Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Star Ferry, Kowloon

Victoria crosses the harbour on the Star Ferry. Zooming in you can see it's the "Meridian Star" which, if you feel so inclined, you can privately rent. She then disembarks on the Kowloon side - the TST ferry pier identifiable by its square/rectangular columns.

Police Story 2 - Jackie Chan (1988) - View of Causeway Bay

So, Ka Kui causes a right old mess with his bust up at the cafe and resigns from the police force. Later that day, he and May ride the Star Ferry and decide to go on holiday. I'm not familiar with the old Star ferry schedules but in order to get the view seen below the ferry would've had to travel from North Point to Tsim Sha Tsui or similar route. The Citizen advert is on top of Elizabeth House, these days the same place is occupied by a large sign for Panasonic. What looks like a dimly lit ferry pier in the foreground is actually Kellet Island and the Yacht Club.

Tokyo Gang vs Hong Kong Gang - Ken Takakura (1964) - Edinburgh Place, Central

Kitahara disembarks the ferry and heads out of the pier to catch a cab on Edinburgh place. Chang, the member of the rival Hong Kong gang, follows him out and also jumps in a passing cab. The car park on the right is the old Star Ferry pier carpark and was opened in 1957, making it one of the oldest structures in the area. It's actually the very last link to the old Star Ferry pier that was demolished in 2006 and so is quite historical, but because it's a carpark it's not deemed worthy of preservation. The ugly G.P.O on the other hand, a literal concrete block, opened twenty years later (making it younger than me) somehow attracts calls for preservation.

Tokyo Gang vs Hong Kong Gang - Ken Takakura (1964) - City Hall, Central

As the opening credits are still rolling, the next view is a panorama of the area around City Hall courtesy of a camera shot taken from the walkway that surrounds the memorial garden. In the first image we can see the old Hong Kong Club, with the Hilton Hotel behind it (more on that later), the old Cable and Wireless building (now CCB Tower) as well as both the low and high blocks of City hall. 

In the next frame we can see the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the old Star ferry carpark (soon to be demolished I believe, if not already), the previous, tiny (by comparison) St George's Building with Swire House (although called Union House at the time) behind it. In the final frame we get a nice view over the old Star ferry pier.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Kowloon Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

After walking around talking about food for a few hours, Matteo catches the ferry back to his hotel. In this case it's from the Kowloon Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui. It would make sense if his hotel is on the Island, but so far the only places we have seen him are Kowloon side.

La Moustache - Vincent Lindon (2005) - Star Ferry Piers

On arriving in Hong Kong, Marc finds almost immediate solace by travelling to and fro of the Star Ferry and there is probably a ten minute sequence in the film that features him walking in and out of ferries on both sides of the harbour as he fishes for change to give to the lady in the booth. It's possible that this was one of the last films shot in the old Central Star Ferry Pier before it was unceremoniously demolished in 2006. Remember that the old art deco style clock on the pier was supposed to be saved but was then sneakily destroyed and dumped when no one was watching. Anyway, the following screencaps capture the piers at both sides of the TST <> Central route as well as the "Solar Star" ferry. Apparently, the ferry started service in 1958 making it one of the longest serving in the current fleet.

Three Businessmen - Miguel Sandoval (1998) - Star Ferry to Wanchai Ferry Pier

Well, I have managed to establish a rudimentary ability to continue with a few location posts, despite being under lockdown for 4 of the 6 weeks I have already spent in the UK. I have also managed to get hold of a copy of Three Businessmen, a film directed by Alex Cox who people may know from films such as Sid and Nancy and Repo Man, but who is also familiar to a lot of British movie fans from his long running presentation of Moviedrome.

Anyway, the film starts off with one businessman, played by Miguel Sandoval, arriving in Liverpool and checking into a very weird hotel. He goes down for dinner and meets up wit the hotel's only other guest, played by Alex Cox, and after realising there is no one in the hotel (all the staff have disappeared) they head out to try and get some dinner of their own.

What follows is a rather surreal trip around the world masquerading as streets in Liverpool as the pair wander around chatting about life and going into all manner of establishments and using all types of transport as they search out some food. It's quite entertaining and appears on this blog because of a few short moments when the pair decide to catch a ferry back across the "Mersey" to get back to the hotel.

