The Scavengers - Vince Edwards (1958) - Peking Restaurant, East Point Road

Sometimes little facts pop up in my comments that lead to an identification months, or even years later. A good case in point is this following screencap of the Peking Restaurant. I can't remember the context from the film but this shot was an establishing shot for part of the sequence where Stuart is trying to track down his estranged wife. You can just make out the road sign on the side of the building and it looks like it says "?? Point Rd". As far as I know there are only two road with the word "point" in their name: East Point Road in Causeway Bay and North Point Road in...erm North Point.

Well, going back over old posts I recalled that fellow Gwulo'er "C" (who I met for the first time in person last year btw) had commeneted on one of my old posts showing some buildings in and around Yee Wo Street. Here is the post from Heisser Hafen Hongkong (aka Secrets of Buddha). But TL:DR, here is his pertinent comment:

There was a restaurant called Peking Restaurant (東興樓, pronounced Tung Hing Lau) on the ground floor of Hop Kwan Building men's hostel (not sure if it is the official English name; Chinese name is 合羣大厦男子公寓).

Well, it seems as though this is the restaurant in the screencap. You can see the English name in neon above the door, but more eagle-eyed (and perhaps Chinese literate) peeps will notice that in Chinese writing on the door lintel is three Chinese words that look very much like (reading r-l) 樓興東 i,e, Tung Hing Lau as described by C in his comment.

So, East Point Road it is and this is obviously the ground floor of the Hop Kwan Building. According to T in that same post, the current building, the Island Centre, was constructed in 1984 so I guess this building must have disappeared a few years before that. I don't know how long the restaurant was around for.

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - St Mary's Church, Tung Lo Wan Road

Still on their way to the boss's house and the car then drives up Tung Lo Wan Road past St Mary's Church onto Ka Ning Path/Eastern Hospital Road. We last saw this a while ago for Tokyo Gang Vs Hong Kong Gang.

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - Causeway Road, Wanchai

Another shot of the car on its way to the boss's house, except this time we are heading back in towards Wanchai. This is the view looking east along Causeway Road. The building in the background left (with the sign) should be the Hung On Building located on the corner of King's Road and Tin Hau Temple Road.

Rich and Famous - Chow Yun Fat (1987) - St Margaret Mary's Church, Happy Valley

Ah Chai and Carina get married at St Margaret Mary's Church (often abbreviated to just "St Margaret's") on Broadwood Road in Happy Valley. The long set of stone steps up to the churchs front making a great location for a bit of a brawl and Yung and his hired, Filipino hitmen start shooting indisciminately.

Spitfire - Lance Henriksen (1995) - Lockhart Road, Causeway Bay

In another of those remarkable feats of human achievement, running away from the bad guys up a street in Aberdeen leads the pair to Lockhart Road in Wanchai! Specifically where it intersects with Percival Street. The green neon shop (first image) was on the ground floor of the Po Hon Building. In the second and third images you can see the Percival Street-facade of Causeway Bay Plaza.

Fearless Tiger - Jalal Merhi (1991) - Causeway Bay Cargo Handling Basin

Salamaar surveys his drug distribution network from the Causeway Bay Cargo Handling Basin, located next door to the typhoon shelter and Kellet Island.

Bloodfight - Yasuaki Kurata (1989) - Matheson Street, Causeway Bay

Next up is an interesting view of the area around what used to be the Sharp Street Tram Depot - where Times Square now stands. The place was demolished not long after this film was made.  The view in the top image is from a small cafe located on the NE corner of  Sharp Street East and Matheson Street. The gang have just walked down Sharp Street East and you can see one of the old buildings in the tram depot on the right hand side behind the street sign. Here is the same view today. The second image shows the view looking NW towards a row of old buildings that used to be on Russell Street. Only a couple remain today, the rest being redeveloped into high rises. The building with the cafe is still around though. 

This is where Ryu first encounters the gang and uses his natural fighting abilities to completely beat them all up - attracting the attention of Masa.

Hard Boiled - Chow Yun Fat (1992) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter

Tequila meets with Little Ko on the breakwater in Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter in order to pay Ko his informant money. This is actually the central breakwater that forms the main wall of the shelter - it's not connected to land at either end so the actors (and crew) would have need to take a quick boat road to reach it.

Something Good - Luca Barbareschi (2013) - Happy Valley Racecourse, Hong Kong

Despite being such a major land mark in Hong Kong, this is only one of a very small number of productions to have actually filmed inside the grounds (the others covered so far on this blog have been The Amsterdam Kill and Noble House). Most of the times it has been seen in this blog it has been exterior shots or simply shots with it in the distant background. Anyway, in this film it is where Matteo goes to meet Mr Feng to discuss who may have killed his friends.

I Come With The Rain - Josh Hartnett (2009) - Various Hong Kong Locations

I Come With The Rain is a French film made by Vietnamese-French director, Tran Anh Hung. It stars Josh Hartnett as Kline, a burnt out cop who has left the police after a violent encounter with a rather sadistic serial killer and he is hired as a private investigator to track down the missing son of a wealthy pharma boss. After a brief bit of searching in the Philippines he heads to Hong Kong to enlist the help of an old police friend who now works with the HK Police Farce...oops...I mean "Force".

