Pandora Knows No Love, Until…
The beautiful Ava Gardner stars as Pandora Reynolds, a singer living off of the coast of Spain. She co-stars with James Mason, the Flying Dutchmen. As legend has it, the Flying Dutchmen sails the seas eternally seeking someone who loves him enough that they would die for him. For centuries he’s traveled, unsuccessful, but one night, he arrives off of the shore of Pandora’s coastal town.
Pandora is intrigued by the mysterious yacht that rests tranquilly just off of the shoreline. Only moments earlier on the same night, she promised to marry Nigel Patrick’s character, Stephen Cameron, after he professed his love to her by pushing his prized race car off of the edge of a cliff (after she asked him too). It’s made evident throughout the film that men fall for Pandora, willing to kill and die for her to get her love and attention. It’s a fact that Pandora likes and caters to. She never finds love, but, at the same time you get the impression that she isn’t really looking for it either.
But all that changes when she meets James Mason’s character, Hendrik van der Zee, who we eventually find out is the Flying Dutchmen. Only in a long conversation with Geoffrey Fielding, played by Harold Warrender, are we given the backstory of the Flying Dutchmen and his plight. In short, he kills his wife after believing that she had been unfaithful, only to discover after being cast into an eternal sentence of having to find someone who loves him enough to die for him, that he was wrong. The Dutchmen suffers many cruel years before finally finding Pandora.
The plot unfolds through a combination of well integrated flashbacks and present day sequences. There is this constant uncertainty of whether or not Pandora and Hendrik (the Dutchmen) will get together or if she will remain true to what she told Stephen and marry him instead. Meanwhile, other suitors like Mario Cabre’s character, Juan Montalvo, won’t take no for an answer, and demand her hand in love. I thought the main characters were all well acted and strong, adding to the overall captive spell this film has on its viewers.
The Blu-ray
What first struck me about this Blu-ray release was Kino’s clean and simple menu. I know that sounds trivial, but I appreciated the easy to use and highly visible menu. From it, viewers can Play the movie, select a Chapter, or view the Extras.
As for the image and sound quality, it’s easy to appreciate. You’ll appreciate it even more when you watch the six minute comparison video which shows what the previous master of this movie looked like. The video is actually presented in a full screen frame and the restoration really makes the colorful direction of this film stand out. From Ava Gardner’s gowns to the Spanish coastline, it’s a great looking movie. It’s fair to say that the technical quality can now keep up with the quality filming and art direction that the movie has always had. The sound quality also received a boost. I thought some parts seemed a bit loud, but the actual quality was superb. From Ava’s singing to the rich dialogue between characters — great stuff.
The extra features on this release are well worth a look. Included are:
-Alternate Opening Titles (2m26s) – Prints for the UK market varied slightly from the US release, here you get to see the other version of the opening credits.
-El Torero de Cordoba (18m, SD) – The original 1947 documentary on Maneul Rodriguez Manolete, the famous Spanish bullfighter. Footage of some of his original exploits are shown, it’s pretty amazing to see.
-Comparison of Original And Restored Film (6m, SD-HD) – Here we see seamless comparisons of several scenes from the movie. The comparison is between Kino’s new master, restored from the 35mm negative, to the previous Technicolor print. The difference is clear. The previous Technicolor print is dark and muddy, while this release is crisp and offers much better visibility, especially during darker scenes.
-Three Trailers – Trailers include US Release, US Abridged/B&W, and the UK 2010 re-release.
-Film and Production Stills – Thirty-two still images for both Film and Production, yielding a total of sixty-four images. I liked how Kino provided thumbnails on the left side of the screen, allowing viewers to get a quick preview of the available pictures.
An impressive release by Kino International. Let’s get to the summary…