A quick edit later and the pair have shifted from (what I believe to be) Rotterdam to what appears to be the Star Ferry in Tsim Sha Tsui. They ride to ferry over to Hong Kong Island to the old (and now demolished) Wanchai ferry pier.

Skyscraper - Dwayne Johnson (2018) - Central Ferry Piers, Hong Kong

The early scene when Johnson crosses the harbour on the "Victoria Ferry Company" (I guess the Star Ferry didn't want their name used) is a mixture of on-location footage and studio based ones. So for instance the ferry approaching the TST pier is obviously real. However, the follow up shot of the actors on the boat looks to me like a set. The ferry replica is good but the riveted windows are not the same as the real things which are inset into the frame and can be slid up and down.

Anyway, what follows after that is - what I think might be - the only shot from the whole film that features Dwayne Johnson physically on location in Hong Kong.

Finally, as the ferry comes into dock, we get a couple of real shots edited together with a not-so-great replica ferry pier for the close ups. So the first two, are obviously the real pier.

Real ^

Fake ^

Flight to Hong Kong - Rory Calhoun (1956) - Star Ferry Bus Terminus, Tsim Sha Tsui

A fair bit of action occurs around the bus terminus next to the Star Ferry pier in TST. We get a couple of views towards the old pier building (it was replaced by the current one the following year) as well as a quick glimpse back at the end of the film so that we can see the columns at the western end of the old KCR Terminus (last image). Note that the second image is a studio based back projection. You can tell by the different lighting and focus on the car in the foreground. You can see a nice colour shot from the exact same era over at Gwulo.com.

Ghosts Can't Do It - Bo Derek (1989) - Star Ferry, Victoria Harbour

I first heard about the Hong Kong connection of this movie from Jon T. Benn (Mr Big from Way of the Dragon) when he was still making visits to Hong Kong a few years back (I believe Jon is now State-side). At the time of filming Jon was asked to help chaperone Bo Derek during her HK stay and it looks as though he was given a small role in the film (at least according to IMDB - however, I can't for the life of me see him in there and suspect it may be related to the fact that a section in the middle of the film appears to have been cut).

Anyway, to cut a long story short Jon was around during the swimming pool scenes (see a later post) and swore blind that Bo gave him a longer than necessary flash of her..."equipment"...after the filming had wrapped. It's actually one of the stories he includes in his book (still available from Blacksmith books) that is well worth a read if you want to find out how he went from Russian language specialist in the US Army (I kid you not) to starring next to Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon. The guy is certainly an interesting individual with a very colourful life.

But back to the film, shot in 1989 it is about a couple played by Derek and Anthony Quinn. Quinn has a heart attack and can no longer "do it" so he kills himself to become a ghost so he can occupy the body of someone else in order to be able to do it with his wife again...yup!

His ghost follows her around the world giving advice in various situations - including during a business deal with Donald Trump (I'm not kidding about that either) in Hong Kong.

Not too much was filmed here, but there are some shots filmed in Aberdeen and the Mandarin Oriental Hotel etc. So we'll kick this film off with a post featuring Bo Derek trying to eat noodles with chopsticks on the Star Ferry and getting noodles on her face.

Les Anges Gardiens - Gerard Depardieu (1995) - Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

The action starts on the Star Ferry over to Tsim Sha Tsui as Depardieu's friend is ambushed by a bunch of Chinese gangsters. We get a few shots taken on board one of the ferries before everyone moves into the pier building.

However...look closely at the so-called "pier building" and you'll notice something a bit odd about it. I think it was actually a specially prepared boat, the structure is made of metal and the windows angle inwards. I suspect this may have been one of the old vehicular ferries kitted out to look like the pier building. Plus, there is a glaring error in the last image. Can you spot it?

China Rose - George C. Scott (1983) - Star Ferry Pier, Central

When Scott realises something is up he races off to the Canton ferry to convince MacGraw to stay and help. In reality the Canton ferry is a Star ferry and it is leaving from the old Star ferry pier in front of Edinburgh Place. Sadly demolished in 2006 to make way for reclamation, it still feels like one of the worst development decisions made by the HK Govt.

Speaking of redevelopment, in the top screen grab at the back is the general Post office, itself now about to be knocked down and redeveloped (although I am not sure of the timetable for it). On the left is the Edinburgh Place car park.

Running through the old pier towards the boat and the ferry entrance/gangplank at the bottom.