In the 1951 film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, Ava Gardner played the title character Pandora Reynolds.
Albert Lewin directed the romantic fantasy film, which combines a modern setting with the legend of the Flying Dutchman. Gardner’s Pandora is an American woman living on the Spanish coast. Her story becomes linked to Hendrik van der Zee, a mysterious sailor played by James Mason.
The movie uses the name Pandora and themes of fatal desire, but it is not a direct screen version of Hesiod’s Greek creation myth. Its central legend is the Flying Dutchman, the cursed mariner condemned to sail until a woman proves faithful enough to redeem him. This distinction is a common source of confusion when films use mythological names.
Gardner was already a major Hollywood star in the early 1950s. The film is especially noted for its Spanish locations, Technicolor presentation, and unusual blend of supernatural romance and classical allusion.