The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Garden Road, Central

I'll finish this film off with a nice, not often-seen view looking north down Garden Road, from a vantage point around where the road bends...most likely from the pavement on Robinson Road. The first image below is actually a stitch of a vertical panning shot. 

In the background you can see the upper floors of the Murray Building - former Govt offices recently turned into a hotel - "The Murray". In the foreground on the right hand side (with angular balconies) is the previous YWCA building. I'm not sure when it was redeveloped but the YWCA now has a much bigger property at this location. There's still a pedestrian bridge at the same location but I'm not sure if it's the same one. If it is (I think it is) then the footprint of the YWCA has changed slightly because in this image it looks as though the slope of the bridge finished flush with the side of the YWCA. These days the YWCA site is slightly to the right, freeing up some additional pavement.

The building in the right foreground is the old St John Ambulance building on the corner of Macdonnell Road. Again, this has since been redeveloped into a much larger HQ building called St John Tower.

This image below just shows the view past the bend in the road. The small hut is long gone and I think it was probably related to the St John Ambulance building. Feel free to comment if you know.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - View from Estoril Court, Central

We get treated to an old view of Central from the vantage point of the couples' apartment in Estoril Court. The only way you could get a view from Estoril Court these days is from being on one of the top floors - views come with a premium these days. This sequence below is a panning shot from east to west as Zhenzhen surveys the view and then sees Lin Min coming down Robinson Road on his way home.

The building is the original "Albany Flats" - a Govt qtrs

The house on the left is the former #1 Robinson Road
(Villa Elegance now occupies that site)

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Estoril Court, Garden Road

Lin Min has an apartment in Central in Estoril Court. This was the previous version of Estoril Court rather than the current one. The older version was built in the late 1950s and therefore has a bit more of an art-deco style look to it, as was popular in Hong Kong at the time, particulary with its circular balconies. The 1950s was definitely a good decade for interesting architecture in Hong Kong, and certainly a lot less generic than today's buildings.

The first two images show the roundabout where Robinson Road, Garden Road and Magazine Gap Road all meet. The entrance to Estoril Court was directly off this roundabout, the current entrance is in the same location but the roundabout has been removed and access to magazine Gap Road from Robinson Road is now via a flyover.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Magazine Gap Road, Midlevels

The next view is from in front of what is now the Harbourview at 11 Magazine Gap Road. The former development here was called Harbour View Mansions, but I'm not sure when it was constructed and whether it would have been there at the time of filming. I guess it's not relevant anyway. There is a large layby in front of the development where the road curves. These days it's concreted over but back in the 50s it looks like it was basically just a clearing with some great views down into the harbour area. I know the Blogger google marker will probably snap to the address I mentioned above, so here is a link to GoogleEarth showing the location now. Sadly the Google car didn't pull into the layby to provide us with a nice modern day comparison of the view.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - White Jade, Midlevels

The establishing shot for where the head bad guy is holed up is a quick zoom across the harbour to focus on a mid-rise apartment block known as "White Jade" located at 51 Stubbs Road. As you can see from the image below it looked  quite new in 1975 and that's because it was completed the year before. Purple Snake heads there after failing to eliminate Lung.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Unnamed Clearing next to the Peak Tram

I've kept this location separate because I can't quite figure out if it has a name, or is perhaps part of Chatham Path that runs in a rather higgledy piggledy manner between May Road and Barker Road. Anyway, this is seen during one of Loy's dream sequences when he is dreaming about chatting with his deceased father. The location is more or less directly opposite the tennis court of Po Garden, so it's also possible that this is an extension of the podium of Grenville House. I doubt Google will let me place a marker where I want it to (it keeps snapping back to May Road or Grenville House), so here is a GoogleEarth link just to be clear.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - May Road, Mid-levels

Speaking of May Road, the very next shot has Loy running close to the last location but running past a historical residential building called "Gladdon", at #3 May Road, with its rather unique array of garage doors. There's actually fourteen doors in total and a single penthouse apartment above them all. I'm not sure who lives there but I believe it was bought by Kerry properties in 1988, so it's probably lived in by one of the members of Robert Kuok's family (he who owns Shangri-la Hotels, Kerry Group et al). Just a guess, mind you.

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - The Peak Tram

Loy decides to get himself into shape and starts jogging in the morning instead of his usual lying in. He jogs mostly around the Peak and in one scene we can see him from the back of the Peak Tram as he tries to run up the stairs at May Road.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Grenville House, Central

The last post for this film is Atanga's apartment in Hong Kong which is located in Grenville House. Completed in 1971, this place was almost shiny and new when the movie was filmed there. HK-related film aficionados will know that France Nuyen, seen here, was the original Suzie Wong from Broadway and started filming The World of Suzie Wong with William Holden before being unceremoniously sacked, along with the original director, by the executive producer, Ray Stark, when she became ill at the start of Hong Kong location filming in January 1960.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Magazine Gap Road, Mid-levels

The bad guys have their eyes on Jim as he is in Atanga's flat. They are parked up in the layby outside on Magazine Gap Road. In the background behind their car is "View Point" that can also be seen in this post (they are the yellow-painted flats - although at the time I didn't know what they were called).

The Killer - Chow Yun Fat (1989) - Happy Mansion, Mid-levels

Props to Dan Thomas for nailing this location originally, many years ago. This is the location of Jennie's apartment and where the cops catch up with the assassin for the first time. The tall white building in the background of some of the rooftop shots is nearby "Visalia Garden". It looks like the area hasn't changed much except for some of the surrounding buildings to have been given a bit of a spruce up.

Police Story 2 - Jackie Chan (1988) - Bowen Road, Mid-levels

The small tree lined road where the bombers meet up with Ka Kui's after he has grabbed the suitcase of money is Bowen Road. The first image shows the car driving under the elevated section of Borrett Road that leads to Borrett Mansions above. The second image is at the junction with Borrett Road not that far along.

Earlier in this sequence, we get a view past Ka Kui's car looking towards the - under construction - Bank of China Tower. This was captured a little further along either Borrett Road or Bowen Road (hard to tell which one) near to the bend below the old military hospital building. The view is now obscured by #6 Borrett Road development.

Blade in Hong Kong - Terry Lester (1985) - Magazine Gap Road, Mid-levels

There are a couple of scenes in the film when Blade answers his car phone. Coincidentally, both times this happens is when Blade is driving down Magazine Gap Road. The only difference is the jacket he is wearing, so I suspect these scenes were both filmed at the same time with the actor, Terry Lester, driving back up for a quick costume change before run number 2.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - View over Central

After escaping their pursuer, the pair board the peak tram and it's here where they find they have something in common. The scene starts with a great view across Central from above the Peak Tram railway from what looks to be the May Road bridge looking down to the bridge at Magazine Gap Road/Bowen Road. There's lots to see such as the older version of Estoril Court (the kinked high rise on the left), Brewin Court (this side and left of the bridge) as well as the old Commodore's House at 5 Bowen Road (partially hidden by the trees on the right).

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Old Peak Road, Mid-levels

The HK police make their way to the home of the businessman involved in the HK-side of the gang's operations - who happens to be Wang Yu's biological father. The car is shown driving around the circular ramp that connects Old Peak Road with May Road. Spot the previous version of Queen's Gardens at the left hand side. The same location was filmed the following year in Five Golden Dragons but from a slightly different angle.

For long term readers, you will know that the landslide scenes in the Noble House miniseries were filmed on the empty slope after the old Queen's Gardens was demolished and before the construction of the new one commenced.