Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Park Lane Shopper Boulevard, Tsim Sha Tsui

Every tourist to Hong Kong comes here at some point - the Park Lane Shoppers Boulevard. It's well past its sell-by-date if you ask me, but almost unavoidable if you are in this part of TST. I'm surprised I haven't really featured it that much on the blog. It was seen in The Dragon from Russia though.

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Another highly featured location is Nathan Road. It looks like the film company hired one of the open top tour buses and just drove up and down Nathan Road capturing a variety of snippets. The first image below shows Nathan Road at the junction with Ning Po Street. The second one was further north between Shantung Street and Nelson Street. The third one was outside New Lucky House on the corner of Jordan Road.

All the neon signs have since been removed

California Fitness was in Grand Tower

New Lucky House (with the green triangular pattern) on the right

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Shanghai Commercial Bank Building, Mongkok

The main plot of the film follows three rather unpleasant characters who share a room in the same place that Chen rents. They are plotting on robbing a local bank with the help of an insider. The target of their crime is the "Hang King Bank" but the newly built "Shacombank" building on the north east corner of Argyle Street and Nathan Road is the building used for establishing shots in the film. It's another of those not very long lasting buildings because despite being opened in the mid 70s, it had been demolished by 1997. The Shanghai Commercial Bank HQ is still here but in a newer more modern building.

Following the robbery we get a decent glimpse of the road junction with the HSBC building on the opposite corner.

The Brain Stealers - Lily Ho Li-li (1968) - Shui Hing House/Prestige Tower

Another Inoue Umetsugu film here in the shape of The Brain Stealers, one of the many spy-oriented movies that Shaws produced in the 1960s. This one stars Lily Ho as a judo expert, Li Chiu-lan, daughter of a famous scientist who has just invented a process to boost plant growth and yield to help solve food shortages in the light of the earth's ever increasing population. The problem is there is a nefarious megalomanic called Dr Zero who want the obtain the secrets so he can use it on humans and create superhumans to help hm rule the world. Dr Zero has been kidnapping scientists from around the world and forced them to invent a machine that can swap peoples' minds (hence "Brain Stealers"), and he uses the machine on Chiu-lan's brother to swap his mind with one of his henchmen.

The plot is hilarious but good fun and although supposedly shot in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand (according to the excellent HKMDB) it is mainly a studio-based film with the odd location thrown in here and there.

The film opens with a panning shot of the harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui as the camera moves towards a judo class taking place on a nearby rooftop. This is where we first see Chiu-lan's prowess at chucking people around. The building they are training on is what is now called Prestige Tower but back in the 1960s was Shui Hing House. It's a nice view though because we also get to see the upper floors of the former Peninsula Court/Marco Polo hotel, the "Rolex" sign on top of Hotel Merlin and the brand spanking new Hankow Centre in the background (completed 1968 - it's the very clean building in the abckground of the third image).

The Peninsula Court Hotel rooftop (behind the titles)

The sign says (r-l) 香港大川柔道學院 (Hong Kong Great River Judo College)

The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy - Margaret Hsing Hui (1970) - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

The establishing shot for the film's introduction to the third sister, Rongrong (Mona Kwok), is a view of some buildings along Nathan Road at the junction with Waterloo Road. Many of the buildings you can see are still around, including Lai Kee Mansion on the far right. Current view.

The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy - Margaret Hsing Hui (1970) - Kowloon Government Offices

The Kowloon Goverment Offices in Yaumatei also contain the Kowloon Central Post Office and this is the next location we see on film as the letters are sent to the sorting office. The establishing shot shows a couple of buildings, the one in the background has the name 平安大樓 (ping on dai lau) which, for those who don't know, is the Chinese name of the Alhambra Building on the corner of Nathan Road and Kansu Street. The building in front with the grey paint is the Govt office. Both buildings are still around.

The Lady Professional - Lily Ho Li-li (1971) - HSBC Building Mongkok

The establishing shot for the company run by the gold smuggling gang is the HSBC building in Mongkok. It had only been open a couple of years when the film was shot so was still quite modern for the time. The curved concrete shades above each of the window apertures make it quite distinctive. It's still there. In fact I was in there just the other day withdrawing some dosh.

Heisser Hafen Hongkong - Horst Frank (1962) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Here is a shot from Heisser Hafen Hongkong showing the stretch of Nathan Road close to the junction with Mongkok Road. The building in the distance centre frame was the old Pioneer Building which contained the Royal Theatre. The red/blue glass windowed Pioneer Centre now stands there. Michael Hui shot the cinema heist scene at the Royal Theatre for The Private Eyes. This movie was shot in 1962, so only about two years after the building was opened.

Tragic Hero - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Following his return from Malacca, Chai makes a call to Inspector Cheung (Danny Lee) telling him his plan to take out Yung so that Cheung can take all the credit. He makes his call from a phone box located on Nathan Road opposite the Peninsula Hotel. It looks to me like a prop because in one shot the phone box is facing the hotel on the other side of the road, and then in the next it has turned at an angle so that we can see the end of the hotel building facing Salisbury Road.

