No culpes al karma de lo que te pasa por gilipollas - Verónica Echegui (2016) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

Sara wanders around looking a bit lost. She stops on a corner looking bewildered. This was filmed on the north east corner of Nelson Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street South.

Daddy Cool - Mammootty (2009) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

During this singing/dance piece the camera work is quite jumpy and erratic so it wasn't possible to capture every quick edit. However, the first street- level view is looking north along Sai Yeung Choi Street South. The big sign above is for the Wing Lung Bank which still stands on the corner of what used to be Nelson Street before it was pedestrianised and turned into an entrance to the nearby MTR station. The bank is still there, but the sign has, sadly, gone. It's in all three images, but in case you can't read Chinese, it's the one with four red characters above the police van in the second image.

Sai Yeung Choi Street South - Now and Then

Following on from my recent post for The Angel Strikes Again, I thought I would take a quick trip down to the junction of Sai Yeung Choi Street South and Soy Street to try and grab a comparison photo. Bear in mind that this area in Mongkok is one of the busiest places in Kowloon these days, not just for people but also for traffic, and so getting an exact match of the angle seen in the screen capture was a bit of a faff.

The Hollywood Theatre, where much of this scene played out, was off camera to the right. It closed in 1980 and the building was demolished and replaced by the current one, Hollywood Plaza - HK loves to maintain names of older buildings for their newer replacements - was completed in 1984. You can see in the image below though that the new building has a similar square canopy over the pavement area. 

The Angel Strikes Again - Lily Ho (1968) - Hollywood Theatre, Mongkok

Someone posted online somewhere (can't remember where) that they were really impressed with the street mockup used for the cinema sequence in this film. Granted, much of the on street sequences were filmed on the (very obviously) fake Movietown lots, however, the cinema sequence was shot at a real place. It was the Hollywood Theatre on the corner of Sai Yeung Choi Street South and Soy Street. The cinema is long gone (it closed in 1980) but note that at the time of filming it was showing the 1967 Shaw film, Susanna (Chinese title: 珊珊). Hollywood Plaza stands on the site now (not to be confused with "Plaza Hollywood" above Diamond Hill MTR station).

This is where agent 009, posing as a buyer, agrees to meet the gang to pay for some explosives. 

This last image is great because it shows the view looking south down Sai Yeung Choi Street South, with Soy Street crossing in front. In the distance is part of the old Kwong Wah Hospital site.

T.N.T Jackson - Jeanne Bell (1974) - Hollywood Theatre, Mongkok

Staying with T.N.T Jackson, Rodney also identified a location I hadn't put up a screencap for but was looking for anyway. He's a mindreader!

This is the movie theatre that Stan Shaw supposedly goes into. The establishing shot used the exterior marquee of the Hollywood Theatre, located on the corner of Soy Street and Sai Yeung Choi Street South. So, actually right next to the previous post. I suspect, but can't confirm, that the cinema interior used in the film was actually one in the Philippines where much of this movie was shot. I say this because it looks far too big to have been a Hong Kong cinema and many of the extras appear to be Filipino rather than Chinese.

In what appears to be an informal convention in Hong Kong, the cinema's name is remembered by the building that replaced it - 'Hollywood Plaza'.

Again, here is Rodney's comment:

Right after the second screencap, Charlie (Stan Shaw) walks into the Hollywood Theatre on Sai Yeung Choi Street and Soy Street. The word "Soy" on the street sign attached to the exterior of the theatre is (barely) visible when the camera shows Charlie looking up at the billboard for the Shaw Brothers film 'The Golden Lotus'[金瓶雙艷].

IMDB does not list any filming dates, but 'The Golden Lotus' premiered in Hong Kong January 17 1974.

T.N.T Jackson - Jeanne Bell (1974) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

A big shout out to fellow location and old house nerd, Rodney, who identifed the next image for me as being on Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mongkok. Anyway, a big thanks to Rodney for the ID.

Here is Rodney's comment:

That was filmed in Mongkok...Sai Yeung Choi Street. 鳳如大茶樓 "Fung Yue Tea House" was located in the still-standing Wing Wah Building at No. 14-24. The restaurant space has been turned into Hollywood Shopping Centre.

As for the sign on the left, only the last word is visible, but it should have read 國際大酒樓 "International Restaurant". It was in the, likewise still-standing, Good Hope Building at 612-618 Nathan Road.

