The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Hung Shing Temple, Ap Lei Chau

You can tell I am currently on a blitz of forgotten locations, right? Here is one from The World of Suzie Wong that I only really discovered a short while ago. Basically, the reason for these old posts is that I have been revisiting stuff with my current level of knowledge of these places and it's revealing how much I used to miss when I first started out with this blog.

Anyway, just before the couple head to the Tai Pak for their lunch, they head to Aberdeen and Lomax is seen painting/drawing. Look carefully at the following screen caps and you'll see that the actors are on the Ap Lei Chau side of the harbour.

The top picture shows the view looking to the west from Ap Lei Chau. The temple on the left is the very historical Hung Shing Temple on the Ap Lei Chau waterfront. It's thought to be the oldest temple in the area and is now a protected monument. Looking at modern pictures I would say the roof has undergone a renovation recently but it is definitely the same place despite the tidying up of the harbourfront.

The lower picture, from the same sequence, shows Holden sketching Suzie and we can see that this is also on the Ap Lei Chau side because you can just make out the old Aberdeen Police Station in the extreme top right of the picture on the other side of the harbour.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Ferry Street, Kowloon

Well, to finish off this series of Suzie Wong locations we have the final scene from the film which involves Suzie and her friends burning offerings to her baby's spirit at a temple. They exit the temple and turn right to walk away from camera and we see a bustling but I guess rather grotty harbour side.

For this location we have HK Man to thank. HK Man (a pseudonym obviously) spends his time taking "Then and Now" pictures all over HK. You can catch his excellent FLICKR stream here. But the snap we are interested in is this one.

Ferry Street was a small road in Yau Ma Tei that terminated at the harbour side we see above, and it wasn't until this area was later reclaimed that Ferry Street was able to grow a bit more into the modern version we know today which terminates at the junction with Argyle Street in Mongkok.

The road we can see to the right of the modern comparison is Kansu St, which means that Holden and Kwan would have exited the temple somewhere around where today's Saigon Street Playground now stands. Now, I do have access to a 1964 map of this area and there is no temple marked here so I can only think that some other antiquated building was used in lieu of a real temple - it wouldn't be hard for the filmmakers to make it look like a temple to be honest. But if anyone can tell me there was a real temple at this site I would be interested to hear any more information.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong

After Suzie goes missing, Lomax spends some time visiting various locations searching for her. One of those is the wall along the west side of Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter with a view over to Gloucester Road behind.

Back in 1960 you can see that the Far East Motors Limited occupied the space behind, they used to be 26 Nathan Road during the 20's and 30's but expanded here later in life. Of course in 1960 the breakwater which Holden was on (and which joined Kellet Island to Hong Kong) was a bit further east than where it is today - largely because the exact spot Holden is on now hosts the HK-side entrance to the cross-harbour tunnel. This part of Gloucester Road is now taken up by various buildings Top Glory Tower and the Sino Plaza. Here is a Streetview of what the background looks like now.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Telegraph Bay, Hong Kong

Here's one that totally flummoxed me until the nice chaps at Gwulo proffered a resolution. It shows Holden and Kwan wandering around a lovely piece of HK coastal countryside just after Lomax (Holden) has found out about Suzie's baby.

This was Telegraph Bay. Perhaps the name doesn't mean very much these days as it seems to be more commonly known by the name of a horrible development there that goes by the more modern moniker of Cyberport. I jest not. What was an idyllic rural part of the island (with a view over to Lamma Island in the background) has become one of HK's biggest developmental jokes.

The headland that you can see in the distance in the first screen cap now holds a rather large development known as Bel-Air on the Peak. Another wholly inappropriately named expensive apartment complex.

Bel-Air on the Peak 

(no, it's neither in Bel-Air nor on The Peak)

Why was this place called Telegraph Bay? Simple, it was the site where some early telegraph cables entered the water. The Chinese name is Dai Hau Wan (大口灣 - big mouth bay)

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Li Chit Street & Johnston Road, Hong Kong

There's one scene in the film when Holden crosses a road in the pouring rain as a tram trundles by. The interesting thing about this location is that although all the older buildings have been replaced (and a tram stop being erected right where that tram is) it's still recognisable. Holden has just come out of Li Chit Street and is now crossing Johnston Road towards the Methodist Church HQ (which can be seen as a brown wall on the last screen cap).

