Narazumono - Ken Takakura (1964) - The Cenotaph, Central

A further meeting between Minami and the Japanese lady takes place at the Cenotaph in Central. Lots of nice views around the whole area including the elegant former Hong Kong Club. Sadly, Queen's Building had already gone by this time, replaced by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel a couple of years prior to filming.

Ghosts Can't Do It - Bo Derek (1989) - Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Central

The swimming pool scene, when Derek is held at gunpoint and forced to eat a sleeping pill, was filmed in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. I have no idea if the hotel pool still looks like this but you can find pictures of it with this decor if you look hard enough. The problem I have with this scene is that it seems to have been cut just after Derek takes the pill. The following scene has her suddenly waking up in her hotel room with no real explanation as to what just happened. It feels as though there are some key scenes missing and I wonder if they are the ones involving Jon T. Benn that I couldn't otherwise find. If anyone knows the answers, please feel free to comment.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Xmas Decorations 1972, Central

Although released in 1973, the filming of Das Mädchen von Hongkong took place in December of 1972. So it's not surprising that the film maker caught some footage of that year's Xmas decorations. Here is a couple of shots taken in Central that show the old HSBC HQ and Chater Road (with Prince's Building on the left and the Mandarin Oriental on the right). I think the both shots were taken from the same location but the camera just swiveled right to get the shot looking up Chater Road.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Connaught Road, Central

A rather nice colourful shot from Connaught Road giving us views of the old Standard Chartered Bank (formerly Chartered Bank) building, Princes Building, Mandarin Oriental as well as a distant view of the old GPO building at the corner of Pedder St, here's a close up I posted previously.

A Queen's Ransom - George Lazenby (1976) - City Hall, Central

Here's a few shots of the area round City Hall. The first shot shows the camera looking west along Connaught Road with the City Hall building on the right hand side. On the extreme left is the lower floors of the Furama Hotel (now replaced with AIA Central building) followed by what was once the home of Cable and Wireless - Mercury House. I'm not sure what year it was demolished but it has since been replaced by the short-lived Ritz Carlton (seen here) and then again by the current building, CCB Tower. Next along is the recognisable form of the old Hong Kong Club building with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel just beyond on the other side of the square.

There is also some archive footage of the Queen visiting City Hall from the harbour side of the building (i.e. what would be off camera to the right in the top picture). 

Stoner - George Lazenby (1974) - Central, Hong Kong

Stoner, also known as The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss, is the first in a series of three films that George Lazenby completed under contract to Golden Harvest. I already covered one of the three a while back (The Man from Hong Kong). What happened was that Lazenby had been to Hong Kong to sign on for the original Game of Death when it was still in pre-production with Bruce Lee. Lazenby was there to work with Bruce and my understanding is that The Man from Hong Kong was originally intended to be a Lee vehicle as well (as was Robert Clouse's Golden Needles which was also originally meant to star Lazenby). Sadly, Lee died whilst Lazenby was on his HK trip (he was supposed to be meeting him the night he died) but Raymond Chow being Raymond Chow made the ex-Bond star honour his recently signed film contract and the end result was Stoner, The Man from Hong Kong and finally, A Queen's Ransom.

This film also ties in with the documentary Kung Fu Killers because Lazenby was interviewed by Grant Page on that documentary whilst in the process of making this film and some BTS clips from it are included.

Despite being largely set in Hong Kong (as well as some shots in Sydney), there are surprisingly few locations to be found and most of the key scenes were done in the studio. But here is a brief shot of the Connaught Centre (as it was known then) as the Hong Kong establishing shot.

The panning shot finished looking over to the Mandarin Oriental and Furama Hotel (in the background). Ooh and before I forget here is another view of  some of the same buildings but from the vantage point of the harbour.

Weiße Fracht für Hongkong - Dietmar Schönherr (1963) - Edinburgh Place, Central

There's a nice long scene filmed around City Hall and Edinburgh Place including this really nice shot looking over to the old Star Ferry pier.

City Hall was pretty much brand new when this filming took place, it had opened the year before in 1962.

And then a final view looking over the top of the car park towards the also newly completed Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

Shirley's World (TV Series) - Shirley MacLaine (1972) - Connaught Road, Central

This is the section of Connaught Road in front of where the old Star Ferry pier used to be. You may remember it from The World of Suzie Wong, but by the time Shirley's World was being filmed the old Queen's Building had already been replaced by the Mandarin Oriental (seen in the background on the left).

