Pandora

Albert Lewin's 1951 movie injects the Flying Dutchman legend into an upper-class English-speaking community in a small port in 1930s Spain. Ava Gardner, never more beautiful and just about to emerge as a star, is the Pandora of the title, a night-club singer and femme fatale, engaged to be married to a gentlemanly racing car driver (Nigel Patrick), but with a hotheaded bullfighter (Mario Cabré) eager to win her.

Enter the Flying Dutchman, Hendrick van der Zee, trying to find a woman willing to give up her life for him so he can gain release from his eternal roving of the seas. James Mason's performance as Hendrick is one of the main salvations of the movie. With his grace, good looks and wonderfully expressive voice, he is able to give credibility to situations and lines that would be fatal for other actors.

But the film's prime asset is its visual richness. At a straightforward level there is lovely Mediterranean scenery, and some great action sequences, notably the flamenco dancing, land-speed record, and bullfight scenes. Then there are quite a few references to surreal art, matching the surreal nature of the film, such as Hendrick's Chirico-like painting of Pandora, and a remarkable shot of her, lying on her back with the profile of her face in close-up, like a Dali painting. (The film is set on the Costa Brava, near Dali's home town of Cadaques.) And throughout, there is Jack Cardiff's creative camerawork in beautiful technicolor. These visual qualities outweigh such flaws as an intrusive voice-over, and the stress laid on the - for me - irrelevant "Moving Finger" quatrain from the Rubaiyat.

Freely based on the fantastic and legendary tale of the unfortunate captain who is condemned to travel seas for all time until he meets a woman who loves him so much that will sacrifice her own life . This is a fantasy tale, an immortal legend updated in the 30s set at a Spanish village, actually Tossa De Mar, in which various men : Nigel Patrick, Mario Cabre, Marius Goering, compete for the affections of a gorgeous, exotically lovely woman called Pandora : beautiful young American Ava Gardner. Naturally, she cares for none of them. Then there arrives a lush yacht and its mysterious captain who puts in harbour , James Mason, and things go wrong.

An interesting and glamorous film bordering on the surreal with tought-provoking script and full of exuberant literacy . Interpretations are uniformly good, though story is occassionally bold, as well as non-sense and absurd , at times. Ava Gardner as a playgirl/nightclub singer is precious , being the charming woman romanced by every man in sight and for whom any people should be prepared to suffer strong damnation . James Mason is perfect and usually impeccable self as the enigmatic sailor Hendrick Van Der Zee who is in fact the legendary Flying Dutchman condemned to wander the oceans forever, seeking for his salvation, unless a woman is willing to give up her life for him . Other actors delivering gloriously believable performances are the following ones : Nigel Patrick, Mario Cabre, Harold Warrender, Sheila Shum, John Laurie and several others.

It displays a brillant and sunny cinematography in Technicolor with big splendour visual by Jack Cardiff who was regular cameraman in the colorful films directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Being marvellously shot on wonderful locations in Tossa de Mar, Cataluña, Spain. The motion picture was competently and skillfully written and directed by Albert Lewin. The flick is so compellingly made that is possesses the inevitability of a masterpiece and considered to be a myth in its style . This filmmaker Albert Lewin was a good craftsman who made a few but pretty nice movies with plenty of thoughtful literature, enjoyable dialogue and combining it by adaptating popular novels, such as : "The private affairs of Bel Ami" , "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "The moon and six pence" , among others. Rating 7. 5/10 , better than average. Well worth watching. Essential indispensable watching. The yarn will appeal to Ava Gardner and James Mason fans.

There is much to enjoy in this legendary tale. The story is well told and quickly grabs the viewer. I thought the Spanish setting was perfect and the land speed record and bullfighting scenes in the main convincingly shot. The extraordinary use of Technicolor gives the whole picture an almost dream like ethereal look and many scenes have an almost surreal quality. The whole cast are splendid with Ava Gardner particularly spellbinding - I can't think of any actress today who could carry her role as convincingly.

I was an usher in the Paramount Theater in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania when this film came out. That's when ushers were ushers! I must have seen the picture 30 times while working. The picture was not popular at the time -- and I had a heck of a time understanding it. But I do remember being fascinated by the scenery. The film was initially promoted as "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" -- but when it came to the Paramount, they changed the name to "The Loves of Pandora". I have no clue why that change was made -- but I remember that the revised title as it appeared on the screen was sort of "home made" and not of the quality of a new film. Were they experimenting with changing the name to get more patrons? I have not read anything about this anywhere on the internet. I have always been curious about this picture and intend to rent it to see it now that I'm 75 years old and may understand it at this stage of my life -- a full 58 years after seeing it at the Paramount.

Mention Pandora and the Flying Dutchman to a modern audience and you will be met with blank looks...To a public who thrive on Terminator 4,5,6,etc I suspect this film would be completely unknown.Good reason then for enjoying it (and it's type of film) quietly, while letting the rest get on with Hollywood's more obvious offerings. Unfortunately we don't have actors of the quality of James Mason anymore whose presence here is completely convincing as the otherwordly Dutchman of the title. The photography, clever placing of prop statues on moonlit beaches and raised camera angles viewing the coastal location in a surrealist style all help to create the fantasy illusion that echoes the art of the time....(Dali) etc. More than anything the film works precisely because it was made then.....if it was remade today it simply wouldn't work the people aren't around anymore who would make it work in the 'digital' age. Incidentally the 'voiceover'narration works very well..(as it also did in the maligned original version of Blade Runner....now never shown) In all a great film with a haunting quality....not as well known as it should be.