Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Queen's Garden, Midlevels

I haven't looked at Noble House for a while but was recently contacted by a friendly chap, called Sean, who was living in Hong Kong at the time of filming. I can't post a link to the video he showed me but it was some home movie footage he took of the collapsed building set from the final episode.

Anyway, it turns out that the set was in fact a real slope up in the Midlevels.The film makers took advantage of the recently demolished Queen's Garden building at 9 Old Peak Road and used the slope behind the empty plot to stage the disaster scenes.

Before you get too excited, the slope no longer exists. Just after filming finished work began on construction of not just the new Queen's Garden but also another development behind it called Dynasty Court. The slope was removed and a podium was constructed on which Dynasty Court now stands. The driveway of Queen's garden covers the area where the cars are in the above screengrabs.

Anyway, a big thanks to Sean for letting me watch his excellent home movies and helping identify a location which I had never really considered possible to find. You can click on the location link below to see the exact spot.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Old Peak Road, Central

I guess this is a fairly insignificant location in the general scheme of things, but it provides a good example of how much HK has changed for those people who haven't been here for a while. The scene is when Four Finger Wu and his son are driving around when they come across a landslip preventing them from proceeding. The small road is Old Peak Road and at the time you can see how open the view was.

Here's what the same view looks like today. 

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Starling Inlet, Sha Tau Kok

This location had me stumped several years ago when I first did the Noble House series, however, these days I am a bit more familiar with the out of the way places and have discovered it to be the bridge crossing right next to the stores at the entrance to Luk Keng village. The angle is difficult to reproduce because of the tree coverage along the edge of the road, but if you look at this picture you can see the crossing from the vantage point of the nearby temple.

Given the location, I would expect these scenes to have been filmed at the same time as this one.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Casino Macau Palace, Macau

The floating casino in Macau's inner harbour has appeared a couple of times before on this blog, but usually as the older version that was in service during the 1970's called the Casino De Macau. The version we see in Noble House is the later version that resembles the style used for the Jumbo in Hong Kong (although the latter is not a casino).

The version used in the show was still in use (and might still be as far as I know) although it had been moved from its former place in the inner harbour near Ponte 14 up to the water next to Ilha Verde (aka Green Island).

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - View from The Tregunter, Central

As we have already established, Rose Court in the series is actually The Tregunter in Central mid-levels. The only thing I wasn't completely certain of initially is whether it was Tower 1, 2 that was being used, however, after reviewing the following panorama, I think I am wrong about both of those. Here's why. 

The screen grab is an edited view from Orlanda's balcony in Rose Court. The building on the right is Garden Terrace (built 1983) and moving left the smaller one with the blueish decor is Hollywood Heights (1977). The Albany is missing because it wasn't completed until 1989, which means construction probably hadn't begun yet (remember, the missing Standard Chartered means filming took place probably in 1986 or early 1987). The small low rise buildings at the very bottom of the picture are the roofs of Pine Court and Kam Yuen Mansion, and of course this view would now be completely blocked by the wall-like edifices that are Queen's Garden and Dynasty Court. But what is also missing is Tower 3 of The Tregunter itself.

Tower 3 is a bit of a mystery, but it seems that an initial Tower 3 was built at the same time as Towers 1 and 2 but was significantly smaller in size. It wasn't extended to its current height until 1993. I say extended, but actually, it looks like the original tower was demolished and rebuilt from scratch. Anyway, it seems that Tower 3 was the one that stood in for Rose Court throughout the series and a quick comparison of the entrance on Old Peak Road seems to confirm as such (see this updated post).

If anyone knows the actual reasons behind the redevelopment it would interesting to hear about because at the moment I can only suppose that either there was an initial height restriction due to plot ratio/height restrictions (this seems to be the main reason in HK but also appears to be ignored anyway while the Govt Depts responsible for oversight wring their hands nervously).

