Cosa Nostra Asia - Chris Mitchum (1974) - Hong Kong Harbour

The story flits from (supposedly) Chicago to Hong Kong as various gang members travel between the two places. However, all subsequent scenes with the actors supposedly in Hong Kong were actually filmed in Taiwan. This just leaves us with a variety of establishing shots that may or may not have been shot specifically for the movie. Our first one is a view across the harbour from the Peak. Unfortunately the picture quality means there isn't much detail to see as the camera starts with a view of the old Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter before panning down towards Central on Hong Kong Island.

Old YMT Typhoon Shelter

Ferry Point Estate and former Govt dockyard

Kowloon Docks and Ocean Terminal

The "new" Connaught Centre

Looking over Central with Furama Hotel and HMS Tamar dockyard

Yellow Emanuelle - Chai Lee (1977) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter Breakwater

In one of the more bizarre locations from this film, the reunion between George and Emy takes place on the old typhoon shelter breakwater in Yau Ma Tei. The only way to get here was by boat so I guess the crew just wanted a very inaccessible place to prevent passers-by ruining the scene? The whole area has of course since been reclaimed and the location below now corresponds with the southern end of Olympic MTR station. In the second image, you can see the curved brickwork of the circular northern tip of the breakwater. There is a modern breakwater for the new shelter, but it's located 600 metres west of where the original one was and appears to be just made from piled rocks rather than concrete.

Bamboo Gods and Iron Men - James Iglehart (1974) - Ferry Point Estate, Yau Ma Tei

As mentioned in the last post, as the Jeffersons get into a cab on Aberdeen Praya Road following the rescue of Charley, there is a brief shot of a soaking wet Charley supposedly running towards their cab which was filmed elsewhere. As you can see from the image below, this was filmed at Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter with the Ferry Point Estate in the background. Maybe the film crew just ran out of time and Aberdeen was too far away to return to for a brief pick-up shot like this?

The location shows the additional reclamation of the typhoon shelter that was going on in the early 1970s and the kink in the sea wall behind tells me that Charley (Chiquito) was standing roughly on the opposite side of the road to where the Public Square Street Playground is located (next to the old YMT Police Station). It's a busy road junction here now.

Asia-Pol Secret Service - Wang Yu (1966) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter

After evading their pursuer along the waterfront of Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, we are given a view of the shelter but this time from the northern waterfront in Tai Kok Tsui. The northern shore back then was Cherry Street.

Die Sieben Masken des Judoka - Heinz Drache (1967) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Yau Ma Tei

From one typhoon shelter to another, this time across the harbour and over to Yau Ma Tei. This is where the medallion turns up in the hands of a Chinese girl. She's there to meet a contact but is instead ambushed by the gang.

Despite the passage of time and massive reclamation/redevelopment, a couple of the buildings visible in the background are still around today. The third picture down shows the Yuen Fat Building centre left and the Kwong Yu Building far right. Whilst the fourth picture down shows the full extent of the Kwong Yu and Kwong Fung Buildings - the Kwong Fung building is the right hand section with the red neon sign wrapped around the corner.

Supermen Against the Orient - Robert Malcolm (1973) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

In the final opening credits post we get a brief glimpse of the old typhoon shelter in Yau Ma Tei. The view here shows the northern end with Cherry Street on the left as the northern limit of the shelter. The reclamation that can already be seen along Ferry Street (running along top of picture) was the formation works for what would become the West Kowloon Corridor. The white building top centre left is the Kwong Wing building and is one of the remaining buildings still found in the area.

Despite being referred to as Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, strictly speaking this section is in the vicinity of Mongkok and Tai Kok Tsui. It's all been filled in now and this exact spot now supports Park Avenue and Ho Fui Court residential developments.

Meteor - Sean Connery (1979) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

A second outing for Sean Connery on this blog although, similar to You Only Live Twice, he doesn't actually venture to Hong Kong in person. This film is a late 70's disaster movie which features Hong Kong as one of the locations around the globe that suffers the catastrophic affects of having small pieces of a larger meteor crashing into the sea just off the coast. Cue a massive tsunami that hits the territory and destroys everyone and everything in its path.

The Hong Kong scenes are basically just ones of mad panic as everyone runs away from the incoming wave. The first place to be hit is the old typhoon shelter in Yau Ma Tei. The top shot is the view looking north from the area of the Ferry Point Estate, showing the entirety of the shelter up to what was Cherry Street. The last two pictures show the southern end of the shelter with the Ferry Point Estate buildings in the background. Of course that whole area was reclaimed a long time ago and is now full of high-rise residential developments. 

