The Lady Professional - Lily Ho Li-li (1971) - The Peak Cafe

Following another attempt on her life, Tian-li goes to the Peak cafe to make a call to the man she believes is pulling all the strings. The sequence starts with a view to the north, looking over Victoria Harbour, before panning south to focus on the Peak Cafe. The scene then moves to the cafe garden where Tian-li makes her call. As you can see from the images, the Peak Cafe hasn't changed very much since then.

The opening shot shows a nice view of Victoria Harbour

The camera turns anti-clockwise and we catch a brief glimpse west

The Peak Cafe. Upper tram terminus building on the right

The Lady Professional - Lily Ho Li-li (1971) - View of the Harbour

Tian-li's friend, Huang, lives in an apartment bought by her sugar daddy boyfriend, who also happens to be the guy tasked to kill Tain-li. In one scene as she is driving home with her friends we see some in-car point of view shots looking over the harbour from the Peak area. Sadly they're a bit blurry, but it's a nice view.

Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - The Peak

Benson and Kraus realise they are being followed and after leaving the boat in Aberdeen they head over and hail a cab at a nearby carpark. However, this carpark is in fact the one that used to be located at the Peak next to Peak Mansions. The giveaway is the toll/security booth. You can see the same booth in this post. It also makes sense that the show would film here given the location of the next post. I guess you could argue that the carpark still exists, sort of. The site (and neighbouring Peak Mansions, not seen here) was developed into the Peak Galleria which still has a bus terminus and carpark underneath.

Benson - Robert Guillaume (1984) - View from the Peak

Here's a flashback to my own childhood growing up in the UK in the 70s and 80s. Benson was a comedy starring Robert Guillaume as Benson Dubois, a head of household for a US Governor, Eugene X. Gatling (John Noble). It turns out the Benson character was originally part of the US comedy series, Soap, which I remember my parents watching when I was a youngster. The series theme tune was an immediate trip down memory lane for me but I have no idea what year I used to watch it or whether the two episode about to be featured were ever seen by me.

Anyway, Season 6 - originally broadcast in 1984 - features a double episode (episode 6 & 7) that was shot on location in Hong Kong. There looks to be a bit of library footage scattered around during the various transitions, but in general the show appears to have been largely shot on location. The episodes are Made in Hong Kong: Part 1 and Part 2.

The show starts with the main characters preparing for a business trip to Hong Kong where a big deal is made of Clayton's (René Auberjonois) portfolio folder. This turns out to be a crucial 'Macguffin' as it mistakenly identifies Clayton as a successful, but secretive, fashion designer carrying around his latest fashion designs - something coveted by a Hong Kong based fashion villain, Ursula (Marian Mercer).

The Hong Kong part begins about 5 minutes into the initial epsiode as we are presented with the establishing scenes as the group arrive at Kai Tak. Unfortunately the copy I took these images from was most likely a digitised VHS recording as the quality is quite low (like many other bits of hard to find footage).

Bullet for Hire - Simon Yam (1991) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

Elaine takes Ngok up to the Lion's Club Pavilion on the Peak to make him an offer for his cooperation.

My Three Sons - Fred MacMurray (1965) - View from the Peak

Not the best view we've ever seen on the blog, but no doubt the same footage has been used elsewhere in better quality than the VHS upload I took this from on Youtube. At least the time frame coincides with the 1965 setting because I can see the Hongkong Hilton in the top image, completed in 1963. Often you find library/stock footage used that doesn't reflect the reality of the show's setting.

Company - Aja Devgan (2002) - The Peak Viewing Tower

A couple of scenes were shot on the roof terrace of the Peak Viewing Tower. The first shot is just a rather disjointed one of Mallik smoking a cigarette and there's no evidence that he is on the tower other than the angles of the buildings in the background which perfectly match a later scene as Chandu goes there with his girlfriend for some refreshments.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - 16 Watford Road, The Peak

The rival gang leader, Jiaxi Lan (Wong Chun), just arrived from the US to put his stamp on Hong Kong, lives in a large luxury house complete with garden pagoda, swimming pool and naked women splashing around in it. This property is located at #16 Watford Road on the south side of The Peak. It looks pretty much the same today, although the orange roof tiles have been removed and the current owner is happy with the white-washed concrete look.

The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - View from the Peak

I have to thank renowned China author, Paul French, for this next movie. Paul is well known for his deep knowledge of all things Chinese but also dabbles in some film nostalgia and can often be found posting movie clips of old China/HK/Macau on his various social media. It was via his Bluesky that I happened upon a post he made about this film, The Scavengers. I'd not heard of it before and he soon pointed me in the direction of Youtube where the film was originally uploaded. I've since had to make a copy available on another platform: Dailymotion.

