Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Xmas Decorations 1972, Central

Although released in 1973, the filming of Das Mädchen von Hongkong took place in December of 1972. So it's not surprising that the film maker caught some footage of that year's Xmas decorations. Here is a couple of shots taken in Central that show the old HSBC HQ and Chater Road (with Prince's Building on the left and the Mandarin Oriental on the right). I think the both shots were taken from the same location but the camera just swiveled right to get the shot looking up Chater Road.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Hong Kong Airport, Kai Tak

The old airport pops up, as it does in pretty much every HK-based film, but no swooping shots of planes coming into land, rather just a few shots of the observation deck.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Angler's Beach, Sham Tseng

The dead body of Fuchsberger's buddy ends up getting washed up by a pier. Believe it or not but the low lying headland in the background is actually the north east section of Ma Wan island with the west end of HK Island in the far hazy distance. The angle of HK in the background behind that part of Ma Wan gives me a rough indication of the location somewhere around Angler's Beach.

Actually, we've seen this place before on this blog - it was the beach used in one of the Yellowthread Street episodes which had a bunch of refugee bodies wash up on it (I see a pattern forming...) - although I think at that time the film crew were further to the west end of the beach.

These days there are still two piers on the beach, but neither look like they are likely candidates. I'm also not sure how the expansion of Castle Peak Road affected the area. There looks to be a village name (?) on the white/red sign at the back but I can't read the furthest character - Chinese readers feel free to help.

Most astonishing though is really how much the view has changed. The Tsing Ma bridge now spans the gap to the left of the headland and of course Ma Wan itself has been completely redeveloped into the Park Island development.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Kwai Chung Factory Area

We've been over here in an earlier post because it was along Wah Sing St where the baddie's warehouse was located. However, I forgot to add these screengrabs that show the view from the building that supposedly housed the murder victim's office.

The "office" had a terrace at the back that looked down onto the area now occupied by the Kowloon Commerce Centre and Roxy Industrial Centre - between Tai Lin Pai Road and Kwai Cheong Road. It's the open area with the bus depot on it in the next picture.

The terrace is interesting though because the view from it implies that it may have been part of the old Wader Studio. Sadly I have very little information about the place but it's possible (seeing as Wader was used in another scene) that this terrace was on the Wader back-lot. I don't think anyone will ever be able to answer this for me so I may have to go and find an aerial shot from the same time to confirm.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Kowloon Wharf and Godowns, Tsim Sha Tsui

From one harbourfront location to another, this time across the harbour and over to Kowloon side and the cargo processing area that was around before the Gateway and Harbour Centre were built. 

The waterside road that the cops are walking along has since been turned in to Gateway Boulevard. Most of the scenes filmed around here don't show the various water side buildings, but we've seen them on the blog previously (such as here and here).

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - West Point Godowns, Sai Ying Pun

Here's one of the locations that I couldn't initially find but have since determined that they were the now defunct (and redeveloped) wharf side godowns along the Sai Ying Pun waterfront. Gwulo refers to them as the West Point Godowns. If you look at the colour picture from 1955 attached to that webpage you'll be able to see the pier that was aligned parallel to the waterfront with its two huts.

Here they are as seen on film. That's Connaught Road running along the waterfront. Gwulo.com notes that this is the site that later became Connaught Gardens.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Hanoi Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

A very quick and limited glimpse of Hanoi Road as Fuchsberger walks along it. The road can be identified by the various neon signs that were still in place when Roger Moore came this way in April 1974 to film The Man with the Golden Gun.

You can see some of that signage on this post from the aforementioned Bond film.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Nathan Road, Kowloon

Here's a quickie to illustrate again how some of these films have reused footage from earlier movies for their establishing shots. It's more common than I realised and even Robert Clouse was at it when he reused the famous panning shot of HK from the beginning of Enter the Dragon and inserted it into the beginning of Golden Needles. In fact, there is a large section of this film in the opening credits that was taken from the earlier 1960's German films that I have already covered.

Two shots here that we have seen previously in earlier films. The first one is the collection of neon lighting hanging off the Alhambra Building in Yau Ma Tei. We saw both of these shots recently in Heisser Hafen Hongkong.

This one can be seen in its original use in the top picture of this post.

And the following shot, already established as being on the corner of Nathan and Nelson Street in Mongkok can be seen as the second picture here.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Bristol Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui

The girl from Hong Kong find accommodation at a bar. The Honolulu Bar and Restaurant was a real place and was situated at #2 Bristol Avenue in Tsim Sha Tsui. The earlier rooftop chase was filmed on the roofs of the buildings in that area, although this specific location appears to have been replaced in 1976 by the Yes & Right House. Actually it looks to me as though some site formation work was going on at the corner of Mody and Bristol, so this is possibly the groundwork for the construction of the aforementioned building. This means that the exact location might also have been where the Yes and Right Building currently ends. It's certainly possible that the street numbers were changed when everything was razed.

The first and last shots show us looking south down Bristol Avenue towards Mody Road, the second shot is facing back the other way towards Carnarvon Road. The high view on picture 3 was most likely captured from Mirador Mansions which occupies the block where the camera appears to have been placed.

Das Mädchen von Hongkong - Joachim Fuchsberger (1973) - Connaught Road, Central

A rather nice colourful shot from Connaught Road giving us views of the old Standard Chartered Bank (formerly Chartered Bank) building, Princes Building, Mandarin Oriental as well as a distant view of the old GPO building at the corner of Pedder St, here's a close up I posted previously.