The sign that I found interesting is the horizontally mounted "江大飯店". Its first letter was obstructed, but it if it was 滬江, then the restaurant is still in 'bidness', as Jock and J.R. Ewing would say.

I have been to the current 滬江 in a basement shop on Peking Road across from iSquare. As far as I know, it has always been there, though the address reads 27-33 Nathan Road with the sole entrance on Peking Road. Earlier Google streetviews showed a different sign that still read 滬江大飯店 and noted it had been in bidness since 1984, but the current sign does not have the "大". Perhaps it was opened before 1984 and in a different location[?].

Crossing Hennessy - Jacky Cheung (2010) - Big D Trading, Mongkok

The shop run by Loy's family was a real business and is still in operation. However, rather than being located in Wanchai as per the film's story, the physical shop location is over in Mongkok - on the 12th floor of "Ginza Plaza" on Sai Yeung Choi Street South. The company has a website here: https://bigd.hk/.

Crime Lords - Wayne Crawford (1991) - Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mongkok

After the two are released from the police station, they run after the Chief Inspector who has just released them in the hope that he can help them find the crime kingpin they are after. I believe this to be the view looking down Sai Yeung Choi Street from the front of the police station. For once some movie geography is the same as reality. It was a lot busier at this section back in the early 1990s it seems. These days it doesn't get as much traffic.

There are some signs worth noting here that also give away the location. In the last image you can clearly see the large red sign that says (r-l) 九龍表行. This is the Chinese name for the Kowloon Watch Company (gau lung biu hong) which is still located on the corner of Sai Yeung Choi Street and Nullah Road. Further on is a black and white vertical sign that says (top to bottom) 麗聲戲院. This is the Chinese name (lai sing hei yuen) for the former Royal Theatre which was located where the Pioneer Centre now stands on the right hand side of the image. I believe it closed in 1990 which would mean this may have been the last time this old sign (it was located on the venue's rear side) was captured on film.

The Big Game - Brendan Boone (1973) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

Another typically lively 1970s street scene that forms part of Jim's journey between the airport and his hotel. This one can be identified by the presence of the large red vertical sign in the background which was owned by 蛇王源 (She Wong Yuen) - a snake bladder (蛇胆) restaurant that was located, at the time, on Sai Yeung Choi Street near the junction with Argyle Street. This means the car is travelling south along Sai Yeung Choi Street close to the junction with Nelson Street. The traffic along this section of road can only travel north now.

Peninsula - Gang Dong-won (2020) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

I can't quite remember what the context of the next shot is but I'll leave it here anyway. I think it was just one of those incidental shots that joins two scenes together - in this case the change from the bosses apartment to the noodle shop where Jung-seok and his brother-in-law have a bit of a heart to heart. Anyway, it's Sai Yeung Choi Street South just north of Mongkok Road.

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong - Jamie Chung (2015) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

Another snippet from the opening montage of this film shows us the view looking north along Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mongkok. The camera has squeezed everything in close so it looks like all the signage is bunched up here but actually, even back in 2015, I don't recall there being quite so much following a huge Govt crackdown.

Vengeance - Johnny Hallyday (2009) - Sai Yeung Choi Street South, Mongkok

When the team's hideout is discovered and the triad squad attack them, Hallyday gets lost in the confusion and wanders around trying to remember what he is doing and who he was with. The location is Sai Yeung Choi Street South just outside the Hollywood Shopping Centre.

Double Impact - Jean Claude Van Damme (1991) - Sai Yeung Choi Street, Mongkok

Just a quick grab from a pick up shot taken somewhere in Kowloon grabbed my attention because it looked very familiar to me but I could place it. Along to the rescue comes Thomas again with the identification of Sai Yeung Choi St near Soy Street.

Here's what Thomas had to say in his comments...

...is Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mong Kong. The building on the left showed 新時代電器中心。 That building still exist and is between Soy and Dundas. The ground floor of it is littered with mobile service carriers and mobile device vendors. The second floor for some time was a Gym, but is not vacant. It would seem the Sasa chain would occupy it in no time...

There is actually another give away. In the background there is a red vertical business sign saying 中喬國貨 (Chung Kiu China Products Department Store). The store is long gone but the building still exist. That was the corner of Shan Tung Street.

So there you go, pretty definitive I would say. Once again thanks to Thomas. Here is a modern comparison (at least an approximate one).