Even the Methodist Church building has been replaced by a newer but similarly-coloured edifice but one relic from this time still exists (or at least it did when I went past it earlier today along that very same tram track) and that is the electrical box that we can see in the foreground of the latter 3 pictures.

I suspect the reason it is still there is perhaps because it is a HK Tramway junction box and there are several similar ones to be found along the side of the tracks at various points (saw some on Kings Road in North Point as well). Now, given that a couple of years ago HK Tramways was taken over by the French company, Veolia, who have promised some major investment, it wouldn't surprise me to see some of these old boxes start to disappear. It's a shame but there you go.

I visited the same location just recently (Sep 2015) and can confirm the old box is still there - for the time being at least.

As you can see it's a bit rusty but has so far withstood the test of time, Here's to another 60 years.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Square Street, Hong Kong

A fleeting glimpse of the road(s) around the Man Mo Temple as Holden gets driven home by the daughter of the banks boss. The Square Street and Ladder Street intersection is still recognisable today even though the old buildings have long been replaced by not-quite-as-old-but getting-there buildings.

The thing that has changed is the number of people here. These days the place is deserted, but judging from the film (and there are just too many people there for them to all be extras) it was a hive of activity in the late '50's.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Aberdeen Harbour, Hong Kong

Once again, not the first time and certainly not the last, Aberdeen is the focal point for a scene from a foreign-produced film set in Hong Kong. This was the second time a film here had involved William Holden (he made a trip to the Tai Pak restaurant with Jennifer Jones during Love is a Many-Splendored Thing in 1955).

This time Holden, playing Lomax, accompanies the Kwan (Suzie) to the Tai Pak floating restaurant. It looks a little different to the version of the Tai Pak that is currently still installed in Aberdeen and that's because this one seems to be the original. This is the version that was moved over to Castle Peak Bay sometime after this film was made (circa 1960) before falling victim to the transformation of Castle Peak into Tuen Mun New Town which saw much of the bay reclaimed for housing.

Notice the other restaurants that were around at the time: Sea palace and the Yue Lee Tai - the latter one lesser known, perhaps because it wasn't quite so aesthetically flamboyant. Neither are around anymore although if you read my other blog you will know some remnants linger on. I've heard unconfirmed reports that the Sea Palace was sold and towed to the Philippines or Australia (but probably neither).  The Tai Pak (at least a later version) remains and was integrated into Jumbo Kingdom some time ago.

Anyway, this isn't the only point of interest that we have from this trip because there is also a brief glimpse of another historic place around Aberdeen that still exists - the old Police Station on the hill.

It's the long building on the hillside just to the left of Nancy Kwan's head. These days it's used as a youth centre ("The Warehouse") and of course it is now completely obscured by high-rises along the waterfront.

Another thing to note about the above screen grab is the small hillock sticking out of Holden's right shoulder. This of course is the small headland that housed, and still houses, The Aberdeen Holy Spirit Seminary - a place worthy of it's own blog post at some point down the road. The hill on the right of the shot is actually Brick Hill and is better known these days for having the Ocean Park cable car running up the side of it.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - The Chartered Bank, Hong Kong

The south side of Statue Square was - and still is - fronted by the various major banks. There is a point in the film when Lomax (Holden) realises he needs a bit of cash - strapped as he is as a freelance artist - so off he heads to try and get a loan. Where does he go? The Chartered Bank. Formerly known as The Chartered Bank of India Australia and China (it went on to become Standard Chartered circa 1970).

The first shot shows Holden standing on a very familiar spot (familiar to anyone in HK at least because the building in the background is the former Supreme Court building, subsequently the former Legislative Council Building and soon to reappear as a law court when the Final Court of Appeal moves there from the former French Mission building at the top of nearby Battery Path.