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

Moving a few streets over from the last post and this time we are at that rather large and open junction in Central formed by the intersection of Pedder Street, Des Voeux Road and Chater Road. From this angle we are standing on Des Voeux Road looking down Chater Road.

There's actually only one building in this scene that is still around and that's the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the distance. The smaller more ornate one next to it is the original St George's Building. This is possibly one of the last times it was captured on film because the building was knocked down in 1966 and replaced by the current version. You can also see the former Union House (on the left, it was later renamed Swire House but has since been replaced by Chater House) and on the right is the former incarnation of Alexandra House. The junction itself looks very similar despite the buildings all being replaced.

Day of the Panther - Eddie Stazak (1988) - Central Harbourfront, Hong Kong

This is the clip that confirms that Trenchard-Smith cheated a bit on the HK footage. The film was made in 1988, but the following screencaps show us this footage was made several years previously.

We have the usual suspects to look at including the Furama Hotel, City Hall, the Mandarin Oriental, Jardine (then Connaught) House. But look closely and you can see some stuff that really shouldn't have been there in 1988. The most obvious is the old HSBC Building (see second pic above the "Exe" of "Executive Producers". This building was demolished in 1984 and replaced by the current Foster designed iconic (but ugly) structure. But actually, there is a building that was demolished even earlier, it's the Hong Kong Club - you can just see it on the far left of the second picture. This place was demolished in 1981. Sadly, my knowledge can't place it any earlier than that, but feel free to comment if you can see a building in there that was knocked down even earlier.

So, I wonder if this was footage that Trenchard-Smith still had from his earlier forays into filming in Hong Kong? It certainly wasn't filmed for the purpose of this movie.

Detonator II: Night Watch - Pierce Brosnan (1995) - Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong

No, it's not really the CIA Headquarters in Hong Kong - I'm fairly certain all those dudes are probably all based at the US Consulate - but in this film the old Swire House can be seen occupying the space now taken up by the rather architecturally bland Chater House.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

For the sake of completeness, here is a brief snippet of the junction in Central that marks the beginning of both Des Voeux Road and Queen's Road. I might be wrong, but the angle suggests this may have been snapped from somewhere around the former Hongkong Hilton (replaced in the mid-90's by the Cheung Kong Centre).

Hong Kong 97 - Robert Patrick (1994) - Chater Road, Central

Well, the view from Chater Road rather than Chater Road itself. We can see The HSBC HQ, one of the MTR exits, The Mandarin Hotel in the background before finally stopping right next to the entrance to the Hong Kong Club.

The Chairman - Gregory Peck (1969) - View over Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

In the film Peck stays at an unnamed hotel, but it's quite obvious from the view that the film crew managed to gain access to a balcony/terrace (or perhaps roof) on the Mandarin Oriental. I guess it's possible they were staying there and took advantage of the location to get some shots in before having to leave.

We see the same view a couple of times, once as a scene setter and then later when Peck's character (he's called Hathaway in the film) peers out of his room window.

First there is the initial panning shot which I also merged into a fairly decent panorama as you can see. It's a pretty good look over the harbour taking in Kowloon as well as nearer sites such as the old Star Ferry pier with its famous and dearly missed clock as well as Queen's Pier (also dearly missed but due to make a return if it hasn't already) and the white block in the lower left is City Hall.

Then later in the film we get an additional look the other way showing the buildings along Connaught Road. Some of these buildings do still exist despite everything around them changing. You can also see the old vehicular ferry pier and the large car park that was eventually turned into Exchange Square.

Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold - Tamara Dobson (1975) - Connaught Centre, Central

These days it's called Jardine House but when it was originally built in the early 70's it was called tjhe Connaught Centre and was Hong Kong's highest building. In fact it was Hong Kong's very first official skyscraper. I must admit that I had no idea the central walkway system (or at least the part around here) was also quite so old. Anyway, see for yourself.

Look carefully and you can just see the Furama Hotel in the background with its signature round restaurant at the top and top of the Mandarin Oriental on the far right. This means we are looking from the west to the east, so here is a reasonable comparison courtesy of Streetview.

I'm a bit curious about the green metallic walkway in the screen grabs. First glance makes it look like a precursor to the modern glass version you see in the Streetview capture, however, I suspect that this may have been the conveyor belt from the harbourfront to the General Post Office - carrying bulk mail from the office to and from the post office boats. Can anyone confirm?