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - So Kwun Wat, Tuen Mun

I can remember Thomas identifying this next location several years ago, but for some reason when I moved my blog, this one was forgotten about. The location is the one where John Chen's body is dumped after the bungled kidnapping. The big clue here was the building at the back that belonged to the Koon Lam Vegetable Marketing Co-operative Society. It looks as though the Vegetable Marketing Co-operative society was/is part of a larger organisation, the Vegetable Marketing Organisation, that was set up post-war to encourage local farming as a way to help recovery from the occupation.

The Koon Lam branch ( the name on the building reads from right to left : 管欖區蔬菜產銷有限責任合作社 ) was situated in So Kwun Wat, now part of Tuen Mun District, and you can see an old picture of it on the VMO website. But here it is back in the 80's when it was the site for a fictitious murder/body dump.

Unfortunately for me, So Kwun Wat has undergone a significant amount of development since the filming and the whole area has seen not just small house development, but also large residential developments and even a couple of large schools. All this means that finding the exact location of this little building is a bit difficult, but judging from a few visible landmarks I think it is safe to say that it stood on the side of So Kwun Wat Road. If you compare the mountains at the back of the second from last picture, you can see they match with the ones in the Streetview below.

And the hillock behind Gordon Jackson in the bottom picture looks very much as though it is the small hillock that is now hidden behind the Mrs Cheng Yam On Millenium School at the far end of So Kwun Wat Road.

Anyway, perhaps someone out there can be more exact, but for the moment I have marked the location along So Kwun Wat Road behind the Avignon development.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Hillier Street, Sheung Wan

In one of the Aberdeen bank scenes when the copper tries to catch the gangster who is robbing the bank patrons, a chase ensues and both end up running along Hillier Street towards the junction with Jervois Street. 

The first two shots show Hillier Street, first looking north (towards the Jervois St junction), the second looking back towards the south towards the junction with Burd St.

Here are the current Streetview's. Some change, but also quite a few buildings are still recognisable.

And then later when the policeman loses his gangster and turns to look up and down Jervois St. Top picture facing east, second one facing west.

Followed by the current Streetview. Note that looking westward (second picture) you can just make out the green building that was featured in this blog post.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - King's Road, North Point

Another brief snippet of Hong Kong normality is this quick look at a tram traveling along the road. This was filmed all the way over in North Point where there is a pedestrian flyover where King's Road meets Tong Shui Road.

It looks as though the tram will be terminating at Sai Ying Pun but I'm not sure. Anyway, this view is looking east, much of the signage has been removed but the flyover is still around as are some of the building in the background.

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).

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Queen's Pier, Central

This place is still in the news despite it being removed several years ago. Apparently, the Govt took the step of dismantling it rather than destroying (unlike its neighbour, the Star Ferry Pier) and have it in storage awaiting reconstruction somewhere appropriate. There are basically two camps - the restore it in its original location (now reclaimed) or build it at the new waterfront area. I'm not sure which camp I fall into at the moment. Restoring it to its original location (if the Govt can actually remember where it was exactly) adds historical context but renders it useless as a pier (although I guess it would make a welcome shade from the intense HK summer sun) whereas reusing it as an actual pier means the public will once again get to use it properly but removed from its original context. Hmmm...

Anyway, this is the point where Dunross and Tcholok catch the former's boat to take the trip to Macau.

 

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Sham Wan, Aberdeen

Probably the standout sequence from Episode 2 is the massive fire on board the "Floating Dragon" restaurant. Of course, this is one of the disasters from the novel that was based on real events when the original Jumbo restaurant went up in flames in October 1971. The restaurant had yet to be opened to the public but there were still a massive amount of deaths (30+) from the fire and the whole thing had to be rebuilt.

The version of the Jumbo that finally opened in 1976 and still sits in the Sham Wan section of Aberdeen Harbour is the same one that can be seen below - although obviously it was a sophisticated mock-up that was torched for the TV show along with the use of a not-so-sophisticated miniature (with little toy boats floating around it.

