The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Waterloo Road

Another victim of congestion is an old guy who is stuck in traffic on Waterloo Road as the meters keeps ticking up. This was filmed around the junction with Prince Edward Road West and you can see they have started construction of the north/south flyover that bypasses this junction and the neighbouring one with Boundary Street. The middle image is looking north and you can see the temporary east/west flyover that was put in place to facilitate the construction works at the junction, as well as the tower of St Teresa's.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

In another scene, Chen and his friend, To Fat (Wang Chung), are stopped at the lights on the junction of Waterloo Road and Cornwall Street. The wall on the right is still there, looks the same and even is still painted the same colours. In the background you can see the former Osborn Barracks (now P.L.A Kowloon East Barracks) and just tucked away on the left is HKT Telephone exchange building on the corner of Junction Road.

The Taxi Driver - David Chiang (1975) - Tsan Yung Mansions, Homantin

The film uses a real life company, The Blue Taxicabs Ltd, as the company for who Chen works for. Formerly based on Nathan Road, the company built and then moved into the Tsan Yung Mansion building in the mid-1960s. The building is still around but the company has long departed - like many other companies in Hong Kong, property development and the vast amount of money to be made doing it lured many away from their traditional industries. Anyway, if you want to read more, Huw Farmer's excellent Industrial History website has an article or two.

The 5 Billion Dollar Legacy - Margaret Hsing Hui (1970) - Nathan Road, Yau Ma Tei

The establishing shot for the film's introduction to the third sister, Rongrong (Mona Kwok), is a view of some buildings along Nathan Road at the junction with Waterloo Road. Many of the buildings you can see are still around, including Lai Kee Mansion on the far right. Current view.

The Lady Professional - Lily Ho Li-li (1971) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

After a brief interlude whereby Tian-li deals with more would be assassins (including two baldies played by Bolo Yeung and Chih Yuen) by putting one through a cement mixer - it's a bit like the woodchipper scene in Fargo - she heads to the airport in a taxi, dressed as a nun.

This shot shows the taxi driving down the slope at the north end of Waterloo Road. Most of the buildings you see are still around. The only really change is the addition of the north/south flyover that avoids the various traffic lights stops around Cornwall Street.

The Angel Strikes Again - Lily Ho (1968) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

Agent 009 has a special device that irradiates people so they can be tracked. She uses it to mark the gang boss and then follows her out of the cinema. The first place we see them drive is along Waterloo Road. The first image shows the section outside the Maryknoll school near Boundary Street (you can see the dark brown brick of the school on the left). The remaining images shows the junction with Rutland Quadrant furthr to the north. There used to be an open nullah running right up the middle of Waterloo Road and you can see its low brick wall surround in the top three images.

The Young Rebel - David Chiang (1975) - Waterloo Road, Ho Man Tin

I can't confirm the location of the grocery shop where Xiao Rong works (edit: see Rodney's comment below confirming it was at 63a Waterloo Road), but as he departs for his first delivery we can see this was shot on Waterloo Road opposite Ho Man Tin Street. The building with the curved facade in the background is Tsan Yung Mansion and is still located on the corner of Waterloo and Ho Man Tin Street. I removed my posts sometime ago due to low picture quality (taken from a VCD), but I had previously covered The Taxi Driver on ths blog and that building was the HQ of the Blue Taxi Cab Company who David Chiang works for in that film. I'll redo that film if it makes an appearance on the Shaw Bros channel as it had some interesting locations.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

We're back on Waterloo Road again, but this time at the very far north end as 009 leads the cops off on a high speed chase. In the top image as he goes around the bend you can see the (still standing) Luso Apartments on the top right (Block B is the next, separate building along). This view is now obscured by newer developments along the main road. This was once part of the "HSBC Estate" for bank employees.

The second image shows us looking up the road as the car goes past the camera. There's a big open space to the right which would eventually became the Broadcast Road development.

Inter-Pol - Tang Ching (1967) - Waterloo Road

The next shot shows the cars driving up Waterloo Road on the Princess Margaret Road Flyover. We come back to this same area (more or less) a bit later as we get a top down view of the junction with Argyle Street and the aforementioned flyover as 009's car comes back the other way. These latter two images must have been taken from a camera located on the roof of the newly built Harrison Court.

The Generation Gap - David Chiang (1973) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon

The next sequence is a bit of a sappy one as we see the two out together enjoying themselves whilst an Agnes Chan song plays along. Initially we are looking north up Waterloo Road from the junction with Prince Edward Road. The orange flyover ran east/west on Prince Edward Road and was constructed to allow work to start on Waterloo Road for the permanent flyover that now runs north/south over the junction.

The last image is basically looking in the opposite direction as the pair walk back up towards the same junction from the south. In the far distance, between the trees, you can see the two blocks of Nairn House. As usual the Google marker wants to snap to the nearest building.

Police Force - Wang Chung (1973) - Junction of Prince Edward Road West and Waterloo Road

The police follow the woman to a hairdressers on Waterloo Road and send in Shen Yan as a pretend customer to see what she does. There are some nice views around the area before the Waterloo Road flyover was constructed. I believe the orange/brown temporary east/west flyover that can be seen was part of the initial works to build the Waterloo Road flyover which now traverses the junction from north to south.

St Teresa's Church in the background

Looking down Waterloo Road from the junction

This looks like a temporary flyover on Prince Edward Road

In this last image there are two pale yellow mansion blocks located at 116 and 114 Waterloo Road. Built in the mid-50s, both of these blocks were still around until quite recently, however, 116 (above the red car) has just recently been knocked down for redevelopment.

