Eternity - Elliot Travers (2013) - YMCA Salisbury, Tsim Sha Tsui

In another flashback we watch Manning being given an ultimatum by his boss - do the transference program or forget about any future promotions. This scene was filmed on the roof top of the south block of the YMCA Salisbury in TST. Look carefully and you can see some digitally added skyscrapers in the background.

Hong Kong skyline, with some additions

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - Salisbury Road, East Tsim Sha Tsui

The overseas policemen leave the meeting and are given a motorbike escort out of the East TST hotel area and onto Salisbury Road. Not much has changed here other than the hotel names. The Harbourview is now the Intercontinental Grand Stanford, and the Hotel Nikko is the previously mentioned New World Millennium.

Harbourview Hotel on the right (now IC Grand Stanford)

Hotel Nikko, now the NW Millennium

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

After leaving the airport, the next shot we see is of the cars driving along Salisbury Road. This view was shot from the Blackhead Point hillside (aka Signal Hill Garden) with its previously unfettered view of the peninsula and harbour below. At this time the other side of the tracks by the pedestrian bridge was still occupied by Holt's Wharf, and obviously the KCR terminus stayed aropund until its eventual demolition in 1978. You can just see a train on the sidings at the top of the lower image.

Aegan - Ajith Kumar (2008) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

Much of the next minute or so is flashing shots of the van driving along a couple of roads, but the different angles and quick edits makes it feel like they shot in many more places. In reality it was just two locations: Information Crescent in Cyberport and Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Just Heroes - David Chiang (1989) - Salisbury Road, East Tsim Sha Tsui

There's a quick in-car driving scene between Jacky (Stephen Chow) and Tai (Chen Kuen Tai) as they discuss the fact that Sou has been given the leadership of the organisation. The scene starts with an overhead view taken from a pedestrian bridge spanning Salisbury Road.

The Dragon from Russia - Sam Hui (1990) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Yao does his first major contract hit on a guy in Hong Kong as he is leaving the Peninsula Hotel. This is where May (Maggie Cheung) first thinks she sees him after not seeing him since he was kidnapped in Russia.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - The Regent Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Once the Regent, then the Intercontinental, and now back to the Regent again. This well-known hotel has been a feature in many films (and shows) I have covered in the blog. In this movie it is where the happy couple are staying while they are on vacation.

I'm not a big fan of the building but despite its age it still looks a lot nicer than the new monstrosities that have been built next to it (K11 Musea & Atelier).

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.

International Prostitution: Brigade criminelle - Jean-Louis Broust (1980) - Sheraton Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

Here's a nice view of the Sheraton Hotel viewed from Salisbury Road when the hotel had its name in big letters along the front. I have no idea when this was removed but the place is a bit more subdued these days. The ground floor arcade on the left hand side belongs to the Peninsula Hotel on the opposite side of Nathan Road.

Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

After exiting Cheong Wan Road,the car is filmed driving south down Sailsbury Road at its start point next to the Hung Hom railway station and Cross harbour Tunnel Road.

Love in Hong Kong - Pauline Teutscher (1983) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

As the new arrivals drive around town following their arrival in Hong Kong, their car drives down Nathan Road and turns right onto Salisbury Road.

Blade in Hong Kong- Terry Lester (1985) - New World Centre, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another aerial shot, this time of Salisbury Road and the recently demolished New World Centre and Apartments in Tsim Sha Tsui (the brown buildings on the waterfront). There's quite a lot to see in the upper image including the corner of the Shangri-La Hotel and Wing On Plaza (far right), Blackhead Point and the old signal tower, and the Planetarium. The fact that the Cultural Centre is missing behind the planetarium makes me think this isn't library footage but was most likely shot for the film.

The New World Centre and New World Apartments were demolished about 5 years ago to make way for the new (and very ugly) waterfront K11 malls.

Love Circles - Michelle Siu (1985) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

The last post from this film sees us outside the Peninsula Hotel as Blake, the crooked journo fresh from his blackmail shenanigans, catches the hotel shuttle bus back to Kai Tak airport. And so the Hong Kong chapter of this story ends as he hooks up with someone he meets on the bus.

As the bus turns left onto Salisbury Road we get to see the Planetarium and the former Intercontinental Hotel, now renamed back to the Regent Hotel.

Love Circles - Michelle Siu (1985) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the roads we see on the journey home is Salisbury Road. In the first image you can see the Empire Centre through the windscreen and, in the lower image, the metal lattice work of the pedestrian flyovers that join the waterfront to Salisbury Road Garden (we were nearby not so long ago, in fact this was filmed/released the same year).

Future Hunters - Robert Patrick (1986) - Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

After being picked up from the airport, the guys catch a cab to their hotel and the next location sees them driving along Salisbury Road with both the Coliseum and the (now demolished) International Mail Centre.

The Black Dragon's Revenge - Ronnie Van Clief (1975) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

As Ronnie leaves the airport and takes a taxi to his Vietnam buddy's place (the guy is played by Charles Bonet) we get to see a bit of his route. It starts off on Salisbury Road and turns immediately into Nathan Road next to the Peninsula Hotel. We then get to see a few views looking north up Nathan before the camera then  reveals we are heading back south again (with the Hyatt Regency clearly visible on the right in the last image). Actually, two of the several hotels seen in this sequence have since gone. The previously mentioned Hyatt Regency (last image) was demolished in 2006 and replaced by iSquare and in the fourth image you can see the Ambassador Hotel on the corner of Nathan and Middle Roads which was replaced by 26 Nathan Road (the building formerly known as Oterprise Square).

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

One of the sites visited in The Dragon Cup by our intrepid photo journalist is the Peninsula Hotel, so in an effort to retrace her steps, Evans takes her back to all the sites she visited earlier to recapture the lost images and to find out if there is any link between the sites and the robbery.

This image of the Peninsula Hotel appears for the first time in this episode, although as you can see, it is made to look like it is being seen through the aperture of a camera. The same image pops up again in several later episodes (Ep.21 With Deadly Sorrow, Ep.22 Murder by Proxy and Ep.24 Love, Honor and Perish). The second image is what the un-doctored shot should look like and how it appears in the later episodes mentioned above.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

To Catch a Star is the first episode that uses a recurring shot of The Peninsula Hotel. The starlet who has arrived in Hong Kong is supposed to be staying a some place (I can't recall what they call it) but the establishing shot for the hotel scenes use this image to set the stage for the sequence. The shot is reused in the later episodes Murder by Proxy and Love, Honor and Perish but I don't think the hotel is ever referred to by its real name. There is also a daylight shot from the same angle that I will put in a later post.

Harry's Hong Kong - David Soul (1987) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

The Peninsula Hotel features a fair few times in this show because it's where the main character has his office. It looks as though the room used as a stand in for harry's office is one of the top floor suites in the east or west wing of the hotel. You can tell this by the window shape in the background because only the top floor rooms facing the harbour have he same arched window shape (you may remember that Ryan O Neal and Candice Bergen also filmed in one of these suites for Oliver's Story back in 1978). I guess for a 1980s Aaron Spelling production, hiring one of these huge suites for a day's filming wouldn't have been considered extortionate, but was this also the Marco Polo Suite?