Roaring Fire - Hiroyuki Sanada (1982) - Victoria Harbour

In the spirit of internationalism here is a Japanese offering starring the great Hiroyuki Sanada and (in a minor role) the equally superb Sonny Chiba. There are some interesting new angles (as well as old ones) to be seen in this film that was shot partially in HK.

To get started here is the requisite shot of the harbour from on high, just to establish the fact that the beginning of the story starts here.

We also get a brief glimpse of the harbour as seen from Kowloon-side. The interesting thing (for me, at least) here the fact that we can just make out the old Marine Office on Connaught Road at the junction with Rumsey Street. It was later replaced by what was Vicwood Plaza but has since been renamed Infinitus Plaza. If you want to see what the old building looked like in closeup, Andrew Tse has a fantastic picture over on FLICKR.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Central Vehicular Ferry Pier, Hong Kong

In the spirit of true nostalgia, here is a sequence from the beginning of Chinese Boxes in which we see the camera pan from Blake pier down to the vehicular ferry pier in Central - neither of which are around today (largely because the water here has also been replaced by land!).

Above we see the familiar angled shape of the final version of Blake Pier with the two Star Ferry piers behind it. As the camera moves downward we can see the small flyover that led from the upper deck of the vehicular ferry. On the right is Exchange Square which means the small road in front (with several walkways across it) is today's Harbour View Street. The waterfront next to it now occupied by the IFC complex and Hong Kong Station.

The vehicular pier itself - at the end of Harbour View St - was sited where the smaller IFC tower now stands.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui

I suspect this is the last The Amsterdam Kill post. I was going to post another one of what I believe is Blake Pier but the quality of the screen grab isn't great and there isn't ,much to see anyway, so I'll make this one the last one. Quite fitting because it's also the last HK location from the film anyway.

Okay, the background is a bit blurry but look carefully and you will be able to make out a couple of familiar signs in the background including the Red Lips bar and Club Tasogare.

The Red Lips Bar sign is the one just to the right of Mitchum's head, and Club Tasogare, which we have seen on a few films featured here before, is at the far back with a yellow border. Coincidentally, I was in that very venue just last night having a nice pint with some friends although now it is a pub called Delaney's.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Kai Tak Air Terminal, Kowloon

As I clear up with the final few locations of The Amsterdam Kill (no, I'm not doing the Amsterdam ones...) here is a quick one that looks to have been shot inside the real terminal building at Kai Tak. You can see the familiar square columns.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - The Peninsula Hotel, Tsim Sha Tsui

We haven't see the Peninsula for a few posts, so here is the interior and exterior from The Amsterdam Kill.

Notice that in 1977 the fountain, steps and clockwise entrance were still being used.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Hong Kong Stadium, So Kon Po

A quick look at a pre-renovation Hong Kong Stadium. It's famous around the world for being the venue where the HK Rugby 7's is played, and in fact this episode - Number 10: Chinese Boxes - starts off with lots of footage from the tournament.

The ground was renovated with its current clam-shaped roof in 1994, and strictly speaking when this series was made, it was still known as the 'Government Stadium'. Actually, a personal confession...I may be the only gwailo who has never been to the Rugby 7's (ssh! don't tell anyone).

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Aberdeen Harbour

Well, I guess it wouldn't be a Robert Clouse film without some scenes from Aberdeen Harbour on the southern side of Hong Kong Island.

Nothing much to say about this place that I haven't already done so on almost every single film we looked at on this blog already, other than the fact that in the space of around 30 years it's gone from being a floating slum to being a hangout for the rich. Wooden junks, by-and-large, being replaced by multi-million dollar cruisers and yachts.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Shatin Railway Station, Shatin

Yet even more rail nostalgia and a very quick look at the northbound platform of Shatin station circa the late 70's through to the 80's.

This is where Mitchum, after arranging with the local police to raid the drug factory at Ho Tung Lau, is attacked and drugged by some local gangsters as he leaves the station to rendezvous with the police.

This particular building sat under where the Citylink Plaza now stands - roughly halfway between Pai Tau and Tin Liu villages.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - KCR Rail line, Shatin

Some train nostalgia for those who are into that sort of thing as we see the KCR Diesel Locomotive No.53 speeding towards us. Judging by the fact that the track merges from two into one at this point I will make a stab at the location as being just south of Shatin station.  I believe Shatin station was one of several 'passing points' for the north/south bound trains on an otherwise single track system. Note the guy crossing the track as the train approaches...you can't do that anymore.

Anyway, we're led to believe this train is taking Mitchum north towards the Ho Tung Lau drug factory when this is quite obviously a southbound train heading back towards Kowloon. Never mind, remember this is movie land where geography is molded around the whims of the director (in this case Robert Clouse).

Whatever happened to these old diesel trains? Well, No.51 is still in HK at the Hong Kong Railway Museum in Tai Po, but this one (and a few others) - No. 53 - was the H.P Winslow. It was built by Clyde in 1957 and served in HK until retirement in 2004. According to that great rail aficionado, Marcus Wong, they were sold to a company in Australia where they were given a spruce up and re-entered service down under.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Nam Sang Wai, Yuen Long

To go and seek advice on the rogue Red Pole (a Red Pole is the Triad equivalent of an enforcer), Brady goes to see and old friend in Nam Sang Wai. Nam Sang Wai is an area north of Yuen Long New Twon that still houses many, quite attractive, fish ponds. We've been here before on this blog when we were looking at Danny Lee's River of Fury.