The opening Hong Kong scenes are of Kline catching a car to his hotel and we get a few flashing glimpses of various parts of Wanchai. Such as the Hopewell Centre, Pico Tower. Then in some bizarre reverse time warp the car ends up back in Central (see third image) as the car passes the PLA Central Barracks (formerly HMS Tamar).

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Tiger Balm Gardens, Tai Hang

Another of the locations revisited to recapture her lost images is Tiger Balm Gardens. Sadly we don't really get to see much other than a couple of quick frames as the character recaptures her photographs, and black and white film has never been the best way to capture this place.

Hong Kong (series) - Rod Taylor (1960) - Causeway Road, Causeway Bay

This quick sequence showing Evans' car driving in the westbound lane of Causeway Road is used for the first time in this episode, To Catch a Star. The large monolithic building in the left background is the former Causeway Bay magistracy, built in a very similar style to the North Kowloon Magistracy on Tai Po Road that now houses the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), with its long vertical window openings. This isn't surprising given that both buildings were built around the same time, the only difference is that this one was demolished sometime in the late 1980s and "Park Towers" built on the site.

This snippet was used again in future episodes 12, 18, and 19 - The Dragon Cup, Double Jeopardy and Lady Godiva, respectively.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Victoria Park, Wanchai

The scene where Michael Cohen (the journalist) meets his ex-wife to strike a deal over child custody starts off with an establishing shot of Victoria park. You can see Central Library in the background. This is a bit strange because the actual meeting occurs elsewhere.

Strangers - John Simm (2018) - Soundwill Plaza Midtown, Tang Lung Street

Jonah goes for a lunch with Xo's power hungry assistant, Rachel, and finds out why he recognises her. This looks as though it was filmed on one of the top floors of the Midtown building in Causeway Bay. There's a restaurant on the 30th floor called Penthouse with a balcony area that seems to fit the bill but, as always, corrections welcome.

Flight to Hong Kong - Rory Calhoun (1956) - Percival Street, Causeway Bay

During a car chase, the pursuers car is blocked by a tram pulling out from what I believe to be the old tram depot in Causeway Bay - where the Times Square development now stands. That would make this the angled junction between Percival Street (on the left) and Russell St/Matheson St on the right.

Confirmation seems to come from the dome that can be just seen around the top left of the top image (directly above the car). This is the dome of the old Lee Theatre where Percival Street joins Leighton Road. The hill at the far end of Percival Street (past the dome) is Leighton Hill.

Die Sieben Masken des Judoka - Heinz Drache (1967) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Wanchai

I was about to do my Taiwan posts for The Chairman, only to find out that my copy has developed a mould problem and is no longer playable :( so it looks like those will have to wait until I can find a new copy. In the meantime I guess I can start on the elusive Die 7 Masken des Judoka (aka Casse-tête chinois pour le Judoka). I was first told of this film several years ago by Flip Jansen who runs the Movies in Concert website. However, trying to track down a DVD copy was proving difficult until one popped up on Amazon.de a while back. Unfortunately the guy would only deliver within Germany, so I was scuppered until my good friend, Stefan, offered to get it for me and send it on. So many thanks to Flip for the original tip and to Stefan for his extremely generous contribution.

The film is about a nefarious criminal group who have kidnapped two airforce pilots (one played by Heinz Drache who we last saw here in Ein Sarg aus Hongkong) along with their nuclear strike plane equipped with nuclear warheads. A medallion given to one of the pilots turns up in Hong Kong and their friend (played by Marc Briand) heads out to investigate.

The action starts off in Japan before moving to Hong Kong and the first HK establishing shot is the one below, of Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter.

China Rose - George C. Scott (1983) - Tin Lok Lane, Causeway Bay

Scott meets the local police inspector, who is also after his son for other reasons, at an acupuncture place along Tin Lok Lane. 

Die Jungen Tiger von Hongkong - Robert Woods (1969) - Yee Wo Street, Causeway Bay

A similar trip down Yee Wo Street as seen in Heisser Hafen Hongkong, although this time the camera angle is steeper as we pass by various buildings including the Hop Kwan Building, Great George Building (where Daimaru was located) and also a never-before-seen glimpse of the top of the Dairy Farm building that Thomas mentioned in this post.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, Wanchai

I was a bit confused about this one at first because I initially thought it was Yaumatei, but after close inspection it turned out to be Causeway Bay, in this case the background was more of a clue than anything. Anyway, it's where Golgo goes with the prostitute after he has saved her from her abusive boyfriend/pimp.

Look carefully at the bottom right of the lowest picture and you can see the elevated road that curves from Victoria Park Road around onto Gloucester Road by Victoria Park.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Victoria Park Road, Wanchai

Our first introduction to the local police detective, imaginatively called Smith in the English dub (played by Ga Lun - also credited as the co-director), is when he is called to investigate a murder down in Wanchai District. The road is now park of Victoria Park Drive and is right next to the Excelsior Hotel (rumoured to soon be redeveloped) and the HK-side entrance to the cross-harbour tunnel. Both can be seen in the background of these screengrabs.