Both the Chartered Bank building and HSBC behind it have since been rebuilt but the Bank of China building at the far end of the row is still standing. The BOC created their new HQ on a different site (the site of the Murray Building that now - or at least a 70% new version of it - stands in Stanley).

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Statue Square, Hong Kong

Actually, this area was and still is dissected by Chater Road and the part featured below is really the area next to the Cenotaph (though we don't see this on film), I've used Statue Square in the title because it's perhaps more familiar and we still get to some see the buildings that encircle(d) it anyway.

Well, immediately after crossing Connaught Road from Edinburgh Place, Holden (as Robert Lomax) walks to ask directions to the Nam Kok Hotel. Unfortunately the filmmakers at this point thought it would be more interesting to have a rickshaw blocking the foreground whilst the fantastic old Queen's and Prince's buildings get largely obscured in the background and as such we get only glimpses of how impressive these buildings were.

Queen's Building was of course replaced by the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in 1963, not long after this film was made (the COOKS sign above can be spotted on almost any old photo of the place) and the Prince's Building still exists - albeit in name only.

Interestingly, on this last shot above we can see the former versions of both the Standard Chartered Bank Building (then just known as "The Chartered Bank") and part of the previous (and much more pleasing to me) HSBC building.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Old Star ferry Pier, Hong Kong

This place has only just recently moved into the history books because it was still around until the Wanchai->Central reclamation started in 2006 when it was - after huge demonstrations by the public - finally closed and then demolished to make way for...a road *sigh*.

Anyway, immediately after alighting from the previous mentioned Star Ferry, we see Lomax (Holden) making his way towards Statue Square via the Edinburgh Place ferry pier. More on Statue Square later but here are some grabs of how the pier used to look.

There are still a few remnants of the old ferry area still being used such as the Edinburgh Place car parks but everything else has been ripped out and gone. Here is Holden crossing Connaught Road Central - not something I would recommend anyone attempt today.

See all the buildings in the background? A couple are still around and I talked about them here not so long ago. The one right next to Holden's head is the impressive and still standing Chinese Chamber of Commerce building. The most striking building for me is the old GPO - the smaller building on the left behind the lamp post - with its colonial style columns and you can see the mail tower to the left of Holden where mail was loaded on and off boats at the harbour front via a conveyor belt mechanism.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Hop Yat Church, Hong Kong

Speaking of Hop Yat Church - as I just recently mentioned the Kowloon version here - here is a grab from The World of Suzie Wong which depicts William Holden as Lomax just arriving at the Nam Kok Hotel and going out on the roof to admire the (admittedly very impressive at a time before highrises obscured it all) vista.

The image below shows Holden in a studio set with a projected background view of the mid-levels (when they were still low-rise!), but it's worth showing because the filmmakers captured the Hop Yat Church (a.k.a Church of Christ in China) on Caine Road in their back-projected film.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui

Still one of the top boat rides in the world (so I keep reading, at least) and I suspect William Holden would have agreed (he owned a house on Lantau Island with Stephanie Powers) because it's where his character, Robert Lomax, meets Suzie for the first time.

The boat you see featured in the film was the "Radiant Star" which sadly saw its last trip in 1971 (its first trip was in 1956 - so it was a fairly new boat when the film was made). I'm not sure but I think most of the boats that plow the harbour these days were all inaugurated in the 1960's - but there are three that are still Suzie Wong 'vintage': Celestial Star (天星 1956), Meridian Star (二代 1958) and Solar Star (日星 1958).

Below is a dialogue scene between Holden and Kwan that was actually filmed in the studio (as all dialogue scenes were done this way). The background is back-projected but it's still interesting to see how low-rise the HK side of the harbour was in 1959/1960 and it's nice to see the sadly missed Star Ferry clock in the lower picture.

The World of Suzie Wong - William Holden (1960) - Star Ferry Pier, Tsim Sha Tsui

Immediately after crossing the bus terminus, Holden enters the TST Star Ferry pier. Although it looks as though the entrance he used is the one that is now used for entering the harbour tour ferry. I could be wrong as I rarely use the ferry these days - if I go to HK Island it's almost invariably to Quarry Bay over to the east.