indication of where the pier stood. You can see the station in the top picture, it's the white building in the background. 

The position of the pier/waterfront where the actors are seems to tally with the north side of Man Cheong Street. A large portion of the Ferry Point Estate was already completed by 1966/1967, so I think I am probably correct in saying this most likely filmed on the north side of man Cheong Road in front of the Man Wai Building (completed in 1966). The low rise buildings along the road at the back (it's still Ferry Street by the way) have since been replaced by one of China Light & Power's substations and the Saigon Street Playground.

In the lower picture you can see the old tenements that used to line Ferry Street that have since been replaced by Prosperous Gardens, but the building at the back between Maria Rohm and Paul Chang's head (he played the Police Inspector) is the still-standing Wah Tak Building along Waterloo Road.

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.