Overview
Tiara Tahiti is a 1962 comedy-drama film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring James Mason and John Mills. Kotcheff's directorial debut, it is based on the novel by Geoffrey Cotterell, who also adapted it for the screen with Ivan Foxwell. It was filmed in London and Tahiti. Rosenda Monteros, a Mexican actress, plays a Tahitian beauty. Roy Kinnear had a minor role.
Plot
Clifford Southey (Mills) is a clerk at a brokerage firm who is promoted to lieutenant colonel during the war. His subordinate officer, Captain Brett Aimsley (Mason), was a partner at Southey's firm. Popular and charismatic, Capt. Aimsley is everything Col. Southey is not, but aspires to be. Unfortunately money is Aimsley's weakness. His profligacy sees him removed from Southey's command.
Some time after the war, Aimsley's comfortable exile in Tahiti is rudely interrupted by the arrival of his old adversary, now director of a hotel chain looking to expand into the burgeoning South Seas market.
Cast
James Mason as Aimsley
John Mills as Southey
Herbert Lom as Chong Sing
Rosenda Monteros as Belle Annie
Claude Dauphin as Henry
Roy Kinnear as Enderby
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).