Notice in the top image how the left arched window aperture is missing the molding from its keystone? That has since been replaced and the rectangular hole next to it has been filled in. As you can see, most of the things I notice in these images are of no interest to anyone...

No doubt the Google location marker will have jumped to a nearby building, but to be clear, this is on the south east corner of the Nathan/Middle Road junction.

A Cause to Kill - Ivy Ling Po (1969) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

There are a couple of scenes shot on the lower part of Nathan Road as Hsin Li drops off and picks up her attache case. The first image below shows her crossing Nathan Road to head to the Peninsula Hotel, the other images are from a later scene as Inspector Sheng (played by Chiao Chiao's real-life first husband Wong Chun-shun - he played the literal back-stabbing uncle in Way of the Dragon) drops her off in a ruse he has planned to prove her guilt. You can just about see the signs for Gaddi's underneath the hotel marquee.

The Merry Wife - Li Ching (1971) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Lin Min then drives his car north along Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, which is an odd way to go when you have just left the ferry in Jordan Road. The screen shots below are a bit blurry but I thought they were worth including because they show a couple of the area's old famous landmarks that have since disappeared. The first shot shows the curved facade of the Princess Theatre at the junction with Kimberly Road. Then just after you can make out the old main block of the Miramar Hotel. Coincidentally, the original Miramar was replaced by a shopping centre and moved to the site of the aforementioned theatre and rebranded to "Mira Hotel".

We see the same spot from a different angle as Lin Min tries to follow the pair as they ride up (and then down again) Nathan Road on a motorcycle.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Bayside Restaurant and Night Club, Chungking Mansions

Anyone familiar with my Bruce Lee stuff may recognise the name of this club as Bruce supposedly went to it (at least once, I guess). I can't confirm that, although it would've had to have been when he returned to Hong Kong in either 1963,  1965 or post 1970, but what I do know is that Mona Fong, girlfriend and later wife of Sir Run Run Shaw, was a club singer here in her earlier career. The interior is obviously a set but the exterior can be seen in several shots of the movie as Cindy's family try to track her down. The club was located in the basement of Chungking Mansions.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back to The Generation Gap and next up and we next see an "in-car" point of view as Ling Xi drives north up Nathan Road. Swindon Books had a shop on the east side of the street here since the early 1960s. It was located in Mirador Mansions. Just beyond the Swindon sign you can see the vertical sign for what I think is the Golden Crown Restaurant in Golden Crown Court. The writing is too blurred to read but the golden crown at the top of the sign is a giveaway.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Once again back on Nathan Road as Shivam continues his introspection. This time we are at the point where Soy Street used to intersect with Nathan Road, however, the junction has been pedestrianised and now a subway allows pedestrians to cross under the road here. Sadly, all the neon you can see in these images has been removed.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Back to Nathan Road as Shivam and Reema spend some time together as she explains her life situation. This sequence was shot at the TST end. The first shot you can see the Imperial Hotel and (part of) the Sheraton Hotel (far right) in the background, but by the time of the second image, they have moved up to the Kowloon Mosque just past the junction with Haiphong Road.

Awarapan - Emraan Hashmi (2007) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

Moving into the night (these songs go on for a long time) and the group of friends are still dancing away on top of an open top bus as it travels up Nathan Road. This is just past the junction with Dundas Street so at the back you can see the modern wide windows of Ko's House and on the left is Hang Lung Mansion, both located either side of the junction. On the right, the building with the clock is the Righteous Centre at 585 Nathan Road.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

We see Nathan Road a couple of times in the film, the first time being during the opening as Victoria's car is heading to her hotel. This is the top image below and shows the area in Mongkok just by Shantung Street. The building on the far right with the red trim is the King Wah Centre which sits on the same site as the old King Wah Restaurant.  There is also another quick scene filmed at night time and used later in the film that was shot from around the same place but on the opposite side of the road.

Hitman - Jet Li (1998) - New Lucky House, Yau Ma Tei

Fu is shacked up with a bunch of other killers-for-hire in what appears to be New Lucky House in Yau Ma Tei. At least that is where the "Hitton Inn" is still located today. This building was recently in the news because of several hundred fire compliance orders that had been ignored by the building's owners and the Buildings Department - and the inevitable fire occurred in April this year (2024), killing 5 people and injuring around 40.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

One of the transitions between scenes includes this rather colourful display along Nathan Road.The identifier in this case is the sign for the Sino Centre (信和中心) on the right hand side (second image). This place is great because it contains one of the second hand DVD shops where I have obtained a great number of films featured on the blog. All of this signage has been taken down now.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

The couples' hired Rolls Royce takes them down Nathan Road on the way to their hotel and we catch a brief glimpse of the very southern end of the road as the car turns onto Salisbury Road. In the background you can see the Sheraton Hotel and 26 Nathan Road (formerly known as Oterprise Square) on the corner of Middle Road where the Ambassador Hotel used to be located.