Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

source: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

Ave Gardener and James Mason are perfectly cast for this epic unfolding and exploration of pure love. The love which is realised contrasts with and exceeds the self centred manifestations demonstrated by the other characters (who are colourful and vivid) and in its nobility and apparent brevity proves that context is what lends meaning to life. The final scenes are wonderfully free from restraining causes and effects with a judgement of love from....?* validating us all. The colours of the production is as intense as the mythic setting for the story and helps the suspension of disbelief. The setting is not of the same importance to the story as Shangri-la to the plot of 'Beyond the Blue Horizon' which explores similar issues of a man exploring a context to give meaning to what he is or could be. These are both aspects of the question we all eventually ask ourselves. * Insert your own conceptualisation of the divine here.

In 1930, in the Seaport of Esperanza, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, the fishermen find the bodies of a couple trapped in the net of their fishing vessel. The historian Geoffrey Fielding (Harold Warrender) recalls the beautiful, selfish and spoiled American singer Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), who used to break the heart of her lovers. When Pandora is proposed by the British racing car pilot Stephen Cameron (Nigel Patrick), she demands that he drives his car off the cliffs to prove his love to her. Stephen does what Pandora has asked him and they schedule their wedding on September 3rd. When Pandora sees a yacht anchored in the bay, she impulsively swims to the vessel and meets the Dutch Hendrik van der Zee (James Mason) alone without any crew on board. Pandora immediately feels attracted by the mysterious Hendrik and introduces him to her friends. When Jeffrey finds a manuscript from the Seventeenth Century of the Flying Dutchman, he asks Hendrik to help him in the translation. Jeffrey leans the Hendrik apparently is the Flying Dutchman, a captain that stabbed to death his innocent wife believing that she was unfaithful to him. He is sentenced to death and his soul is cursed by God, doomed to sail alone for the eternity, unless he find s a woman that loves him so much that should be capable to die for him. Jeffrey is afraid that Pandora might be this woman and presses her to marry Stephen as soon as possible. "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" is an adorable timeless romance based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman. The beauty of Ava Gardner is awesome in the role of a woman that does not love any man until she finds the doomed captain Hendrik van der Zee, falling in love with him and becoming capable of an ultimate act of love. James Mason has an extraordinary performance, with solid and dramatic lines. The costumes of Ava Gardner are very beautiful, highlighting her elegance. The cinematography is wonderful, but unfortunately the DVD released by the Brazilian Distributor Platina Filmes is only of reasonable quality. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): "Pandora"

I like to see giddy romantic movies where those on screen lives beyond my wildest dreams, or the wildest dreams of most people. A perfectly delicious and contentedly cruel Pandora (Ava Gardner) here lives the great life, she has both the world land speed record holder and Spain's champion bullfighter after her, both of whom she treats callously. She's a heart-breaker with more than one suicide under her belt no doubt. She lives in Esperanza in Southern Spain, where near dusk there are soul-stirring pine-silhouetted coastlines, with turquoise beams from littoral white-sanded patches mesmerising. Though cruel she's not stupid, she's definitely perceptive emotionally and intellectually, perhaps she may be termed an ethical egoist, or Randian. In any case a very interesting character. The central message of the film which is very potent is that, "The measure of love is what one is willing to give up for it". For The Flying Dutchman, his Lazarus-like wandering of the globe can only be stopped by his falling in love with a woman who is prepared to die for him. The movie tries to portray itself as quite clever but at times falters, with a classics professor who cannot pronounce "Phoenician", and quotations from the Ruba'iyat that are a little screwy in terms of context. Additionally the Dutchman's explanation of his painting, which is a clear Di Chirico pastiche (something of a directorial trait following the Gauguin pastiche in The Moon and the Sixpence), sounds less than authoritative. Pandora's response to the Dutchman quoting the ending of Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach suggests that she hadn't fully grasped it, and he only half-grasped. On the other hand Marius Goring, who is underused, gets a good line from Webster's The Duchess of Malfi: "I know death hath ten thousand several doors / For men to take their exits; and 'tis found / They go on such strange geometrical hinges, / You may open them both ways" It probably helps if you understand that the last line is a reference to suicide versus involuntary death, which requires Dover Notes for me, and perhaps most viewers! Statues recovered from the sea remind one of the beautiful Artemision Bronze, hauled out of the Med during the era in which the movie is set. Archaeologist Geoffrey Fielding is a rather odd sort, buried amongst books and inscriptions and bizarrely aloof from the tempestuous desires of the other characters, though not out of ignorance. The occasional pseudo-literacy is perhaps at one with what is a Technicolor delirium, a film that maintains its giddiness throughout. And yet although the film is quite the most outrageous love story, Lewin does provide a brief counterpoint, when John Laurie's mechanic, quite wonderfully cocks a toast to Sheila's Sims' Janet when she epically denounces Pandora's way of life at a celebratory dinner. A feature of Technicolor films, which is always nice to see, is that the directors generally didn't take colour for granted. One trick to show off the Technicolor wares is to have grandiose flower arrangements in the movies, here in Pandora's home. I think the green-gold lining of her cloak is an unusual colour that really ravished the screen. Actually the film is rather erotic at one point (although Fielding's description of the full moon as erotic at one point is quite titter-worthy, mainly due to delivery), just after said cloak is jettisoned and Pandora swims out to the Dutchman's yacht, naked as the day she was born. The scenes that will remain in my head the most are probably the shots of revelry (coming after the Laurie toast). I think there's something quite Elysian about them, transporting even. The movie manages despite many absurdities (the Dutchman has a 17th century photograph) to hold together well, even with the central absurdity, which is that the love that Pandora has for Hendrik van der Zee, is basically groundless, we're never even shown how it came about.