L'Inconnue de Hong Kong - Dalida (1963) - Aerial View of Kowloon Part 1

There is a rather nice sequence at the start of this film when the protagonists are supposedly flying into Hong Kong which takes in a large swathe of Kowloon. I have around 9 grabs taken from it but wanted to split them up because there is a lot to look at.

The sequence starts over the old typhoon shelter and finishes looking to the hills to the north and I am sure anyone familiar with Kowloon in the 1960's (and later) will recognise some familiar landmarks. here are the first three pictures. I've arranged the pictures in reverse order below so that the continuity is easier to see between the buildings. I guess we are looking at the area where Yau Ma Tei meets Mongkok.

So what are we looking at? The lower picture shows the old typhoon shelter (now reclaimed) with two main roads visible at the waterfront. On the left is Soy Street and on the right (just off top centre) is the end of Dundas Street. Unsurprisingly, the whole (ex-) waterfront has been redeveloped extensively and in fact only until recently we still had some survivors. The large block between both roads has only just been knocked down. You can still see it on Streetview for the time being but the next time Google do an update it will be gone. The typhoon shelter at this section now houses some large developments including Charming Garden and Park Avenue.

In the middle picture there is some difficulty in making out detail amongst all the grey, but on the left of centre is a large white block that sticks out a bit. This building sits on Reclamation Street (on the other side of the building from where we are) and was brand spanking new in 1963 - hence it being nice and shiny. I was in Reclamation Street just the other week and noticed that this block (it encompasses #331 thru #355) has recently been taken over by the dreaded U.R.A (that's the Urban Renewal Authority that for so long has been very successful at under-compensating old flat owners for the destruction of their homes). So, it looks like the block will be demolished at some point in the near future. You may feel I bang on a bit about getting rid of old buildings, but just take a look at this place to see how old buildings can be made to look absolutely fantastic if people took the time and effort.

Anyway, in the top picture you can just make out the slopes of King's park at the top right and the hospital buildings of Kwong Wah Hospital along Waterloo Road at the bottom of the slope. The hospital has had another wing added to the main building since then but other than that remains fairly unchanged.

Les Tribulations d'un Chinois en Chine - Jean-Paul Belmondo (1965) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Yau Ma Tei

Belmondo's private yacht (in the film the boat is called the "Mimi" but it looks suspiciously like the Hilton Hotel's Wan Fu to me) docks in the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon shelter while all the shenanigans take place and it's a location that the film makers repeatedly return to. We can see a few buildings that are still standing and they seem to place the location in the northern part of the shelter.

At the back right of the above picture we can see a white building with an angled upper section. This is Cherry Mansion that still sits along Cherry Street on what was the northern shoreline of the typhoon shelter. The building was built the year this was filmed and still stands. To the left of the boat (above) and in the background of the picture below is where the modern day Olympic MTR Station now stands.

You can still see Cherry Mansion in the above picture top left. But on the far right is another building under construction. You can see it again in the background of the next picture. It's the Yuen Fat Building on the corner of Ferry Street and Nelson Street. Again, it was constructed in 1965 and is still standing. We'll see a bit more of the Yuen Fat Building in a later post although we have seen it before.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

When the police are about to launch their attack on Sumuru'a fortress island, they first assemble at a pier in the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter. Once again the nearby Yau Ma Tei Police Station gives us a rough indication of where the pier stood. You can see the station in the top picture, it's the white building in the background. 

The position of the pier/waterfront where the actors are seems to tally with the north side of Man Cheong Street. A large portion of the Ferry Point Estate was already completed by 1966/1967, so I think I am probably correct in saying this most likely filmed on the north side of man Cheong Road in front of the Man Wai Building (completed in 1966). The low rise buildings along the road at the back (it's still Ferry Street by the way) have since been replaced by one of China Light & Power's substations and the Saigon Street Playground.

In the lower picture you can see the old tenements that used to line Ferry Street that have since been replaced by Prosperous Gardens, but the building at the back between Maria Rohm and Paul Chang's head (he played the Police Inspector) is the still-standing Wah Tak Building along Waterloo Road.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru - George Nader (1967) - Ferry Street, Yau Ma Tei

Maria Rohm's escape through the streets of Kowloon terminates at a ferry pier along, fittingly, Ferry Street in Yau Ma Tei. In fact there are two locations used in this shot, the first is this one Ferry Street, and the second one appears to be the Star Ferry Pier in Tsim Sha Tsui. A quick editing job makes it look like they are the same place. The older buildings along ferry Street seen below have long since gone, they were once part of the "six street slum" that was replaced by Prosperous Garden, but the Yau Ma Tei Police Station is still around for the time being and you can see it in the lower pictures where it sits along Public Square Street.

