Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Alexandra House, Central

Another major building in the central area, this time the original Alexandra House that stood at the junction between Chater Road and Des Voeux Road Central. This art deco style version was built in the 1950s and lasted until the mid-70's before being demolished and rebuilt into the current version. I prefer the older one.

In the background on the left you can see the end of the old Prince's Building which was demolished a few years after this for another modern, less inspiring, replacement. The same can be said for the other side of the background. The Chartered Bank building lasted slightly longer (in to the 1980s) before being redeveloped.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Statue Square, Central

One of my favourite shots from the Freebooter episode is this one of Evans (Rod Taylor) parking his car in Statue Square and crossing Des Voeux Road Central. As you can see from the images below, this was a time when there were parking spaces to be had and Prince's Building was still around.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

One of the establishing shots that pops up in the pilot episode (and several subsequent ones from the series) is one looking down Des Voeux Road Central from next to the Bank of China Building. The ornate lion on the left fronts the bank's Des Voeux Road entrance. Of course, that is the old Prince's Building in the background. It was knocked down not long after Queen's Building and the newer (current) version opened in 1965.

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.

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - The Cenotaph, Central

This area is off-limits to pedestrians these days but it does appear, at some point in the past, to have been freely accessible to the public. The other thing to notice in this scene, which I had failed to do previously, is that the Standard Chartered building is missing beside the HSBC building. This puts a date on the filming sometime around 1987. According to wiki, the Palmer and Turner (now P&T) designed current building didn't start construction until March of that year. In this scene it looks like an empty space, so whether or not that counts as construction started I have no idea.

Although I failed to capture it in the screen grabs below, the Cenotaph was only recently (Nov 2013) declared a protected monument. Modeled on the very same Cenotaph back in London, this one was originally erected in 1923 to commemorate the Great War, but obviously has since been changed to remember World War Two as well - quite apt seeing as the structure still shows obvious signs of damage from bullets fired during the defence against the Japanese invasion in December 1941.

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - The Cenotaph, Hong Kong

Just a brief shot here as Rizzo walks across the Cenotaph garden. Of course these days it's off-limits to the public but at least we get a nice view of the previously mentioned HSBC building and Standard Chartered Bank HQ and the current version of Prince's Building (and just a glimpse of the corner of the Supreme Court/ex-LegCo building peeking out behind the Cenotaph).

Flatfoot in Hong Kong - Bud Spencer (1975) - Des Voeux Road Central, Hong Kong

Some scene setting takes place - as it does in any film that wants to show its viewers that they really did go to HK - and we get a few shots of a 1975 Central including the following view down the tramlines along Des Voeux Road Central.

The spire-like construction was the old Bank of East Asia building - sadly demolished in 1980 to make way for their current HQ. Sadly, we can't blame the current HK Govt for the loss of so many great buildings in Central because most of them disappeared under the Colonial Administration - however, the current Govt seems to be increasingly willing in continuing that short-sighted policy.

As the camera pulls back we can see some old favourites - including rather oblique views of the old Chartered Bank Building and of course the previous incarnation of the HSBC HQ - both now gone. On the right you can see the current version of Prince's Building, and at extreme right in the lower shot we can see the edge of the former Supreme Court/former LegCo building - also still around.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Statue Square, Hong Kong

Actually, this area was and still is dissected by Chater Road and the part featured below is really the area next to the Cenotaph (though we don't see this on film), I've used Statue Square in the title because it's perhaps more familiar and we still get to some see the buildings that encircle(d) it anyway.

Well, immediately after crossing Connaught Road from Edinburgh Place, Holden (as Robert Lomax) walks to ask directions to the Nam Kok Hotel. Unfortunately the filmmakers at this point thought it would be more interesting to have a rickshaw blocking the foreground whilst the fantastic old Queen's and Prince's buildings get largely obscured in the background and as such we get only glimpses of how impressive these buildings were.

Queen's Building was of course replaced by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in 1963, not long after this film was made (the COOKS sign above can be spotted on almost any old photo of the place) and the Prince's Building still exists - albeit in name only.

Interestingly, on this last shot above we can see the former versions of both the Standard Chartered Bank Building (then just known as "The Chartered Bank") and part of the previous (and much more pleasing to me) HSBC building.