Main Cast: James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim, Marius Goring, Harold Warrender
Release Year: 1951
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 123 minutes
Plot
Many cineastes consider Pandora and the Flying Dutchman as the masterpiece of filmmaker Albert Lewin, while others write the film off as a pretentious bore. Ava Gardner stars as Pandora Reynolds, a predatory creature who destroys the lives of all men who've been unfortunate enough to fall in love with her. Enter Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason), a mystical figure who proves to be Pandora's match. It turns out that van der Zee is the legendary 17th Flying Dutchman, whose spirit is doomed to wander the earth until he is able to find a woman willing to love him with all her heart -- and thereby sacrifice her own life. Further elaboration would spoil the film for potential Lewin enthusiasts. Suffice it to say that the director's many cinematic obsessions (cat figurines, Egyptology, obscure literary allusions) are exercised to their fullest potential. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Albert Lewin's Pandora and the Flying Dutchman has a tendency to evoke quite differing reactions from people. Those who don't buy into dismiss it as very pretty but pretentious pap, citing its arch and artificial dialogue, its tendency to overstate and then re-overstate the obvious, and a generally florid style as their reasons for not giving Dutchman the time of day. There's definitely validity to their points, but those who can look past these flaws will find Dutchman a strangely haunting picture. It's a pure fantasy, but of the romantic rather than childlike variety, and the simple folkloric tragedy that forms its core is quite intriguing. Yes, the dialogue does get in the way, but even the overwritten style plays a key part in establishing Lewin's tone and mood. And cinematographer Jack Cardiff's sensational work goes far beyond creating "pretty pictures." This is a film in which the cinematography is absolutely essential, creating not just a tone but an actual texture. The riot of color, the use of space, the angles that provoke psychological insight are every bit as, if not more, important than the words that the film employs. Dutchman also benefits from a masterful and absorbing performance from James Mason at the height of his brooding best. Ava Gardner is perhaps not totally up to the task given her; she's much better in the first half of the film than in the second, when she is called upon to give herself up totally to the heightened demands of love. But she is stunningly beautiful throughout, and in Dutchman, that counts for a lot. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Mario Cabre - Juan Montalvo; John Laurie - Angus; Patricia Raine - Peggy Ford; Marguerite D'Alvarez - Senora Montalvo; La Pillina - Dancer; Abraham Sofaer - Judge; Lily Molnar - Geoffrey's Housekeeper; Antonio Martin - Member of Montalvo's Quadrilla; Pamela Mason - Jenny; Eddie Leslie - Doctor; Christina Forbes - Nurse
(A film) about a woman unable to love and a man unable to die – a baroque synthesis of classical myth and Germanic legend – Susan Felleman, author of Botticelli in Hollywood: The Films of Albert Lewin
Story
Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner) is the admired star of a small group of Anglo-American expatriates in the small Spanish port of Esperanza (the film was shot in Tossa de Mar where they have erected a statue of Gardner on the hill overlooking the towns main beach). All the men love her (or think they do), but Pandora is unable to love anyone but herself, and destroys her admirers with the demands she makes on them, claiming that the measure of love is how much you are willing to sacrifice. One day, the Dutch captain Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason) arrives in Esperanza. Pandora swims out to his yacht and finds him painting a picture of her. Shortly afterwards, Pandora learns that Hendrick van der Zee is, in fact, The Flying Dutchman.