It's quite difficult to ascertain the exact point where Brady (Mark McGann) is simply because the area doesn't have too many identifiable landmarks, however, the following picture gives us a slight clue because it contains some of the buildings that can still be found on the nearby Tung Tau Industrial Estate. The building to the left of Brady is the Hung Wai Industrial Building. If you look closely it seems to be empty, this could be because it was newly built in 1988 (I'm still unsure if the filming of this series occurred in 1989 or 1990).

The next shot shows us a wider angle of the same direction with a nearer building partially obscured by the panel at the end of the wooden platform. This building is also still around and sits on the northern limit of the industrial estate. It's the Mansfield Industrial Centre, also completed 1988 which makes me think 1988 was perhaps the year when the estate was itself finally up and running.

Anyway, if we take a rough approximation of the buildings and work backwards we can kind of see the area where the filming took place. It's near a small hamlet called Chung Hau Yu Man San Tsuen (涌口漁民新村). Sadly Streetview doesn't venture into that part of the area so I have instead marked it on the location link at the bottom of the post. In the meantime we will have to make do with a Streetview grab from a short distance away in Shan Pui Village. As you can see it's not too far away from where the film camera was positioned for the lower shot.

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Happy Valley Racecourse, Hong Kong

A quick post to see out the year (it's still 2014 as I type). A brief glimpse of the racecourse at Happy Valley.

Here's looking forward to an interesting 2015 and a whole host of new film locations!

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Connaught Centre/Jardine House, Central

Well, not so much the building, but actually the view from one of its famous circular windows. In the film the US Drugs Enforcement Agency is based inside.

The black and white building we can see through the window is the former Gammon House, now the Bank of America Tower - which was subject to a significant fraud case many year ago. Look carefully on the far left of the lowest picture and you can also make out Hutchison House and the Furama Hotel, the latter quite famous for its revolving restaurant at the top. HMS Tamar is the dockyard in front.

Yellowthread Street (TV Series) - Bruce Payne (1990) - Playing Field Road, Mongkok

Moving onto episode 9: The Red Pole, we get a brief glimpse of that, sadly, rare beast in Hong Kong: the corner shophouse. I know of only four current remaining examples (and one of those is also about to go) and sadly the following one isn't one of them.

We see Mark McGann (who played Brady) crossing the road next to Mongkok Police station and behind him, on the corner of Playing Field Road and Sai Yeung Choi Street North, is a great example of this old and increasingly rare type of HK architecture.

As mentioned, sadly this building no longer exists and for those who don't live in HK this is a good example of how redevelopment here works. If you look at the following Streetview grab of the same corner, you can see the remnants of the old joists that joined the building on to its neighbour. Both buildings on the left and right are still there, but the best looking one (and most likely due to the fact that it was low rise) has been replaced by a new generic - but taller and more "rent-efficient" - building called the Capricorn Centre (built 1995).

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Ho Tung Lau, Shatin

One of the more elusive properties to find information on seems to be Ho Tung Lau. This grand building used to stand on the shores of the Shatin Sea at the upper end of the valley close to the modern-day Fo Tan station. It's exact locale is still a bit difficult to ascertain, but there is an area on the local maps also called Ho Tung Lau as well as one of the MTR Fo Tan depot buildings with the same name, which indicates that it was somewhere close to the far end of the residential development known as "Royal Ascot" (Edit: see Thomas' comments below about it being further south under Jubilee Garden).

There seems to be only a few decent photographs of this place, so it's nice that Robert Clouse (the director) managed to feature it quite prominently in this film - possibly not too long before its eventual demolition and the areas redevelopment into the Fo Tan train depot. The building features in the film as a drugs lab that gets raided by the police. 

 Ma On Shan in the background

I may have gone a bit overboard with the screencaps here, but I think any shot of this long forgotten building is worth putting up.

I'm not sure if the school sign on the roof was authentic or not, simply because I can't find any useful information on the place, but in the film the building is referred to as an abandoned school.

Mitchum goes back at night to case the joint and gets inside. The following night time shots are from this scene, but I have no idea if they were filmed on location or in a the studio. I'm going to take a gamble and say they were on location simply because I am an optimist...

I've put a location link in this post (it can be found at the bottom), based on Thomas' comments below (i.e. Block 6 Jubilee Garden)

The Amsterdam Kill - Robert Mitchum (1977) - Caine House, Wanchai

A brief look at the older building, Caine House, that forms part of the Wanchai District Police HQ on Arsenal Street. Here we see Mitchum walking along by the outer wall that fronts Arsenal Street before turning through the (now gone) main entrance. You can just make out the underside of one of the watchtowers as Mitchum walks underneath. This along with another was removed when that part of the site was redeveloped, but there are still two left along the wall on Gloucester Road.