Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Kowloon Panorama

Another of the establishing shots in Golgo 13 is this rather nice view across the Kowloon peninsula looking towards HK Island. I had balked at putting up my own version of this from the Crash Cinema version because the picture was really not good enough to justify it, but thanks to AP we have a much better, clearer view that actually allows some details to be picked up.

Given the later scene when Chiba scales Lion Rock to take a pot shot at a helicopter, I think this shot was probably taken from somewhere in the vicinity of the Lion Rock summit (or possibly lower at its base - I have no idea what logistics were involved in getting him up there but probably involved some crew at the base).

Anyway, we've got separate screen grabs plus an autostitch'd panorama.

The camera starts on Stonecutter Island (top) before panning to the left and finishing looking over Kowloon Tong with Waterloo Road running from the bottom.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Aberdeen, Hong Kong

Aberdeen and the area around it crops up a few times in this film, from a brief glimpse of the Tai Pak in the opening credits (first pic) to the main assassination scene when Golgo goes to the roof of a building (the Kwai Bo Industrial Building along Wong Chuk Hang Road) and tries to shoot his target who is presiding over the opening of a new swimming pool - in reality the Pao Yue Kong Swimming Pool Complex in Shum Wan.

Tai Pak and Sea Palace from the opening credits

The following shots are taken from the roof of the Kwai Bo Industrial Building. It still stands on the corner of Wong Chuk Hang Road and Nam Long Shan Road.

The old Ap Lei Chau power station at the back

Golgo's target is officiating over the opening of a new swimming pool. In 1977 it was the newly built Urban Council Aberdeen Swimming Pool, but since the disbandment of the democratically elected Urban Council (should give you a hint why it was disbanded following the handover), it is now called the Pao Yue Kong Swimming Pool - named in honour of the shipping magnate Sir Y.K. Pao.

In the top picture below we can see Chiba looking ocver to the swimming pool complex from the Kwai Bo Industrial Building rooftop. The collection of buildings in the centre of the picture is the "St Mary's Home for the Aged" - it's still around. Also still around is the school building at the top left of the picture - its the "San Wui Commercial Society of HK Chan Pak Sha School".

There is also a brief glimpse of the front entrance to the pool complex on Sham Wan Road. I've included some modern day Streetview images below for comparison.

Several buildings at the back are still evident (including the aforementioned Kwai Bo building - third left). The buildings at the top of the road in the film have been removed to make way for the new Wong Chuk Hang MTR station.

The building in the background centre-left of the Streetview picture (bottom) is the Aberdeen Marina Club.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - Kwun Tong Police Station, Kwun Tong

The main base of the cops in this film is supposedly Kwun Tong cop shop. It's had a few changes since the 70's, most noticeably the two guard posts on the front wall have been removed (I bet the current, rather more political, version of the HK Police is regretting the day it removed those). But it is still quite recognisable.

Here is the most current Streetview of the same building. The most notable difference is the proliferation of high rises in the background area of Lam Tin.

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.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon - Sonny Chiba (1977) - View over Wanchai, Hong Kong

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon is a 1977 Sonny Chiba film based on a popular Japanese cartoon series that was created in 1969 for Big Comic magazine. Golgo is a skilled hitman and whenever he kills his targets it's always with a bullet right between the eyes!

Despite the large local HK cast, the film was a Japanese production filmed largely here in HK but with some additional sequences set in Tokyo and Macau. The version I obtained was part of a 3 disc set by Crash Cinema (a US distributor) and it's another one of those VHS transfers that has a an interlace problem I just can't see to shift with the usual software.

However, my good friend AP has noticed my quality dilemma and has been able to send me some screengrabs from the Optimum Asia UK release and you can see the difference below.

The first shot in the film is a view looking out across Wanchai towards the harbour and Kowloon beyond. We know it's Wanchai because you can see the AIA Building on Stubbs Road at the bottom right. The building to its right (at an angle) is Guardian House along Oi Kwan Road.

Crash Cinema version

Optimum Asia version

Which version would you buy? The difference in quality is quite significant, so I will try and update my posts as and when AP is able to supply me with better version. Anyway, a big thanks to him for helping out once again.

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

I still have a few outstanding locations to identify for this film, but in the meantime will leave you with a shot of the Central waterfront. Fuchsberger gets on a ferry and heads over to Central and we get a couple of vies of some of the buildings that stood at the "then" waterfront.

If you follow this blog frequently then you might recognise this small cluster of buildings from a previous view of them courtesy of Bons Baisers de Hongkong. The building with the star decoration on it (part of the 1972 Christmas decorations) is the Nan Fung Tower building.

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

A nice view of the pre-high-rise Peninsula Hotel as viewed from the harbour. It looks like it was undergoing some renovation of the east wing because all I can see is the fabric cladding that always gets put up when that kind of stuff is going on. To the left is the old YMCA building with the Hankow Centre behind it, and the old Marine Police HQ can just be seen on the far left of the lower picture.

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.