Blade in Hong Kong - Terry Lester (1985) - Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan

Starting the film properly, our first introduction to Joe Blade (Terry Lester) is on the top of a building under construction as he chats with a client. I haven't yet identified the establishing shot for this scene, however, it looks as though the main part was recorded on the top of the China Merchant's Tower of the Shun Tak Centre.

Les Nuits Rouges du Bourreau de Jade - Carrie Ng (2010) - Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan

The ultimate destination for the helicopter appears to be the Shun Tak Centre and we get another aerial view of the helipad as the chopper makes its approach. The building with the large light sign is the Rumsey Street carpark.

Boarding Gate - Asia Argento (2007) - View from the Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan

It seems that Sandra's employers have to keep moving offices to avoid getting caught and by the end of the film they have some rather nice plush offices with a view over to the Four Seasons Hotel and the various ferry piers along the Central Harbourfront. This must have been filmed in the eastern end of the Shun Tak Centre - the China Merchants Tower.

Blackhat - Chris Hemsworth (2015) - Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, Sheung Wan

Prior to the raid on the bad guy's hideout in Shek O, the gang all jump aboard police helicopters that are parked on the helipad on the roof of the HK->Macau ferry terminal. Usually this place is used for the HK-Macau helicopter flights but I guess it's possible the police may take over it on the odd occasion.

In the bottom picture you can see (left to right) the 2 IFC, The Centre and far right the unmistakable side of the Shun Tak centre with its red trim. Of course the ferry terminal is part of the first few floors of the Shun Tak and the helipads are located on top of the piers that extend into the harbour.

Soldier, Soldier (TV Series) - Robson Green (1992) - Harbourfront, Hong Kong

Another TV series for the blog and this time one that I missed when it was originally shown back in 1992 - I was grotty student in Leeds at the time spending most of my time listening to music rather than watching the box. Strictly speaking the episodes I am looking at are from series 2, when the so-called King's Fusiliers move to Hong Kong. The first two episodes of the series were still based back in the UK but the remaining 4 episodes were filmed in their entirety in Hong Kong.

One of the first scenes we are shown an army helicopter flying along the harbour front with a few sights to look at including the Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan (pic 1), the old vehicular ferry pier (pic 2 & 3) and finally the Bank of China and its surrounding buildings such as the Furama Hotel, the Ritz Carlton (both redeveloped), Hutchison House, Bank of America tower etc.

Shatter - Stuart Whitman (1974) - Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal, Sheung Wan

The last Shatter post until I can get a few of my unknowns identified. This one is pretty much the last scene anyway and shows Ti Lung together with Whitman and Cushing at the pontoons of the Hong Kong and Macau Ferry Terminal as the former duo arrive back from their mission to Macau.

Of course this whole area was redeveloped into the rather significantly taller Shun Tak Centre, but the newer pontoons aren't too far from this earlier location.

Note the Far east Hydrofoil pontoon at the back, this was the company owned by the STDM (Societe de Tourismo de Macau - the company that had the Macau gaming monopoly for so many years) set up by Stanley Ho and Henry Fok.

Tai Shan ferry behind Ti Lung 

Note the "Tai Shan" ferry behind Ti Lung and the "FEH" liveried hydrofoils in the other pictures. The first Jetfoils (manufactured by Boeing) weren't introduced to HK until the following year - 1975.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan

Yellowthread Street seems to have spent a lot of time filming in small streets on HK Island, which is making my location ID's a bit hard. So bear with me. In the meantime, here is a hazy shot looking towards the Macau Ferry Terminal and the Shun Tak Centre rising up on its left.

If you look closely you can see the Star Ferry plying its trade at the bottom of the screen, before much of that part of water was reclaimed. I'm gonna make a stab in the dark and say that the building on the near left was the Harbour Centre in front of Wanchai Star Ferry pier. If so then pretty much all of that harbour area to its right has now gone.

Bloodsport - Jean Claude Van Damme (1987) - Lung Fu Shan, Hong Kong

The opening scenes of this Van Damme classic (arguably the film that really launched his career proper) start in the usual foreign-film-in-exotic-location manner with a sweeping helicopter view of the island and harbour. There's lots to see as we swoop past Lung Fu Shan from Pinewood Battery on the aforementioned hilltop, to the Shun Tak Centre with its red stripes in the middle distance and the west flank of Victoria peak on the right.

Lung Fu Shan is the smaller hilltop in the lower middle of the screen grabs and the excavated bit on the top is what remains of Pinewood Battery. It's well worth a visit if you haven't been there already and is one of many similar ex-artillery emplacements that still survive in the territory.

In the shots above we are looking NW across to Kowloon and of course in the mid-80's when the film was made, there was no sign of the west Kowloon reclamation that now dominates that part of the harbour. What does surprise me though from this view is there seems to be a fair amount of haze limiting the view - not something I would have expected in the 1980's. It seems as though HK's pollution problem goes much further back than I realised!

Noble House (Mini series) - Pierce Brosnan (1988) - Shun Tak Centre, Sheung Wan

The Shun Tak Centre - the locations of the HK/Macau Ferry Terminal for those who are not familiar with HK - is used on a couple of occasions as a stand in for Kai Tak Airport Terminal. First there is this shot of Gordon Jackson walking past the ground floor escalators.

When I was first writing about Noble House locations on my other blog, I had initially mistaken this for the real Kai Tak terminal because there was a similar escalator system that led up to the terminal viewing gallery and cafe. Anyway, following a quick trip to Macau on Saturday I managed to get a reasonably similar angle with my phone. See below. 

As you can see it hasn't really changed at all in nearly 25 years.

The Man with the Golden Gun - Roger Moore (1974) - HK->Macau Ferry, Sheung Wan

Well, seeing as I mentioned this place yesterday I figured we may as well post it up properly. Of course these days the huge Shun Tak Centre sits on top of the site and the view down Connaught Road is no longer open due to the construction of the flyover (which means these days you can only see Western Market with great difficulty).