A Countess from Hong Kong - Sophia Loren (1967) - Former Kowloon Docks, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another notable glimpse of the real Hong Kong from this film is a quick view of the wooden pier that used to occupy the spot now taken up by Ocean Terminal. It shows a large cruise ship at dock - the one that all the subsequent action is supposed to take place on - which can just be identified as the SS President Wilson.

We know that this film was released in 1967 which means it was most likely filmed either earlier that year or sometime in 1966. The problem is that Ocean Terminal also opened in 1966 (on the 22nd March according to wiki), quite early on in the year. So either the limited HK locations on this film were shot a couple of years earlier or the film was perhaps some unused footage shot for another movie and incorporated into this one. My gut tells me that the HK images we see on film were licensed from someone else - there is just too little footage to justify spending money on a separate film crew to capture some brief scenes.

Well anyway, if you look at the screen grab below taken from the beginning of The World of Suzie Wong (the original post can be seen here), it's interesting to note that it shows the very same ship berthed at the very same wooden pier - you can even see the curved canopy that runs along the centre of the pier.

The World of Suzie Wong (1960)

I wonder if anyone out there knows how often the SS President Wilson used to berth at Hong Kong in the 1960's? It seems to have been a regular visitor and was eventually bought by CY Tung anyway.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Former Kowloon Docks, TST

Most people who have visited HK will be familiar with Ocean Terminal and it's associated shopping mall, but did you know that before that place was built is was a working dock area that doubled as a cruise ship berth? Going back to 1960 and we can see what it looked like at. The beginning of the film involves a sequence where we see William Holden disembark his ship and walk all the way over to the Star Ferry where he first sees the beautiful Suzie. The working nature of the dock should be evident by the derricks and the rail tracks on the floor. This section of track actually ran all the way over to the KCR terminus so that goods could be loaded on/off the train. There is also a small turn circle on the floor (3rd picture) to allow a small goods rail truck to go to another part of the dock yard.

Notice the sign on the wall of the last picture that is advertising St Andrew's Church. I guess it was a slightly more religious era because, personally, after spending several weeks on a boat I would probably be more grateful of directions to a hotel and/or bar.