A mystery party in prewar Hong Kong

I've always been intrigued by this photo from my father's collection. He filed it under 'Hong Kong prewar', but it's undated and the friends are unidentified. They were clearly enjoying a good party in the days before the Japanese attack of December 1941. Max is standing on the right, with a cigarette holder and his hand draped on a mystery woman's shoulder. William Langhorne Bond, known as 'Bondy', the American head of CNAC, is fifth from the right, kneeling. Can anyone identify the other figures? Some of the uniforms are American.