Black Cobra Woman - Laura Gemser (1976) - Views across the harbour, Hong Kong

Coupled with the initial Kai Tak landing sequence, the opening scenes from Black Cobra Woman also show a little bit of the Hong Kong Island waterfront. Some familiar views here, even if many of the buildings no longer exist. Just in the top image you can see the Furama Hotel, Sutherland House (with the circular BAYER advert), the Hong Kong Club, the Hilton Hotel behind them all and the older HSBC building which have all gone the way of the dodo.

The Yin and Yang of Mr Go - James Mason (1970) - Sutherland House, Chater Road

As a little break between Strangers episodes, here is a real tough one finally identified by Arthur Yau, who, along with Thomas Ngan, has been instrumental in identifying some really obscure locations over the past few years. The location is the Bank of Tokyo and it had some very large characters on its road side wall identifying it as such. The screen images below show what appears to be the entrance.

 

I really had no idea where this was but Arthur found an obscure old picture here, which places this at the ground floor of what was Sutherland House, at the corner of Chater Road and Club Street. Sutherland House was the building that for many years had the circular "BAYER" advertisement at the top. It was a prominent advert that featured on many a night time panorama.

Anyway, I believe Sutherland House was demolished in the early 90s to make way for the former Ritz Carlton hotel. The latter was one of the shortest lived buildings in Hong Kong's history and only lasted for 15 years between 1993 and 2008 before once again being demolished to make way for the current CCB Tower.

China Rose - George C. Scott (1983) - Cotton Tree Drive, Central

One of the first things on the agenda when they land in Hong Kong is a trip to the US Embassy, which they start out on by heading up Cotton Tree Drive. The 1983 view of this area is vastly different compared to today. At the back we can see (from right to left) Fairmont House, almost brand new after being completed in 1982. Behind that is Bank of America Tower although at the time it was  called Carrian House (a big scandal revolved around it in the 80's). In front of them all is the Murray Road car park that was sold for redevelopment recently and behind that is Hutchinson House.

Now gone is the Furama Hotel and the small building next to it was Sutherland House. What's missing of course is the Bank of China Tower that was eventually built where all the cars are parked. Construction didn't start until 1985 though so this view shows the site after Murray Barracks had been dismantled but before the bank building construction started.

The second screencap shows the view up the road with the Murray Building on the right - currently being turned into a hotel - and the two towers of St Joseph's College further up the hill.