Flight To Hong Kong (1956)

Following simtang's earlier postings of stills from this film, I thought it might be nice to cover more of the locations that were used in the film as I have done with other movies (Soldier of Fortune, Enter the Dragon).

The film was made and released in 1956 with the on-location filming in Hong Kong completed during January 1956.

The story follows Tony Dumont (Rory Calhoun), a member of an international criminal gang, who steals from the organisation and decides to try and start a new life back in the US.

Here is a Youtube link to a high quality version of the film (courtesy of angie-r):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLMZfRh8OW8

I've also added the tag "Flight to Hong Kong" to all uploaded screen captures (mine and simtang's) so you can view them all together by clicking on the tag.

Apologies for spelling mistakes and missing spaces, my keyboard isn't what it used to be. Minor errors will be fixed.
Please feel free to add comments about the locations or anything that may be of interest about things in the screen captures.

Locations include:
Caine House
Junk Bay
A small pier in Junk Bay
Kai Tak Airport
21 South Bay Road
Tung Chau Street
International Funeral Parlour
Lockhart Road
Aberdeen
Pottinger Street
Temple Street
Star Ferry, Tsim Sha Tsui
Queen's Road East
Tiger Balm Gardens
Lower Peak Tram Terminus
Barker Road Tram Stop
Albany Road
Peak Road
Victoria Road
Percival Street

The film opens with a preamble by a member of the Hong Kong Police Force describing how international criminal gangs use Hong Kong for a variety of their nefarious activities. This brief scene includes some shots of the Police HQ on Arsenal Street.

Tony boards a plane in Honolulu which is carrying some valuable diamonds. The plane is subsequently hijacked by some gangsters and forced to land on a remote air strip where the gangsters board a boat and make off with their haul. It turns out the heist was masterminded by Tony.

The small pier is supposed to be in a remote location somewhere between Hawaii and Wake Island, but in reality the film crew used what appears to be a small wooden pier in Hong Kong, located underneath the Haven of Hope Sanatorium (see here: https://gwulo.com/node/59772). In the above clip the pier appears to be quite new, which may or may not correspond with the fact that it was built at the same time as the hospital. Comments are welcome as this is just supposition on my part

The remainder of the passengers are stranded until they are rescued and flown onto Hong Kong. Tony is based in Macau and so his girlfriend, Jean (Dolores Donlon), arrives at the airport to pick him up.

Tony and Jean head back to Macau and the apartment they share. Although the film appears to have shot some scenes in Macau, I have yet to be able to identify them, however, for the exterior shots of their apartment a Hong Kong location was used instead. This was 21 South Bay Road. In 1956 it appears to have been an art-deco style low rise apartment building similar to other same-era developments nearby (such as the nearby Lakeside Apts, and Nos 27-31 South Bay Road). Unfortunately we only see the driveway, garage spaces and front steps of the property. It was demolished and replaced by "Villa Corniche" in the mid-80s.

Tony is told by some of his syndicate members that a rival gang is about to hijack one of the syndicate's cargo ships, so he heads out with his fellow gang members and a fight between the two groups breaks out. For this scene the film crew went back to Junk Bay. It's possible this scene was filmed on the same day as the previous boat scene (when the hijackers escape with the diamonds) because Tony uses the exact same boat used by the hijackers - even though we are supposed to be in a completely different part of the world. The part of Junk Bay used for this sequence was more or less where Po Lam now stands. I stitched a panorama together to show as much of the bay as possible. Of course, it is now all completely reclaimed. The mountains in the central background are actually part of Kowloon Peak, so we are looking more or less west in this image. Quite the change.

To show that he still has loyalty to the crime syndicate, Tony is asked to get rid of one of his former colleagues, Quisto (Paul Picerni). Quisto turns up looking for his help and Tony is about to help him escape when his suspicious colleague, Nicco (Pat Conway), turns up to make sure Quisto is dealt with properly. Tony takes Quisto to the waterfront to help him escape on a fishing junk but is told by Nicco to send him to one of the other boats moored at the quayside. The gang plank is rigged to collapse and Quisto falls into the water and is drowned. This scene is really interesing because it was shot on the old Sham Shui Po waterfront at Tung Chau Street. The car stops where Kiu Kiang Street meets Tung Chau Street (I don't know if it was already part of Kiu Kiang Street in 1956) and in the background you can see the end of the Jubilee Buildings in the nearby army camp.

Tony starts to plan his escape from the syndicate with the diamonds he stole from the plane. He bribes some local hoodlums to pretend to kidnap him from Macau and then takes a boat back to the US where he hopes to catch up with an old girlfriend he met during the plane heist. The film has a few local shots that are supposed to be in Macau, such as this shot below of the International Funeral Parlour in Wanchai, as well as some shots around Aberdeen that appears to be standing in for Macau's Inner Harbour. This part of the film relocates to San Francisco as Tony is finally found by the syndicate members forcing him to return to Hong Kong. It's not clear where Tony is supposed to be hiding - possibly the Philippines, or perhaps Hong Kong, but the on-location footage for his hideout was shot along the Praya in Aberdeen.

Tony contacts Jean and friend Mama-Lin (Soo Yong) in Macau and tells them to meet him in Hong Kong. They leave to meet him but it becomes obvious that the syndicate is having them followed. The pair go into a cafe on Pottinger Street to use the phone and contact Tony.

Tony tells them to split up and a game of cat and mouse starts as each tries to give their pursuer the slip. Jean first heads out into the streets and we can see her walk by the Yau Ma Tei Tin Hau Temple, along Temple Street.

Next up is Mama-Lin's turn as she wanders over to a traffic policeman on Lockhart Road to report her being followed. (Trivia: the policeman is played by prolific Hollywood actor, James Hong, in a very early role). This is the junction with Fenwick Street because we can see part of the wall of the International Funeral Parlour on the left hand side. 

Jean is still trying to give her tail the slip by the Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Tony in the meantime is trying to contact Mama-lin and he uses a phone box on the corner of Queen's Road East and Hennessy Road to call a shop where he told her to wait. Compare the film still with the image posted by David below and it looks as though this was a real phonebox and not a prop (I had originally assumed it was a prop).

Tony manages to reach Mama-lin and he tells her to meet him at Tiger Balm Garden. Even in black and white it still looks quite impressive.

Meanwhile, Jean is still trying to give her tail the slip and she boards the Peak tram up the Barker Road.

Eventually they all catch up on Albany Road, but the bad guys are still in pursuit and a car chase follows with a variety of different locations.  You can see Government House in the background of the image below.

The car chase begins up on Peak Road, I have no idea why. But you can just see the bottom of #40 Peak Road at the far top right of the frame.

After driving along some roads I haven't been able to identify, the cars suddenly appear on Mount Davis Road, way out west. They skid around the hairpin bend where the road joins with Victoria Road and drive south along Victoria Road. However, the next shot shows them rounding a corner further north along Victoria Road. We can see Green Island in the background and Tai Mo Shan in the far distance.

The car chase culminates on Percival Street as the getaway car is able to sneak in front of a tram just in time, causing the gangsters to abruptly stop.

The finale of the film involves the gang cornering Tony and the girls at the TST Star Ferry and Tony finally surrendering, only to have the police turn up and arrest them all.