She Shoots Straight - Joyce Godenzi (1990) - Former Marine Police HQ

The police HQ in this film is the former Marine Police HQ in Tsim Sha Tsui. These days it is a boutique hotel. It's current name is FWD House 1881, but this is its thrid name since being reopened about 10 years ago. The building in the background is the Langham, but the view is now obscured by "One Peking". The interiors of the police station were anopther location though.

Former Marine Police HQ - Now and Then

Here's a recent set of pictures I took at the Marine Police HQ. If I was a more diligent location documentarian I would be doing this for all the locations I post about but the problem is that I have over 3000 location posts on this blog so it's a bit overwhelming.

Anyway, here are some rough comparisons for a few locations around the former Marine Police HQ. It's now a boutique hotel that has gone through a variety of names, the current one being 'FWD House 1881'. I have no idea where the 1881 comes from because the building was built in 1884 but I suspect it may be due to the '4' bit being a bit unlucky (so many '4's are dropped in HK because it sounds similar to the word for 'death').

The first images are from Soldier of Fortune (1955). Below is the view looking west along the front of the building. The building was constructed on a hill and when the area was 'revitalised', the whole front of the hill, including where Ronald Chow and Michael Rennie are walking, was excavated to make room for shops. By the 80s, that whole area was covered in mature tree growth, all of it chopped down to make way for jewellery stores no one visits (and hence why many of the shops are now empty).

1955 v 2024

1955 v 2024

The image above of Michael Rennie was shot at the eastern end of the front facade. It looks as though there was a partition wall to the right of him that was removed at some point.

Next up are some relatively more recent film grabs, although they show the place before it was renovated and still had its white/light blue colour scheme. The image below is from Takeshi Miike's 2002 Dead or Alive: Final. The top image below shows (what were) the stables on the west side of the compound. I believe this building has since been converted into a Sushi/Sashimi restaurant.

And finally a location that was a bit harder to get a decent compariosn of because of the time ball machinery that has been reinstalled smack bang in the middle of the room. The old time ball tower, located at the front of the former Marine Police compound, had a metal ball on a spike that was dropped every day at 1pm so that ships in the harbour could calibrate their onboard clocks to allow more accurate calculation of longitude. This responsibility was later (1908) passed on to the tower at Blackhead Point/Signal Hill. As you can see from the screengrab, the mechanism for the time ball was absent in 2002, so I can only assume it was in storage somewhere and was reinstalled when the whole compound underwent its renovation and was reopened back in 2009.

The Magic Crystal - Andy Lau (1986) - Former Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

Next film up is The Magic Crystal. The film stars Andy Lau (as...Andy!) and is about a mystery lump of jade with magical powers that falls into the possession of his nephew. As a result they are pursued around the globe - well, okay, between Greece and Hong Kong - by a powerful Russian gangster, Karov (Richard Norton). We have Cynthia Rothrock, Max Mok, Wong Jing, and Sharla Cheung in supporting roles.

The film opens with a view of the old Marine Police HQ shot from what is now a non-existent location - the former front area that was removed during the building's 'renovation'. It's now a boutique hotel and the area in front, part of the hill the building stands on, is now a void filled with former high-end jewelery stores, but many now empty (because that's what happens when you put all your eggs into the "high-spend mainland tourist" basket, and then they go elsewhere).

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

The car arrives at its destination, the former Marine Police HQ in Tsim Sha Tsui. This place has changed identity so many times in the last ten years I've lost track. Apparently it's now known as FWD House 1881 (formerly the Hullet House Hotel, formerly 1881 Heritage, formerly the Marine Police HQ). FWD being a local insurance company founded by the son of Li Ka-shing. Li, in case you weren't aware, is the former boss of Cheung Kong who won the contract to destroy the plot of land the building is on to make way for a bunch of high-end jewellery stores. You can never have too many jewellery stores...

Anyway, this is the police base where Dega makes contact with the local police boss who have been able to arrest Marcone and keep him in custody. All Dega has to do is handcuff himself to the suspect and get him on a plane back to France. Simple, right?

There's a nice view of the old sloped driveway on the west side of the (former) hill, as well as some interesting shots in and around the old carpark (now a void filled with aforementioned stores). Note that the view to the former KCR clocktower (top image) is unobstructed because this film was made after the old railway station was demolished, but before the construction of the Cultural Centre.

That's the old Stable Block in the background

Dead or Alive: Final - Shô Aikawa (2002) - Former Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the real gems of this film in terms of locations is the use of the old Marine Police HQ for the main police station where Officer Honda works. Miike took the opportunity to use the place when it was in a state of complete emptiness and looking rather neglected and dilapidated. Of course, it has since gone on to become the rather gaudy Hullet House/1881 Heritage shopping mall.

We get a fair amount of interior scenes of the main building, as well as a couple of scenes shot inside the round time ball tower, a brief scene on the roof and also at the side where the garages are. Perhaps there are some former HK Police and Marine Police members who are able to identify some of the interior locations within the building.

