Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) – A. Lewin

What sort of leading man is James Mason anyway?  Sophisticated, but vaguely sinister?  Here, as the legendary and immortal Flying Dutchman who sails a ghost ship and can only set forth on land every seven years to find a woman who would die for him, he is definitely an ambivalent figure.  Ava Gardner, as the romantically doomed woman in question, is similarly ambivalent – she is wilfully demanding and controlling of the various men falling at her feet but willing to give herself up in toto to Mason (despite being engaged to someone else).  Director Albert Lewin uses technicolor and an artist’s eye (and help from his friend, Man Ray) to decorate the screen – the Spanish seaside locales don’t hurt one bit.  Overall, this is a romantic fantasy full of grand gestures (including from an impetuous matador) but in which the central figures’ chemistry is strangely lacking.  So, when the foreordained happens and Mason and Gardner can finally achieve peace, it seems that the rest of the characters will just go on without really missing them one bit.