Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Macau Peninsula, Macau

One of my favourite shots from the various Macau portions of the film (remember, it may be called Ferry to Hong Kong, but the film revolves around a man stuck on a HK - Macau Ferry, so we also see some of the latter) is the following panning shot that takes in a view of the inner harbour.

This view shows the panorama of Macau that I really wish I had been around to see. So sleepy and low rise - vastly different to the place today with its monstrous tacky casinos.

Anyway, the vista looks as though it may possibly have been filmed from the back of Penha Church - the cross in the top picture looks very similar to one of those that sits at the rear (west facing) part of the church building. The ferry is steaming along towards the inner harbour area for its stop.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Round Island nr Repulse Bay, Hong Kong

In a linking shot that supposedly portrays the ferry (named the Fa Tsan in the film) as it paddles its way into Macau, we see a quick glimpse of Round Island (Chinese: 銀洲) that looks to have been taken from the Repulse Bay Road - from the angle I would estimate somewhere near to the where it gets joined by Belleview Drive. I'm not familiar with the 1959 version of the road so have no idea if there were lookout spots around there. I suspect there was though.

In fact, that may possibly be part of the road we can see on the right hand side. Either that or a pathway or terraced garden. Either way, we can see Round Island on the left behind the tree (look closely and you can also just see the tip of Tau Chau sticking into the edge of the screen), the headland that disappears into the distance is in fact the south eastern coast of Lamma Island and the closer, green hillside behind the road (or whatever it is) is in fact the side of Middle Island.

Unfortunately for me there are no great comparisons to be found using GoogleEarth because much of the roadside is now covered in trees (which is a good thing) obscuring the view out to sea. But below I have included a Streetview picture taken from the much lower Seaview Promenade. You don't get quite the same awesome angle, but at least to get to see the bit I am writing about.

And, of course, clear days like the one we see on the film only really happen in the summertime, so I guess the Streetview was a wintertime affair.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Kennedy Road, Central

Another spot by Arthur, so many thanks to him for helping me out. Funnily enough though I went past here just yesterday, completely unintentionally, and agree that not much has changed, if anything. I would have taken a  picture for myself but I was speeding past in a taxi.

The scene is from the first episode called Power Play and the location is, supposedly, near to where Bruce Payne's character, Eden, lives. I still need to nail that place as well, but in the meantime here is Kennedy Road.

Here is the Streetview, unfortunately the camera angle is too close to see the whole area.

The only difference I can see is that a concrete wall has been constructed so that the street numbers of the apartment blocks up this small road can be seen.

Incidentally, this is the same spot that cause so much trouble for me (in terms of identification) when I was looking at The Million Eyes of Sumuru.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter, Kowloon

The ferry pier seen in the film was actually one of the public piers in Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter and we get a good look around the area. There are some buildings that can be seen which have helped pinpoint the exact location of the filming and they can be seen in the following screencap.

The buildings to the left of the ferry are the blocks of what was formerly known as the "Six Street Slum" - a block of land that was once known as Marine Lot 39 but was recently (relatively speaking) demolished to make way for what is now a Govt housing estate called Prosperous Garden. These tenements and several of the streets (including Lee Tat Street) that made up the older neighbourhood were completely eradicated.  The white building on the right, believe it or not, is the rear wall of the Yau Ma Tei Police Station. It is the sole survivor and is still going strong.

That means the ferry is actually hiding the public pier and the end of Public Square Street that terminated at the water. The Govt archive has a direct comparison (albeit the following picture is from 1976 - 17 years later - but you can still see the white building on the right). If you look below you can see the same three blocks and the white Police Station building at the top right of the coastline.

Trying to compare the locale with modern day Streetview pictures is an exercise in the futile because it has changed so much. The typhoon shelter is all but gone now - filled in to create the West Kowloon Reclamation. Ferry Street is about the closest we can get to the old coastline (I suppose you can guess where it got its name from) and you can see another brief glimpse of this same area in The World of Suzie Wong (filmed a year later). However, here are some screencaps that show you what it used to be like with some modern comparison to look at.

The space we see behind Noel Purcell (top picture - he played the ship's engineer) was filled up by the Ferry Point Estate (building commenced in the early 60's).

As you can see the old public pier used in the film to stand in for the HK & Macau ferry pier, has gone the way of the rest of the typhoon shelter. Believe it or not, the coastline here - already moved west by reclamation by 1959 - is no longer within sight (it's actually about 800 metres further out). The view looking back the other way has also changed a fair amount too. The old blocks replaced by the previously mentioned Prosperous Garden estate. The YMT Police Station being pretty much the only surviving relic from the period.

