Maddyclassicfilms Pandora and The Flying Dutchman is directed by Albert Lewin, produced by Albert Lewin and Joseph Kaufman, has a screenplay by Albert Lewin, photography by Jack Cardiff and stars James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick, Mario Cabre, Harold Warrender, Shelia Sim and Marius Goring.Haunting, poetic, romantic and moving Pandora and The Flying Dutchman is one of the most beautiful films ever made. Cardiff's beautiful Technicolor photography makes it look more like an exquisite painting rather than a film. Ava Gardner is at the height of her beauty and James Mason is at his most intense and brooding.Set on the coast of Spain in the 1930's the film begins with some local fisherman discovering two dead bodies, a man and a woman. In flashback we follow the story of American singer Pandora Reynolds(Ava Gardner),Pandora has many men desperate for her attention and love including British racing driver Stephen Cameron(Nigel Patrick)a good and kind man who is in love with her.There's also pitiful Reggie Demarest(Marius Goring)who is slowly drinking himself to death because Pandora isn't in love with him. Pandora is also involved with the dashing bull fighter Juan Montalvo(Mario Cabre)a jealous and passionate man who would kill any man who love her just to have her as his own.Not really interested in any of these men Pandora meets her predestined match, the mysterious Dutchman Hendrick Van Der Zee(James Mason)a tourist who lives on his yacht just off the shore. Pandora falls in love with him and is intrigued by him and the mystery surrounding him. Her curiosity deepens when it seems he could be the famed Flying Dutchman, cursed to sail the seas for eternity until he finds a woman willing to die for him. Archaeologist Geoffrey Fielding(Harold Warrender)is also intrigued by Van Der Zee and becomes more and more convinced that he may be the cursed Captain.You're not sure for a while whether Van Der Zee is the cursed Flying Dutchman or just a lonely man with some mystery and sadness in his life and if Pandora and Fielding are reading too much into the odd things about him.This film is a love story like no other and the entire cast give brilliant performances.

ElMaruecan82 Temperatures got pretty hot in theaters in 1951, with "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "A Place in the Sun" but even these two official masterpieces didn't come close to the emotional impact "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" left on me.The film opens with Costa Brava's fishermen catching two bodies in their nets, presumably belonging to the titular protagonists. The village's Englishman archaeologist Geoffrey (Harold Warrender) discover near their dead hands lying on the sand, his Omar Khayyam's poems book, a historical relic, magnificently handwritten, with words resonating like an inspirational testimony from a couple that lived love to the fullest, until the ultimate breath shared together.As I rediscover Albert Lewin's gem, I feel exactly like Geoffrey. With its old-fashioned and imperfectly grainy Technicolor imagery, the film is also the historical relic of an era forever gone, when romances still fueled their energy from timeless mythology, when passion was of a few words, but each word cut straight to the heart. And like the poem, the film speaks more infinite statements about that unique passion between Ava Gardner at the peak of her never equaled beauty, and James Mason, more tormented and desperately in love than ever.The film's magic is transcended by the setting: the country of flamenco, gypsies and bullfighting. The village is one of these Mediterranean places where summer breeze and beach waves whisper the most luscious temptations, where a majestic sun and a delicious red wine draw men's boiling blood in the most fearless accomplishments. Corrida plays a significant part in the film and beyond the local color it provides, the ballet with death and expression of courage work like powerful metaphors of Pandora's power with men. Her beauty is like the red cap, luring men into a deadly trap.It's tempting to call Pandora femme-fatale from the way she inspires men's most suicidal behavior, she has a strange black-(potential)-widow quality, starting with the suicide of one of her lovers, an intellectual malcontent, resigning to have a last drop of wine laced with poison after one rejection too many. Pandora's reaction is revealing, she's indifferent not because she's insensitive, but because she accepted her incapability to love, or on a less pessimistic note, to find the man to challenge her idea of love. And it's on the seemingly unfertile heart of a seemingly femme-fatale that blooms the flower of a real romantic heroine.The idea of 'true love' is hinted through the recurring line about the measure of love, being what we're willing to give up for it. This saying is echoed when Pandora is taken near a ravine dominating the beach, after a fast-driven tour on Stephen's sport car. Stephen (Nigel Patrick) loves Pandora and without hesitation, drops his car on the sea, to prove how much he's ready to give up. The courageous act pays off, yet her engagement is quickly troubled by the arrival of a mysterious boat coming from and going to nowhere. Then the film takes us into a fantasy universe, revealing the identity of Hendrik, who is nothing but the most legendary Dutchman ever, the Flying one.After killing his wife out of jealousy, Hendrik made a blasphemous rant during his trial, daring God to a more severe punishment than death. The night before his execution, a mysterious force guides him to his ship, which becomes strangely deserted in the morning. Hendrik understands that God condemned him to sail the seas for eternity, until he finds a woman willing to die for him, relieving him from his curse. As unbearable as the curse is, the salvation is even worse because implying the death of an innocent woman. This is the roots of Hendrik's torment, graved in Mason's solemn face.A curious Pandora meets him on the boat as if destiny was already on march. He's drawing a mysterious portrait of Pandora, the Greek Eve who released all the evils of humanity by opening the forbidden box. Pandora, although given to a nightclub singer from Indianapolis, couldn't have been a more fitting name, as if she truly was the unknowing incarnation of the legendary figure. And I could believe that Pandora was the kind of woman to drive (literally) men to the most dangerous extremes for I believe Ava Gardner is the most beautiful woman who ever graced the silver screen.After Hendrick, another rival, the closer to an antagonist, comes in town, the local bullfighter named Montalvo (Carlo Libre). Eventually, both Stephen and Montalvo accomplished intrepid exploits (a beach speed racing and bullfighting) to prove their value, but it didn't matter much to Pandora, Stephen takes the car back and Montalvo thought only a man of his stature deserved here: more than Pandora, he loved himself. Hendrik though loved Pandora enough to sacrifice his most valuable asset: love itself. During the romantic climax, Pandora opens her heart but Hendrik rejects her pretending he doesn't want to betray Stephen. His face is devastated as he only tries to ignite her hatred to preserve her life."Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" is about "a man unable to die and a woman unable to love". With Pandora, Hendrik can die if he accepts her love, and she can finally 'love' for a reason as mysterious as the curse, two mysteries borrowed from Germanic and Greek mythology that don't need more answers. We understand that the sportsmen saw Pandora as the ultimate trophy but Hendrik was ready to sacrifice it, , ignoring that Pandora, tired of inspiring sacrifices, was ready to offer her life for her love life's salvation, hence accomplishing her own sacrifice and closing an extraordinary character's arc.There are reasons why I believe this is one of the most romantic movies ever made. "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" is elevated by many heart-pounding unspoken moments and strikes of philosophical genius deliberately breaking the fourth wall to involve our hearts, and hook them to the inspirational love story between two generous souls.

