La belle des îles

A splendid example of the British old boys system being tested to the limit. Wonderful performances by Mason and Mills ,showing how real acting is done. Films like this are so rare now and the incessant mumbling of so many of our modern "stars" leave so much to be desired.

Should be shown along with Tunes of Glory to all students of film to give them a yard stick of how it should be done.

No car chases ,violence,swearing etc,just high class masterfull acting.

The film begins in post war Germany, where John Mills demonstrates his talent for comedy characters in his role as Clifford Southey, a pompous, insecure caricature of a British Colonel, whose regiment is agitated by the arrival of a former business acquaintance, Captain Brett Aimsley. Aimsley, a charming rogue who's been selling stolen goods on the black market, throws Southey's over-regimented regiment into chaos by holding noisy gatherings involving gambling and lewd jokes - it's quite astonishing to hear the quintessential gentleman Mason's gag about the Frenchman who found happiness! The newcomer's gatherings have destroyed Southey's friendly games of bridge, by stealing away all but the most dedicated bridge players, and understandably, he's not standing for it. He calls Aimsley to his office with the intention of setting him straight, but Aimsley's charm wins him over and the pusillanimous Colonel lets his former friend off the hook, only to rat on him for his black market deals while he's on leave in London. Some years later, Aimsley has moved to Tahiti to escape his court martial. Coincidentally, Southey, who is now the director of a chain of hotels, comes to town to try to stitch up a deal for a new hotel.

Even though there are few laugh-out-loud jokes in this film, its strength lies in the fact that it is consistently entertaining, partly because of the topsy-turvy relationship between Southey and Aimsley, and also because of the constant deflating of Southey's ego. For example, just as Southey was making progress impressing two female tourists with his encyclopedic knowledge of wine, Aimsley arrives and takes away the bottle Southey has just analysed and praised, then says "We can do better than that in Tahiti. I'll get you something drinkable."

Mills' performance is quite hilarious - he creates one of those absurd characters that needs only to walk into a room for one to start laughing. The funniest scenes in the film involve Southey - who is alone apart from us - rehearsing how he is going to confront Aimsley. Despite his basically good moral character, he's one of those characters we love to hate because of his pomposity and his many unreasonable assumptions about Aimsley.

Mason was the perfect choice to play Aimsley, the charming, likable scoundrel. We remain on his side throughout the film because his charm wins us over, just as it won over Southey early in the film. There are adequate performances from Rosenda Monteros as Aimsley's love interest, the charming and flirty Belle and from Herbert Lom as Chong, the hilarious and politically incorrect caricature of a Chinese shopkeeper.

It is the characters that make this film, but the script is equally strong, save for the redundant sub-plot involving an American sailor who tries to steal Belle away from Aimsley. A dramatic twist towards the end of the film adds to what is a mostly engrossing story. We are left wondering until the end whether Southey will ever finally confront Aimsley, or whether the two will return to being friends, as well as whether or not Southey will get his hotel built. A highly enjoyable film with an excellent cast and a clever script.

Anyone want a free trip to Tahiti in 1962? James Mason and John Mills did, so they made Tiara Tahiti. It's a silly comic romp, but at least you'll get to see some pretty beaches and scenery.

The movie starts off during WWII. John Mills is the head honcho among his troops, until an unexpected visit from James Mason shakes everything up. James is just so likable, everyone's loyalty shifts. Add in that John used to work for James before the war and still has a chip on his shoulder, and there's a bit of bad blood between them. To get even, John anonymously blows the whistle on James's smuggling racket.

Or is it anonymous? When they're reunited years later after the war, by a chance meeting in Tahiti, what will happen? Does James know his old friend is really his enemy? Is the friendly smile covering up hard feelings, or is he really as happy-go-lucky as he seems to be? If you liked his adorable cleverness in A Touch of Larceny, you've got to catch James in this movie, too. He has lots of fun shirtless, smooching scenes with his Tahitian girlfriend, Rosenda Monteros, to show that even in his fifties, he's still got it!

London Light prefaced this glossy little trifle largely shot in the South Seas with a stern admonition that this film contains "cultural depictions of its era". Presumably they had in mind Herbert Lom in oriental makeup that makes him looks like Dr No expressing his disdain for White Trash, talk of leper colonies and James Mason's sarcastic reference to his Tahitian girlfriend's forty-six relatives; yet even before the credits roll we're already treated to a bevy of dusky maidens gyrating grass skirts.

John Mills with his hair combed into an outrageous quiff plays a stiff-necked old colonel for whom nemesis comes in the form of Mason who, bless him, once again shows that for all his talent he just couldn't play comedy (witness his attempt at pidgen English).

Tiara Tahiti is a strange film and not one I think that should be something that James Mason and John Mills should be noted for. Their one film collaboration should have been something better.

Of course pictorially the film is fine. The South Seas in color cinematography is impossible to do badly.

Mason comes off far better. He's from the upper classes and at one time Mills clerked for his father. But when they got in the army the positions were reversed. Mills has risen to be a colonel and he's quite the little martinet. But when Mason comes into his command those old feelings of inferiority take over. When he gets a chance he rats Mason out during the post war occupation years as someone doing a bit of smuggling. Which gets Mason cashiered from the army and a disgrace to his family.

So here he is on Tahiti living the good life and here comes John Mills now a big hotel tycoon, but still with the same feelings about Mason. What happens next is quite frankly not to be believed on any level.

In many ways the character that John Mills is playing is a variant from one of his greatest films Tunes Of Glory. He's the same kind of uptight character in Tiara Tahiti. But works in a tragedy really does not go well in this comedy.

In fact there's jealousy all around as Herbert Lom all made up as an Oriental is also quite jealous of Mason's upper class breeding even though he's two steps above a beachcomber. Tables get turned on him as well.

Tiara Tahiti is a beautiful, but quirky film that never quite gels.