The old spot occupied by the ferry on film now sits under the West Kowloon Corridor (that's the flyover you can see above). I know this is all about progress but it's comparisons like these that make me wish Hong Kong had a little less concrete and a little more open space.

I'll leave you with the best illustration of how development has affected this area. Pictures say a thousand words after all.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Chatham Road South, Kowloon

Many thanks to Arthur for spotting this location by identifying the multi-storey car park seen in the background.

Here is a brief reminder.

For some reason this did look familiar but I just could not place it, but now Arthur has told me that it is in fact a building in East TST called Auto Plaza I feel like slapping my head.

Of course, it is just background to the scene where Pak (played by Tzi Ma) follows a local stripper back to her flat whilst investigating a murder. He ascends to the roof top we see above and spies on her from there.

Sadly the angle is ambiguous and I'm not sure if this roof top was the one on top of the still standing Union Mansion building (built 1966) on the opposite side of Chatham Road South, or perhaps on a building that has since been replaced by Railway Plaza (build date unknown). It's too close to say one way or another but I am erring on the side of Railway Plaza because of the angle on the edge of the car park that we can see.

But anyway, here is a ground level Streetview to show that the car park is still there. You can just see it with a newer paint job peeking through the gaps in the trees.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong

Like many foreign films made over here, the harbour usually features in one way or another because, I guess, it's a defining image of what Hong Kong is.

The opening titles of Ferry to Hong Kong give us a 1959 view from the western end of the harbour looking at the Central, Wanchai and beyond.  These aren't hi-res screen caps but look closely enough and you may see some famous landmarks such as Government House (low centre right, top picture) and HSBC and BOC buildings. Unfortunately the view is rather spoilt by the opening credits splashed across the screen.

Ferry to Hong Kong - Curt Jurgens (1959) - Former Kowloon Docks, Tsim Sha Tsui

We go back to the late 50's now for a story based on a real life incident involving a post civil-war refugee (a chap named Michael P. O'Brien) who had to spend several months to-ing and fro-ing between Hong Kong and Macau. Taking his twice daily trip between HK and Macau as the basis for the story, Curt Jurgens plays a down and out who is marked as an undesirable by both the Macau and HK authorities, meaning he isn't allowed to step foot in either.

As you can imagine we get to see a fair bit of coastline and waterside facilities in this film and the opening scene gives us a very similar one to that seen a year later in The World of Suzie Wong when William Holden disembarks from his ship into TST.

It's a brief glimpse, but we see a large ship tied up at what is now Ocean Terminal. You can see the distant shape of western Hong Kong Island in the background.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Macpherson Playground, Mongkok

The last scene from this episode shows a football game going on at a large outdoor (and typical HK-style concrete) pitch. The location is in Mongkok and it's Macpherson Playground. We've seen it before on this blog, back in 1975 for Bud Spencer's Flatfoot in Hong Kong, but from a different angle.

The block straight ahead has changed immensely because it now has two buildings affiliated to the CUHK (the Chinese University in Shatin) and at their base is an oddly placed temple - all of which front onto Shantung Street. The visible remnants from the modern Streetview appear to be the corner building (behind the person with the red T-shirt) and the taller building on the other end of the block.

Looking at Streetview you can just about see the two buildings I have just mentioned and sitting in between them are the two slim tall high rises that belong to CUHK. They look to have replaced the two low rise buildings that can be seen in the frame capture above.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Stanley Bay, Hong Kong

The finale of the Fan Tan Man episode takes place on a yacht moored off the coast somewhere. I've put Stanley Bay in the title of this post but actually the location of the beach where the final gun battle takes place is actually St Stephen's Beach around where the concrete jetty stands. The beach is probably the least changed part of Stanley bay compared to the main area where the promenade now is and of course the view opposite (as seen in the top photo) has been heavily developed since the series was filmed.

The bottom picture shows the aforementioned Outdoor Activities Centre. It's had a paint job since then but other than that still looks the same. Here is the jetty.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Aberdeen Marina Club, Aberdeen

An easy one here in the form of the Aberdeen Marina Club located in the Sham Wan area of Aberdeen. This episode - Fan Tan Man - actually visits the place twice, the first trip we see the interior of what looks to be the 2nd floor restaurant (of course it's a lot different now) and one of the circular balconies that are a feature of that floor.

The second time we go back to the AMC, we get to see the tropical pool at the back of the complex. You can see the aforementioned circular balconies at the top of the first picture. I have actually been here quite a few times and can confirm it looks pretty much the same as it did back then. The pool hasn't changed other than having a small water slide added at the back. Look carefully on the lower picture and you can see part of the Jumbo restaurant in the background.