Well, HR, I think you just saved me $20--I wasn't sure I could wait until September to see
Merton of the Movies and was about to order it from Amazon. When I saw your screen caps I looked at the houses, and while they are of similar scale, and the palms are like those of Berkeley Square--what caught my eye is that the streetlamps differ from the ones I've seen in pics of Berkeley Square. They look to me like those of the original part of Windsor Square, which also had concrete streets (the later part of Windsor Sq to the west had concrete lamps and the streets are asphalt--you can see the change in street surface on some streets, like 5th, between Plymouth and Lucerne)... and I knew that Plymouth still has long rows of palms... After then looking on Google Earth, I think this is the street. The house the actors are coming out of appears to have been replaced (would have been about 447 S. Plymouth), but the two to its north are still there. Some chimneys are lower, as many have gotten over the years; but judging by the rooflines, the lamps, and the palms, I'd say it's the west side of the 400 block of Plymouth. The street looks wider in the movie, but I think that's more to do with lenses. See what you think:
This is 425 S. Plymouth, which according to one website, is Virginia Hill's house in
Bugsy--haven't checked on that though.
Edit: DVR'ed
Merton on TCM this a.m. 9-14-11--fast fowarding revealed another scene of the street, with clearer shots of the two houses to the north of the house Merton goes in & out of (the one with the lions)--it's definitely Plymouth. As substantial as the house featured in the film appears--445/447 S Plymouth--it has been replaced by two MUCH less attractive houses that appear to be circa late '50s or early '60s.