We had a glimpse of this area when we were looking at Ferry to Hong Kong a couple of years ago, and in fact this jetty is the same one used for the berth of the ferry in that film. I keep banging on about how much this area has changed, especially with the creation of the west Kowloon reclamation (which basically filled in the old typhoon shelter). But pictures speak a thousand words, so here's the Streetview.

Lord Jim - Peter O'Toole (1965) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Yau Ma Tei

One of the great logistical problems of this film was keeping out of view all of the modern anachronisms that would ruin the Victorian era within which the film (and book) were set. I spoke to Chaplin Chang about this because he worked on this film as an Assistant Director and he told me Richard Brooks (the director) largely overcame this problem by having large number of fishing junks in the background - the intention being that the open sails of the junks could be placed in front of items that might otherwise ruin the shot.

To a large extent it does seem to have dealt with the problem, but you will notice in the film that it didn't work every time and in particular with the shot below looking west from Yau Ma Tei, the film makers decided the only thing to be done was to superimpose a large building at the back. My guess is perhaps it was done to obscure a modern warship docked over at Stonecutter Island?

The curved breakwater seen mid-picture is the old breakwater, now buried under several bouts of reclamation, that ended down next to the site where the Ferry Point Estate was located. You can see it on this picture here. The pointy hill behind the fake building is Sam Chi Heung on Tsing Yi island.

Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge - Nicholas Hammond (1979) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

There's a fair amount of aerial views in this film courtesy of a sequence that involves a helicopter. It looks like the film makers took the opportunity to film a significant amount of footage and incorporate it into various parts of the film rather than save it all for the actual helicopter chase/search.

One scene that crops up a few times is a view over Yau Ma Tei typhoon shelter. Here are the grabs where, to a trained eye, you may be able to discern the low roofs of the Yau Ma Tei fruit market (centre right in the top picture). Some of those thin white buildings are still around - unlike the shelter itself which has long since been reclaimed and redeveloped. In fact all of that water you see below has been replaced by Olympian City, Olympic MTR Station and large developments such as Park Avenue, The Hermitage and Charming Garden. 

The Man from Hong Kong - Wang Yu (1975) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

As we continue the hand glider flight, we get what I guess is supposed to be a pilot's eye view, though to be honest even Grant Page - as hardcore as he is - would have difficulty getting this high above Kowloon. We start with the familiar scene of the (now reclaimed) typhoon shelter and the Ferry Point Estate - the latter now very much land-locked on all sides - as well as the former Vehicular Ferry pier at the end of Jordan Road. Look closely and you can see a ferry just about to dock at the pier.

As the camera pans south (up) we get to see Tsim Sha Tsui, Ocean Terminal and Hong Kong island in the distance. The detail is a bit fuzzy to see anything of value but if you look to the left hand side of the top picture below you will see the reclamation for East TST is underway. Actually, I believe this film was shot mainly in 1974 because I suspect Brian Trenchard-Smith's documentary Kung Fu Killers - again with Grant Page and next up on the to-do list - was filmed at the same time and features interviews with Stuart Whitman (in HK filming Shatter) and George Lazenby (in HK filming Stoner). This would also explain why the reclamation in East TST doesn't look to have been finished just yet.

That Man Bolt - Fred Williamson (1973) - Western Harbour views

Some views that aren't reversed are shown over the opening titles as the camera pans anti-clockwise from Kowloon over to the island. A great view of Yaumatei Typhoon shelter including the Ferry Point Estate at the bottom of the screen. The typhoon shelter as we see it below is completely gone with all of that waterfront area reclaimed into West Kowloon and much of it now part of Olympic Station.

As the camera moves left we can see Stonecutter Island in its former isolated glory - now completely attached to mainland Kowloon courtesy of the container processing terminals around Lai Chi Kok.

Followed by a view over a relatively undeveloped waterfront around Central and Sheung Wan. The square building on the waterfront just left of centre is, I believe, the car park that still sits next to Rumsey Street. The area to the right of it became the Shun Tak Centre but at the time of filming was still a very low rise Macau Ferry terminal (we will see it close up in a later post). The ferry piers to the left were the variouys outlying island piers I believe with the Central vehicular ferry pier being the double pronged pier on the left. The piers area has been moved north over the years (i.e towards the camera) and of course the vehicular pier was removed in the 1990s.

The title sequence ends with a Macao hydrofoil heading away from HK with the western end of HK Island in the background and Green Island.

And a nice shot of the under construction Connaught Centre (now Jardine House) to round it off. This makes me think that this film was filmed pretty much around the same time as Enter the Dragon or perhaps slightly earlier as Connaught Centre in the latter film appears to be more complete.