Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Aberdeen Harbour

Edward takes Victoria out on a little boat trip to visit his mates/gang members who has one of (what I think is) the stolen antiques. There's quite a lot to see in these few screencaps, including the now sunken Jumbo, the now delapidated Tai Pak (apparently due a refurb at somepoint), and (look carefully) what looks to be the construction of the MTR's new South Island Line bridge over the harbour. The latter was inaugurated at the end of 2016.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Shantung Street, Mongkok

A transition shot now as the story moves to Aberdeen. This image shows some of the old signage along the western part (i.e. west side of Nathan Road) of Shantung Street. All of these signs have been removed, sadly, but the Chung Po (中寶押) pawnshop remains at the same location at 36 Shantung Street. Several of these signs are visible in the historic Google Streetview imagery as recently as 2017.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Nathan Road, Mongkok

We see Nathan Road a couple of times in the film, the first time being during the opening as Victoria's car is heading to her hotel. This is the top image below and shows the area in Mongkok just by Shantung Street. The building on the far right with the red trim is the King Wah Centre which sits on the same site as the old King Wah Restaurant.  There is also another quick scene filmed at night time and used later in the film that was shot from around the same place but on the opposite side of the road.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - View across Wanchai - Day v Night

This film has many nice shots of the Hong Kong harbour and skyline. Here's one that took some time because it shows the view across Wanchai, with the Hopewell Centre on the left, from day through to night. The film crew obviously liked this view because it's used in three or four places throughout the film. The first view shows us a relative close up of the Hopewell Centre. The last two images are from a time lapse sequence that changes from night back to day with a much wider angle but, looking at the relative positions of the various buildings, it was shot from the exact same location: Stubbs Road Lookout. 

If you want to see how much the view has changed over the years then look back at my Forced Vengeance post that showed views from the same place from circa 1982.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay

The next location shot takes us to Lockhart Road, right by the junction with Cannon Street. This is the scene where Victoria goes along to Edward's nightclub - the Dynasty Club.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Bowrington Road, Causeway Bay

Victoria goes to a small auction house to see if she can find any replacement artifacts for the exhibition - or at least that's what I thought was going on. This segment was filmed on Bowrington Street. You can see the Bowrington Road Cooked Food Centre in the background.

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.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Intercontinental Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

The first actor/s-on-location scene in this film was shot on the roof of (what was) the Intercontinental Hotel, now called "The Regent" once again. This is where Victoria is staying with her husband, and it looks as though it is the same location that was used in Something Good, released the same year. This hotel has done well out of visiting film/TV productions over the years.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Fleming Road, Wanchai

Next up is a quick shot looking up (south) Fleming Road from Hennessy Road towards the junction with Johnston Road.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Johnston Road, Wanchai

The next image shows us Johnston Road just as the camera is passing by Exit A3 of Wanchai MTR Station on the corner of O'Brien Road. I actually posted this area recently for Crossing Hennessy, although in that post we see the same area from an upper floor of a (right hand side of frame - now defunct) restaurant.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Hennessy Road, Wanchai

Another shot from the film'sopening Hong Kong scenes, as Victoria continues to make her way to her hotel, was taken from the pedestrian crossing next to the Caltex petrol station on the corner of Johnston and Hennessy Roads. It's a view also used several times later in the film.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - West Kowloon Waterfront

Another establishing shot showing us a nice view of the West Kowloon waterfront viewed from the south. With the ICC on the left and "The Harbourside" next to it in blue. I believe Jean Claude Van Damme lives in one of the penthouses in that development when he is in Hong Kong.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - Stonecutters Bridge

As Victoria makes her way from the airport into town we are treated to a view of the Stonecutters Bridge connecting West Kowloon with Tsing Yi Island. It's a view we come back to later in the film as well. The dark edge at the bottom of image 3 indicates that the cameraman was most likely positioned looking out from a floor of the Goodman Interlink building, next to the bridge.

Hafen der Düfte - Veronica Ferres (2013) - View from the Peak

The next film for the location dive is a German TV movie called Hafen der Düfte or The Hong Kong Affair. I found this one completely by accident as I was doing my usual periodic scan of the internet for a much sought-after film, Hong Kong Affair, made entirely in Hong Kong in 1958 at the old Cathay Studios (which later became Golden Harvest Studios).

The German film stars Veronica Ferres as Victoria Philips, an antique art expert who is brought to Hong Kong to front an antiques exhiition, only to have the antiques stolen from their mainland temple a few days before they are due to be shipped. Russell Wong pops up as a roguish antique dealer/criminal who takes a fancy to her.

In terms of locations, many of the proper, actor-on-location shots were actually filmed in Malaysia, and I tracked down at least three places supposedly in Hong Kong that are actually in Kuala Lumpur or Putrajaya. The most amusing was the local police station that is in reality a high school in KL, and quite clearly has its school name across the front entrance in Chinese. Not a single attempt to cover it up. It reminded me of the old movies I've covered that used stock images, ignorantly or otherwise, of other parts of China (usually Shanghai) to portray Hong Kong hoping no one will notice. It's a bit insulting to be honest. 

Anyway, other than that small gripe, the film has some nice travelogue style images of Hong Kong used for establishing and transitional shots and footage. Certainly enough to warrant a few posts. You can watch the movie yourself courtesy of the HD version uploaded to Youtube (kannst du deutsch sprechen?). In the meantime, here is the initial Hong Kong opening image of the harbour.