The movie, shot in 1958 on location in Hong Kong and Macau (and in a Manila film studio), stars Vince Edwards as Stuart Allison, an ex-US soldier who, following the Korean war, is in Hong Kong as a smuggler. Just as he is about to hang up his smuggling boots he spots his estranged (and missing) wife boarding a ferry to Macau and chases after her. It turns out she is involved in some Nationalist-era bond smuggling and has become addicted to drugs. What follows is a fairly decent film noir story as he tries to save his ex-wife and make away with the bonds with a variety of bad men on his tail. One of which is the former RTHK journalist, John Wallace (full name: Geoffrey Wallace John Trodd), who shows of his acting chops as a rather nasty Brit gangster called Taggert. It appears to be a largely Filipino produced film but with an American director and stars (hence why it has an entry on the AFI catalog).

The film has some decent locations to see but many have been too difficult for me to track down due to lack of clues and the often night filter used for many scenes. However, the views are still good and the film is well worth a looksee if you like 50s era film noir. The opening sequence is a view of the harbour from atop the Peak on Hong Kong Island.

Anak - Vilma Santos (2000) - View from The Peak

How about a Filipino film for a change? I've been on the lookout for an old Filipino film called Hongkong Honeymoon for many many years. It stars Zaldy Zshornack and (from some clips I have seen) features some nice 1960 B&W scenery from around Hong Kong. Sadly, it appears to be completely out of existence and I've had no luck. If anyone knows where a copy might be found, please feel free to comment.

In the meantime, here is another Filipino film of more recent vintage and one that is perhaps more relatable to the many Filipino domestic helpers who work and live in Hong Kong. Anak tells the story of Josie (Vilma Santos) who leaves the Philippines to come to Hong Kong to earn more money, but it's at the expense of the relationship with her children who resent her absence and misunderstand why she has left them. Things are made worse when her husband dies and she is unable to return for his funeral - let's just say that her Hong Kong employers aren't the nicest of people. Much of the story is set back in the Philippines where Josie returns after several years to reunite with her children. However, there are still a few scenes shot in Hong Kong that make it worthy of including on the blog.

The film was available to watch on Youtube via the official channel of Star Cinema who also produced it, but since I watched it just a few weeks ago it has been removed. You may get more luck searching their channel directly.

The film opens with Josie narrating about her life in Hong Kong over a variety of images of the place starting with this one taken from Lugard Road around the top of the Peak.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - The Governor's Walk, The Peak

The last post for this film, at least for the time being. By pure coincidence I was up here a few weeks ago on a bit of a day trip with my youngest and we took some comparison images for Yellow Emanuelle. Had I known I was going to see the same location in another film sequence I would have stuck around and taken more comparison pictures, but such is life.

This is where Lung goes to finally confront Red Scorpion (Steve Lee Ka-ting). By this time I had pretty much lost the plot and I believe part of this might be due to the fact it is several epsiodes edited together rather than one coherent story. Red Scorpion seems to be able to hypnotise people and he has done this to the lady from the airport in an attempt to get her to throw herself of the cliff. Lung to the rescue and arrives just in time.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - Park Management Site Office, Mount Austin Road

Despite just being by the Peak Cafe, the very next shot shows the pair running past what is currently the site office for the park management staff who look after the area around the former Mountain Lodge. I was up here a couple of weeks ago and can confirm that getting up here from the upper Peak Tram Terminus involves at least a 20 minute steep, uphill walk that absolutely tired me out (granted, I am getting a bit old, but apparently still fitter than my 16 year old son).

The building is located next to the car park by the podium terrace of what is all that remains of the former Mountain Lodge (a pre-war property used by HK's Colonial Governors). Apparently the building was originally constructed as an office for staff who were responsible for the maintenance and operation of the nearby transmitter stations, but I guess the use of cars makes their need to be there 24/7 no longer a necessity.

The Fighting Dragon - Yasuaki Kurata (1975) - The Peak

Lung manages to catch up with Red Scorpion next to the Peak Cafe and Peak Tower, before the latter scarpers and the foot chase begins again. The cafe still looks more or less the same, although I do believe you might need to remortgage your house to eat there now, however, the Peak Tower has been completely redeveloped from its former curved version to the so-called Terry Farrell designed "flying wok" that is currently there. 

Run away...

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - Lion's Club Pavilion, The Peak

After getting to the Peak on the tram, Reiko and Wu go to the nearby Lion's Club Pavilion to talk about Musashi and the gang boss and Wu's need for revenge. It turns out the gang boss is responsible for the death of Wu's father.

The Governor's Walk, The Peak - Now and Then

Last week, during a visit to the Peak, I took the liberty of going to the top section where the old Governor's mansion used to be. The mansion, called "Mountain Lodge" has long gone, the second and last version of it was demolished after the Second World War, but the podium it sat on and its nearby lower level garden are still around. The terrace/podium now has a rather nice, large concrete pavilion built on top of it.

Anyway, all around this area is a small circular trail known as "The Governor's Walk" and it was seen in a post I did for Yellow Emmanuelle (1977) a couple of years ago. I've recreated some of the filming angles below to illustrate just how much tree growth has occurred. It's nice to have trees, but it's also nice to have views, so I'm in two minds about which version I prefer. What do you think - trees or views?

The view looking towards Mt Kellet (now obscured)

Looking towards Lamma (again, now obscured)

The same railing remains today

Looking towards the viewing point.