Hong Kong 73 - Yueh Hua (1974) - Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui

Following on from his huge success with The House of 72 Tenants, Chor Yuen (perhaps known better to people who come here as the head bad guy in Police Story), Hong Kong 73 was a follow up that includes one of the biggest ensemble cast I have ever seen in a movie. The roll call is so large the film is still introducing them (via on screen titles of their names) right up until the end. The film is a satire  and the plot follows a closeknit group of residents along "Hong Kong Street" and sees them dealing with a variety of issues in Hong Kong at the time: gambling, the stock market, poverty, success, hospital queues, poor housing, suicide, typhoons etc. As a current Hong Kong resident, a lot of these problems resonate with modern Hong Kong as well, so they are not really things that have ever gone away. A film like this could never be made today. If it was the cast would be blacklisted, the director would be tried for endangering National Security and the film would never get through the current censorship regime.  

Yueh Hua and Ching Li star as the main characters. A couple who work as a security guard and high school teacher respectively, and the story revolves around them and their various family members and acquaintances. The film starts off with some nice views of the Kowloon Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui as seen from the rooftop carpark of Ocean Terminal.

...and Millions will die! - Richard Basehart (1973) - View from Ocean Terminal

It's not the first time we have seen this view on a film  (for example: Amaya, Black Cobra Woman, Love in Hong Kong). In this movie we get a panning shot here as the film's name is displayed during the opening credits.

Anak - Vilma Santos (2000) - Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui

Another scene from the opening montage includes a shot of the ferries at the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier. It's a brief glimpse, but thankfully later in the film there is also some footage of the same area as Josie's friends wait for her on her day off not knowing she has been locked inside the apartment by her employers whilst they go on a jolly (lower images).

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.

Black Samurai - Jim Kelly (1977) - Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui

There are some shots around the bus terminus and Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui. Although the top image is actually captured from the rooftop carpark of nearby Ocean Terminal. A great location to see the harbour from and usually devoid of the normal throngs of people found along the waterfront.

Bamboo Gods and Iron Men - James Iglehart (1974) - Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui

As I continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel for foreign movies made in Hong Kong (let's face it, I've included quite a few stinkers here previously), I have to thank the Wu Tang Collection on Youtube for this next one. It's a great collection of obscure, low budget, and often forgotten about movies and Bamboo Gods and Iron Men is one of their recent (2023) additions. Although filmed largely in the Philippines and with some pretty awful fight scenes, the first part of the movie was shot on location in Hong Kong - a bit like the previously covered T.N.T Jackson - both films co-starred famed Filipino actor/comedian (and later, politician), Chiquito. 

The plot lines revolves a dodgy looking, baldy, bearded guy called Leo King who has financed an expedition to retrieve a substance, rumoured to be able to control the world, from an ancient Chinese burial site. What the retrieved goods are I shall not reveal, just watch the movie, but suffice to say this film has some funny moments. Just don't watch it for the action.

The opening Hong Kong scene sees us at the waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui as a ferry comes in to dock at the pier.

The last Hong Kong location scene (before everything moves to the Philippines) also sees us back at the ferry pier as one of the bad guys hangs out by the pier with the Ocean Terminal neon lights shining down behind.

Tokyo Gang vs Hong Kong Gang - Ken Takakura (1964) - Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

Kitahara is riding the Star Ferry across the harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui, so we get a shot of the Kowloon Star Ferry pier and the clocktower standing next to it (when it still had a station attached to it). Coincidentally, the bell was recently restored to the clocktower and was struck for the first time in 71 years just the other day.

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.