Inside the roundhouse

Around the World in 80 Days - Pierce Brosnan (1989) - Former Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

No, not the David Niven film nor the Steve Coogan/Jackie Chan version but rather the four hour mini series filmed in the late 1980's and starring Pierce Brosnan. In truth, a series that shows there is a limit to Brosnan's acting abilities as well as the production department's budget. We see a few old faces here - Brosnan has already been here before for Noble House and Detonator 2 and Julia Nickson who was also in Noble House as well as China Cry amongst others.

The series was filmed in various locations including Hong Kong although, rather ironically, the Hong Kong section of the film was made in Macau and the instead Hong Kong itself stood in for a variety of other locations! The first location we see is that of the former Marine Police HQ in Tsim Sha Tsui which stood in for Bombay Central Police Station.

In case you recognise the passageway where Peter Ustinov is standing, it's the very same one Forest Whitaker et al stood in for Bloodsport a few years earlier.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

A nice view of the pre-high-rise Peninsula Hotel as viewed from the harbour. It looks like it was undergoing some renovation of the east wing because all I can see is the fabric cladding that always gets put up when that kind of stuff is going on. To the left is the old YMCA building with the Hankow Centre behind it, and the old Marine Police HQ can just be seen on the far left of the lower picture.

Shirley's World (TV Series) - Shirley MacLaine (1972) - Former Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

When Shirley has her camera stolen, she goes to report the theft at the Marine Police HQ in TST.

Shadow of China - John Lone (1989) - Former Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

After leaving his stuff at the nightclub, Akira returns to his hotel. It turns out that the exterior of the former Marine Police HQ (now Hullet House) stood in for the hotel complete with fake neon sign stuck on the front.

Five Golden Dragons - Bob Cummings (1967) - Former Marine Police Headquarters, Tsim Sha Tsui

The base of the police n this film is the former Marine Police HQ in Tsim Sha Tsui that has since been turned into the Hullet Hotel. Building aside, the developers (Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong) ruined the area by excavating the hillside and filling it with tacky jewellery shops. The top two pictures show the front whilst the latter one shows the west side of the building that faces onto Canton Road.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Marine Police HQ Interior, Tsim Sha Tsui

After seeing what the area around the Marine Police HQ used to look like, here are a few shots taken in the interior as the two US police (played by Norman Burton and a very young and slim Forest Whitaker) meet with the HK Police Inspector (Philip Chen, who also played the gangster in Double Impact).

Of course, the only upside to the recent reopening of the old HQ (it's been turned into the Hullet Hotel) is that it is more accessible now than it was previously - although more so to guests than just scruffy oiks like you and me - but at least you can wander around the verandahs and peer inside without having to pay through the nose for one of the rooms.

We also get to see some more of the Marine Police HQ later on in the film when our intrepid reporter feels the need to try and enlist Police support in stopping Dux from doing any more fighting.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Marine Police HQ, Tsim Sha Tsui

The shot begins with a nice look over to Causeway Bay in the distance (check out the SOGO sign) and then pans down and left as the camera captures some seafront development in TST before ending pointing down at the car park in front of the Marine Police HQ. Actually, I look at this scene with a tinge of sadness for two reasons: it shows two key pints of redevelopment in TST which I feel should have never happened.

This first section shows us a few things, from the quarrying on the side of Mt Butler (top left), to the SOGO store in Causeway Bay as well as the 1987 waterfront along that section of the island. Look closely and you will see the Excelsior Hotel, Kellet Island Yacht Club, and a small box which marks the area where the cross-harbour tunnel sinks into the water. Of course, this area is still undergoing major works as the 'final' section of harbour reclamation is completed.

As we scroll down we see a load of construction work going on in the lower Kowloon-side part of the scene. I was scratching my head on this one until I realised that what we are looking at is the construction of the HK Cultural Centre along TST waterfront. Yes, that windowless cream-tiled abomination that looked out-of-date the minute it was completed. Remember that to make way for this, a very beautiful and elegant historical train station was torn down (its only remnant being the famous TST clocktower). Well, that was the first piece of regrettable development. The second can be seen as the camera continues to pan down.

The sad thing about the second part of this scene is that everything you can see, other than the front portion of the Marine Police HQ building, has gone! When Cheung Kong got hold of the tender to redevelop this building they decided to completely excavate the whole front portion of the hill so they could put in a concrete and marble lined plaza surrounded by high-end jewelry stores. It may provide a great photo opportunity for camera wielding tourists but its turned a pleasant, quiet tree-shaded area into a barren glitzy excuse to charge high rents to another big high-end chain store :-(

Thankfully, the Marine Police HQ building itself is a protected monument (although I doubt the penalty for "accidentally" demolishing one wouldn't be very high).

Soldier of Fortune - Clark Gable (1955) - KCR Train Terminus, Kowloon

A shot from the opening credits of Soldier of Fortune. The angle indicates this shot was taken from the roof of either the YMCA  or the Peninsula Hotel. It was a sad day when the Colonial Administration took the decision to knockdown the train terminus building in 1978.

It's not just the clock tower that can still be seen today, but also the small white tower that once supported the time ball in the grounds of the Marine Police HQ.