Le Monocle Rit Jaune - Paul Meurisse (1964) - View from Mid-levels, Central

One of the problems with older films in Hong Kong is trying to figure out where a shot was taken from given how much the landscape and development may have changed in the following years. Take this case for example, the actors all look to be standing on either a balcony or rooftop of a building in the vicinity of Magazine Gap Road in the Central mid-levels. Looking at the first picture below, we can see the old British Military Hospital building on Bowen Road in the background and Bowen Mansion a little bit closer, giving us a fair idea of the location of the scene.

My feeling is that this was filmed somewhere around where Magazine Court stands today, but seeing as the current Magazine Court was built in 1983, if it was here it will have been in the buildings predecessor. Unfortunately I don' really have much of a clue as to what it was or how it looked so I can't confirm my guess. So feel free to pitch in if you have a better suggestion.

In the meantime here are the views looking in the other directions, or at least the best we can do given the closeness of the Paul Meurisse to the camera. The detail in the first one isn't really that great for making out individual buildings, but over his right shoulder appears to be Canossa Hospital and the developments behind it (Kam Yuen Mansion and Pine Court) which were newly built at the time of filming. We can also make out Stonecutter Island in the background and the Botanical gardens on the lower right.

The lower picture shows the fuzzy detail of TST in the distance including the just about distinguishable clocktower but lower left looks like it might be the Hilton Hotel at the bottom of Garden Road.