bluerider521 I had heard that this was another exquisitely filmed fantasy by Jack Cardiff. Indeed it is. I saw the TCM version with restored color; some of the color was off. but the color overall was great. The Technicolor was fantastic in spots. It was often moody, eerie. bright, strange contrasts….wow! There were compositions that were quite striking. Some of the costumes, mainly Gardner's clothing, was also eye catching. Thus, I was quite happy with this movie as a visual experience.This was meant to be an ethereal, supernatural, great love fantasy. This gave Cardiff the freedom to stray from the ordinary to weave in his great shots. A far away fantasy is compatible with experimental photography, especially with color: a realistic story would be hindered by such photography. This is the advantage of this film to me. However, it is also a disadvantage; I do not particularly appreciate ethereal, supernatural, romantic fantasy I did like the over-the-top beginning with men throwing themselves at a disinterested Ava Gardner. While I realize that this was to set up her great sacrifice at the end, it was almost comedy. She was testing out the idea that love can be measured by what one was willing to give up for it. Apparently the numerous men in her life did not give up enough (including their lives) to interest her.. Yet, the men just kept coming begging her to marry them. It didn't seem to bother them that she was a very high maintenance gal to begin with and that she didn't disguise the contempt in which she held them. Oh, well. Gardner is pretty and has some unusual "come hither" looks, but why she was such a femme fatale escapes me.She falls for James Mason. Why him? Well, he was immortal. This is ordinarily an advantage, but it is a disadvantage in this movie. She has to die so that he can die (and finds salvation). There is a lot of yadda yadda about this at the end. Talking about love never works well in the movies, but it works least well when the love is ethereal, supernatural, and not photographed in any special way in these scenes. On and on. Boring.Still, this is well worth seeing if color and photography interest you.

MartinHafer This film is a reworking of the legend of the Flying Dutchman. A wild and slightly crazy lady (Ava Gardner) is flighty and, well, rather nuts. When a sailboat nears her home in Spain, she impulsively swam naked out to the boat and meets a man (James Mason) after she wraps herself up in a bit of canvas. He seems VERY preoccupied and moody--and is working on a painting that looks a bit like Gardner (though I didn't think it looked nearly as close as the film said). She is clearly intrigued by this new man and wants to spend much time with him.A bit later, Gardner's friend (Nigel Patrick) shows the moody dude something written in 17th century Dutch--and Mason seems to be able to read it with ease. That's because it is, in fact, his own personal memoirs! It seems he's the famous Flying Dutchman and the paper explains how he came to be cursed to wander the seas alone for eternity--unless, and this is weird, he can get a lady to agree to die for him. You also learn that Gardner is some sort of reincarnated version of the lady Mason murdered--hence, cursing him to his fate."Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" is a lovely film, as the color stock used is quite nice and makes the leading lady (Gardner) look her best. However, it's far from a perfect film and it wasn't exactly my type of film--even though I love older films. The film has two problems for me. First, it's an odd choice having the British actor James Mason play a person who is Dutch. It just didn't seem convincing--much as I love Mason in films. Second, the film took brooding to new heights--with LOTS of pained looks. And, third, the film seemed a bit talky--and I would have preferred a bit more action and romance. Worth seeing but far from a must-see.By the way, wasn't the murder a bit reminiscent of "Othello"? Just thinking...