Ava Gardner played James Mason’s character’s wife in the 1951 film Pandora and the Flying Dutchman. Gardner portrayed Pandora Reynolds, an American woman living on the Spanish coast whose relationship with the mysterious Hendrik van der Zee drives the film’s romantic fantasy plot.
James Mason played the Flying Dutchman, a legendary sailor condemned to wander the seas. The film combines elements of the Dutchman legend with melodrama, romance, and surreal imagery. Albert Lewin directed the production, which was filmed in Technicolor and set largely around the Spanish seaside town of Esperanza.
The title can cause confusion because Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is unrelated to the 1929 German film Pandora’s Box. The earlier film stars Louise Brooks as Lulu and is based on Frank Wedekind’s plays, whereas the 1951 production centers on Gardner and Mason and uses the Flying Dutchman legend.