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.

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...

On a scale of beauty that goes from 1 to 10, where 1 equals dog-ugly and 10 equals heavenly fascination, I give Ava Gardner's looks a solid 6. And, on a scale of talent that goes from 1 to 10, where 1 equals pathetically incompetent and 10 equals phenomenally brilliant, I rate Ava Gardner's capacity as an actress at a middle-of-the-road 5. And, since this less-than-overwhelming film was clearly a vehicle meant to showcase both Gardner's looks and her apparent talent as a means to carry its story through to its clumsy ending, I, for one, was left feeling very disappointed and let down. Indeed. As on-screen lovers in this hollow, melodramatic, fantasy mess, I'd say that the stuffy James Mason paired up with the brittle Ava Gardner was a miscalculated mismatch if there ever was one. There was absolutely no chemistry, whatsoever, going on between these 2. Not a single spark of believable passion was ever generated here. Their apparent desire for one another was flat, uninspired and way off the mark. Set on the very picturesque, Mediterranean side of coastal Spain - Yes. I will admit that this decidedly expensive production (Gardner's umpteen gowns, alone, must've cost a small fortune) certainly contained some fine camera-work, throughout, with its many, many blue skies and equally blue waters. But, alas, the facade of impressive Technicolor cinematography certainly wasn't sufficient enough to detract from the fact that the "Flying Dutchman's" story (along with its ludicrous characters and their absurd dramas) was nothing but stuffy, boring and pretentious nonsense of the highest order. And, to add insult to injury here - I was not in the least bit convinced that Gardner's character could competently play a piano (as a singer she sure hit enough bum-notes) and that Mason's character was, in fact, supposed to be an accomplished artist. Nope. I wasn't convinced, at all. All-in-all - "The Flying Dutchman" was pure escapist fluff. And, if you are "ok" with fluff, then, yes, this 1951 flick just might be your cup of tea. But, if you crave a film with more substantial depth and dramatic-bite to it, then I suggest that you look elsewhere.

High 40's, high-camp talky surrealism and fantasy. Hypnotic and silly at the same time. Ava Gardner, as the heartless wanton playgirl made "good" by a supernatural love, is gasp-makingly beautiful. Jack Cardiff's cinematography captures this most gorgeous of all stars at the lush height of her looks. (But hey, even thirty years later, blousy and ravaged, Gardner was still a stunner--those bones!) Especially recommended for Gardner fans and devotee's (sp?) of rich, artifical movie color. If only nature had so compelling a palette.

Funny thing about the legend of the Flying Dutchman is that nobody knows what it exactly is all about. Different stories about the history of the alleged ghost ship exist and different names of its captain also float around. Hendrik van der Zee, as he is being called in this movie, is one of them. This is a movie I just can't really put my finger on. I don't understand what this movie is trying to tell really. It's hard to label this movie as well. It's a romantic drama with fantasy elements in it as well. It doesn't have an everyday story and also some not so everyday characters in it. Guess the movie is about love and human nature but for me it wasn't very appealing all. The main characters are quite repulsive ones, of which the female deliberately hurt other persons feelings to get what she want and the man killed the woman he loved out of sheer jealousy. Why should we care about a love story between these two. Of course the characters redeem themselves but no, I just wasn't drawn into it. It's also a rather slowly paced movie. Some excitement wouldn't had harmed the movie. Not that it's dull but its slow pace just makes the movie drag on in parts. You have the feeling that the movie could had easily been halve an hour shorter. The movie does still takes some nice turns though, making this movie all in all still a perfectly watchable one. The movie is also good looking. It's a period piece, shot in color. It actually was the first motion color picture Ava Gardner appeared in. It still obviously wan't the most expensive movie to shoot, judging by its visual qualities but it helps that movie that it was being shot at location rather than in sound-studio somewhere. Ava Gardner and James Mason are both obviously some capable actors but because I just wasn't drawn into the movie and it's story I also didn't really got into their characters. Can't blame the actors for that really, since they are obviously doing the best they can with the material given to them. By all means its not a badly made and constructed movie, I had just wished it's execution would had been a bit more lively and perhaps also some more fun. The movie is being mostly serious of tone, making this movie more heavy than it really should be. 7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

A beautiful 1951 fantasy. James Mason plays the Flying Dutchman-Hendrik van der Zee--who is doomed to sail the seas until he finds a woman who will die for him. He meets gorgeous Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner) who happens to look just like his dead wife...but he won't tell her he's a ghost. Naturally she falls for him. The plot is predictable and silly (even for a fantasy) and the dialogue is terrible--people make speeches and verbalize ALL their feelings. The pace is also way too slow and they throw in a silly subplot about bullfighter Juan Motalvo (badly played by Mario Cabre). But the film is absolutely beautiful to watch. The colors are deep and rich and every frame is like a beautiful picture. Gardner and Mason were young and look impossibly beautiful. Some of their shots took my breath away! It was shot in Spain and the settings were gorgeous. Also it's beautifully directed and has a wonderful score. Gardner and Mason are as good as anyone can be in this and everybody else--save for Cabre--are very good. So it's beautiful to watch but the silly dialogue (no one talks like the people here) and slow pace made this hard to sit through.