So in the pictures below you can see the boarding pontoons that are tied up at the end of Sham Wan Pier Drive behind the Aberdeen Marina Club (it's a private members club owned and operated by the Shangri-La Hotel group) as well as a nice glitzy closeup of the front section.

We finish this post with a brief glimpse back towards the shore line with the pontoons and the Aberdeen Marina Club in the background.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

I'm currently revamping my Noble House posts and have also revisited some of the things I missed off the last time. I've also changed the date to 1988 because it appears that's when it was released in the US. However, the missing Standard Chartered Bank in many shots around Central actually place the filming at 1987 at the latest.

Anyway, here is one from Nathan Road in Mongkok that clearly shows a neon sign advertising the South China Theatre. It also happens to be one of the location seen in the red-coloured opening credits with Gordon Jackson's face superimposed over the top.

A quick look on the trusty Cinema Treasures website reveals that the South China Theatre was situated at 174 Portland St in Mongkok (the next road over). So this view is facing north and is where Soy Street intersects with Nathan Rd. Here is the current Streetview. Notice that the Crocodile shop was replaced by...surprise surprise...a jewelers.

The cinema, by the way, closed down in 2005 and was replaced by a short-lived mall called Tokyo Town. 

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Kellet Island Cargo Handling Basin, Causeway Bay

This is the cargo basin on the west side of Kellet Island (the eastern side is Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter) and is where we see the Sea Witch in its berth, awaiting Bartlett. Currently the place is a bit of a mess because it is part of the harbourfront reclamation that will see the MTR extended via either the South Island line (which is going to head down to Aberdeen) or the Shatin-Central link. I have no idea which bit they are excavating for at the moment, but suffice to say there won't be much of either the basin or typhoon shelter when they have finished.

 You can just see the Hong Kong Yacht Club building at the back in the lower picture.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - The Tregunter, Mid-levels

Who can forget the destruction of Rose Court both on film and in the book - a fictional event based on a horrific real one that occurred in 1972 along Po Shan and Kotewall Roads. In reality, the fictional Rose Court is actually a rather famous residential development called The Tregunter which, at one point, held the world record as the tallest residential building. The Tregunter actually consists of three blocks staggered up the hill and after initially thinking this was either Block 1 or 2, I am now fairly certain it was actually the - since redeveloped - Block/Tower 3.

A quick look at Streetview shows me that Tower 3 is most likely (for reasons explained here) and you can see the redeveloped entrance along Old Peak Road below.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Hotel Bela Vista, Macau

Here's a picture I have had to use before when I did a full post on another one of Macau's famous hotels. In this case it is the Bela Vista. At the time of filming this was still operating as a hotel (and commentator Neil MacDonald who later worked with Pierce Brosnan on Around the World in 80 Days told us that this hotel was a major filming location for that later series) and it wasn't until over 10 years later - following the 'handover' of Macau to China in December 1999 - that it was first used as it current occupation as the residence of the Portuguese Consul in Macau.

In the screen grab, the Rolls Royce is driving its occupants along the Avenida da Republica, at the time it was a seafront road, but even that small bit of sea we can see above has now been enclosed into what is now known as Sai Van Lake.

The sea wall remains unchanged however, and here is a Streetview grab from the other side of the new lake. You can see the, now, Portuguese Consul's residence centre screen to the right of the lamppost.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Marine Pier, Macau

I've bundled these two together because they are essentially the same location, just a small square separating them from each other. The first is the marine pier where Dunross' boat pulls in and ties up.

Back in the late 80's the pier was still just that - a pier - but there has been much development of this area including road construction and now the access to the open water is blocked by a highway called the Avenida Panoramica do Lago Sai Van. In fact the only decent Streetview shot I can get of the pier is taken from this very same highway - it's not completely obvious but the small strip of water where the pier still sits is now completely landlocked.

Across Barra Square is perhaps the second most famous sightseeing spot in Macau - the A-Mah temple. Here it is peeking through the archway of the pier, it's very distinctive with its red-painted walls.