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Tamahine
1963 theatrical poster
Directed by	Philip Leacock
Written by	Denis Cannan
Produced by	John Bryan
Starring	Nancy Kwan John Fraser Dennis Price
Cinematography	Geoffrey Unsworth
Edited by	Peter Tanner
Music by	Malcolm Arnold
Production company	Associated British Picture Corporation & Seven Arts
Distributed by	Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (U.S.)
Release date	18 July 1963 (1963-07-18) (London)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Tamahine is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Philip Leacock and starring Nancy Kwan, Dennis Price and John Fraser.^[1] It was written by Denis Cannan.

A Polynesian woman who believes she can change the culture of Hallow School, a British boys' boarding school.

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Plot

When her father dies, orphan teenager Tamahine is sent from her South Pacific island home to live with Charles Poole, her father's cousin and the headmaster of Hallow, a prestigious all-male school in England. Richard, Charles' son and school student, falls in love with her, but she considers him tabu because of the closeness of their family relationship. Another suitor is the art master, Clove, after he breaks up with Charles' daughter Diana.

Meanwhile, Tamahine has trouble adjusting to the puzzling social mores of her new home, exasperating Charles, but making him start to question his own joyless existence. In the end, Richard convinces Tamahine that their connection is distant enough that marrying him does not violate English tabus, while Clove resigns to go paint in a foreign land, accompanied by Diana. The film leaps ahead several years, showing a scruffily bearded Charles enjoying life on Tamahine's island, while Richard takes his place as headmaster, watched by Tamahine and their children.

Theme

A French Mistress, three years earlier (1960), used the same theme of a visiting foreign teacher at a British school causing a cultural clash.

Cast

Nancy Kwan as Tamahine
John Fraser as Richard Poole
Dennis Price as Charles Poole
Coral Browne as Mme. Becque
Dick Bentley as storekeeper
Derek Nimmo as Clove
Justine Lord as Diana
James Fox as Oliver
Michael Gough as Cartwright
Allan Cuthbertson as housemaster
Howard Marion-Crawford as housemaster
William Mervyn as Lord Birchester
Robin Stewart as fiend
Bee Duffell as nun

Production

The story was filmed at Wellington College in county Berkshire.^{[citation needed]}

Release

The film had its World Premiere on 18 July 1963 at the Empire, Leicester Square in London's West End.^[2]

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Nancy Kwan bustles on a single note of monotonous provocation through this thin, depressingly familiar and weakly scripted story, whose triple peaks of invention involve Tamahine displaying herself before the school in her underwear, placing a chamber-pot on a steeple, and winning most of the events in the school sports. Both characters and acting are inevitably conventional, and only Dennis Price manages to inject a little wit and style. The colour and settings, however, are rather attractive, and lend the whole thing a certain faint, nostalgic charm (sports day, tea on the lawn, punting on the river, etc., etc.)."^[3]

Variety wrote: "Whether Tamahine is intended as a sharp, sophisticated sex comedy or a satirical joshing of the British public school system (which is as near as possible to the U.S. high school regime) is a perplexing thought. But it turns out to be an uneasy blend of both and does not quite come off."^[4]

References

^ "Tamahine". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
^ The Times, 18 July 1963, Page 2
^ "Tamahine". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 30 (348): 133. 1 January 1963 – via ProQuest.
^ "Tamahine". Variety. 231 (11): 6. 7 August 1963 – via ProQuest.