Hong Kong Godfather - Leung Kar-yan (1985) - Wholesale Fruit Market, Waterloo Road

The planned attack on the rival gang goes awry when a pre-emptive attack by them takes place as Han's gang are getting ready. I haven't been able to work out where the main attack occurs - it's obviously a warehouse in the NT somewhere but has been edited to imply it is adjacent/nearby - but the subsequent aftermath of Playboy Lung being chased takes us to the Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market as he struggles to escape multiple machete wielding attackers. The fight continues through the narrow lanes of the fruit stalls before spilling over onto Waterloo Road as he tries to escape. Believe it or not but this kind of stuff still goes on in Hong Kong today.

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - Baptist Hospital, Waterloo Road

Wu heads out to find a doctor for Musashi to help him with his wounds and heads to a nearby hospital to look for one, unsuccessfully. The hospital is the Baptist Hospital, or at least the original version of it. It's been expanded and redeveloped significantly since the film was made. The entrance portico you see below was facing west onto Waterloo Road opposite Cornwall Street.

Karate from Shaolin Temple - Kazuma Kenji (1976) - Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong

Another one of the gang is seen leaving a love motel in Kowloon Tong (yet to be identified) and we see him being taken down Waterloo Road in a rickshaw. The building in the background with the arched windows in the Harilela compound (itself a location) with one of the married quarters of Osborn Barracks in the distance behind. This puts the rickshaw close to where Essex Crescent joins Waterloo Road.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Adam Baldwin (2000) - Kwong Wah Hospital, Kowloon

The bad guys, looking for a character called the "tiger" from some mystical prophecy, go into a local hospital to checkout the new borns. The establishing shot is the main entrance of Kwong Wah Hospital.

The hospital has a really cool museum located behind the main building, set up in one of the hospital's original Chinese-style buildings. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Bloodfight - Yasuaki Kurata (1989) - King's Park Reservoir Steps, Waterloo Road

Although this is also King's Park related, it's a little distance from the location of the other post and I thought this would be worth including because it is rumoured that Bruce Lee himself used to run up and down these very same steps to keep fit. Although I've never been able to confirm this myself, it is quite possible given that the steps have been there as long as the reservoir as far as I can tell (circa 1934) - and we know he went here on at least a couple of occasions with his dad. Perhaps Yasuaki knew this about Bruce and was paying a small homage to his former friend?

I can confirm that going up this set of steps is an absolute killer, especially if it's a warm day, but the reservoir park at the top is worth a look-see and has been featured on this blog in the past. In the film, Masa runs up the steps with his weighted wooden sandals on to train his legs.

Police Story 2 - Jackie Chan (1988) - Miami Mansion, Waterloo Road

After being harassed at her own apartment, May goes to stay with her aunt, but it turns out they have followed her there as well. Hong Kong has at least two Miami Mansions - there's also one in Causeway Bay - but this one is located on Waterloo Road between Boundary Street and Prince Edward Road West, right behind St Teresa's Church.

Waterloo Road by Yau Ma Tei Wholesale Fruit Market - Now and Then

I went for a wander last week and used the pedestrian bridge at the western end of Waterloo Road where it originates at the former waterfront (now Ferry Street). I was reminded that Tsui Hark shot an establishing shot for Knock Off here in 1997 so I took the opportunity to try and get a comparison.

It's been a little over twenty years since that film was made but there has still been a bit of change with the construction of a couple of new high rises (the taller one centre screen of my 2021 image is called "Waterloo Tower"). The building on the left is called the Wah Tak Building and has been given a new lick of paint, but other than that, the view remains fairly similar.

Vanessa - Olivia Pascal (1977) - Harilela Compound, Kowloon Tong

One of the more surprising locations from this film (or any film for that matter) is the use of the Harilela mansion/compound as the main filming location. In Vanessa, the titular character's deceased uncle owns this house and Vanessa has now inherited it. We go back to the property several times throughout the film and are a variety of views inside and out.

The house is one of Kowloon Tong's more famous (and certainly larger) properties and sits on the corner of Waterloo and Durham Roads. The Harilela family have interests in a diverse range of businesses but are probably most well known (in HK anyway) for owning the Holiday Inn Golden Mile on Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. The (recently deceased) family patriarch, Hari Harilela, started off in Hong Kong as a humble tailor before making some rather astute investments and diversifying into other areas. It was he who had this house built in 1967 (to his own specifications) with a view to having the whole family (numbering around 100 members) living under the same roof. The place is huge as a result - 82,000 sq ft - and it appears it's still not large enough for everyone as there is an annex next door used by the younger family members. You can see the GoogleEarth 3D rendered version of the property here. The SCMP also did a recent article on the house which can be viewed here. The video is worth a watch.

In the film, after being driven around most of Hong Kong by what she thinks is a taxi, Vanessa is dropped off in front of the building and our initial view is of the front drive as seen from the slope that comes up from the underground parking garage. There are a couple of striking wall mosaics on either side of the front door which can also be seen in the following images.

On entering the building, we catch of glimpse of the entrance hall with its domed ceiling and adjacent courtyards. These are details that can be discerned on the roof of the 3D rendering I linked to earlier.

At the other end of the hallway is the curved staircase to the next floor with a statue in the centre.

There are a few scenes filmed in other rooms as shown below. The first one is the Mogul room. It's the main entertaining area and has 32 gilded arches and a couple of huge dining tables. Apparently it's on the ground floor just to the right of the entrance hall. The second image I am assuming is from one of the bathrooms as it has a sunken bath.

The final image below is of the outdoor pool that sits in the south west side of the property. You can see the front drive with its mosaics/wall friezes in the background.

So, my only question is how did the film company get to use the property and would Mr Harilela have been so accommodating had they known what was going to be filmed in some of the rooms? If anyone knows the story behind the property in this film, please feel free to leave a comment.