Pandora and The Flying Dutchman - Plot

Plot

In the early 1930s fishermen in the small Catalan port of Esperanza make a grim discovery in their nets, the bodies of a man and a woman. The resultant ringing of church bells in the village brings the local police and the resident archaeologist, Geoffrey Fielding (Harold Warrender), to the beach. Fielding returns to his villa, and retells the story of these two people, trying to make sense of the events.

Esperanza's small group of English expatriates revolves around Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), an American nightclub singer and femme fatale. All the men love her (or believe that they do), but Pandora is unable to love anyone.

She tests her admirers by demanding they give up something they value, citing Geoffrey Fielding's quote that the "measure of love is how much you are willing to sacrifice for it." One of her admirers (Marius Goring) even commits suicide in front of Pandora and her friends by drinking wine that he has laced with poison, but Pandora apparently shows indifference.

Pandora agrees to marry a land-speed record holder, Stephen Cameron (Nigel Patrick), after he sends his racing car tumbling into the sea at her request. That same night, the Dutch captain Hendrick van der Zee (James Mason) arrives in Esperanza. Pandora swims out to his yacht and finds him painting a picture of her posed as her namesake, Pandora, whose actions brought an end to the earthly paradise in Greek mythology. As with other men in Esperanza, van der Zee appears to fall in love with Pandora, and he moves into the same hotel complex as the other expatriates.

Geoffrey and Hendrick become friends, collaborating to seek background information on the local finds. One of these relics is a notebook written in Old Dutch, which reveals that Hendrick van der Zee is the accursed Flying Dutchman, a 16th-century ship captain who murdered his wife, believing her to be unfaithful. His loss of faith leads him to blaspheme against God at his murder trial, where he is sentenced to death.

The evening before his execution, a mysterious force opens the Dutchman's prison doors and allows him to escape to his waiting ship, where in a dream it is revealed to him that his wife was innocent. The next morning, he discovers his ship manned by ghosts, and that for his lack of faith in man and God he is condemned to sail the seas for eternity unless he can find a woman who loves him enough to die for him. Every seven years the Dutchman can go on shore for six months to find a woman willing to sacrifice her life for him. Pandora declares her love for van der Zee, but the infatuated Dutchman is unwilling to let her die, and tries to provoke her into hating him.

On the eve of her wedding, Pandora approaches Geoffrey, pleading to understand who Hendrick really is. Once he sees the Flying Dutchman setting his sails, he hands her the translated copy of the notebook. On learning the truth, Pandora swims to the Dutchman's becalmed yacht. He shows her a portrait of his murdered wife and she realizes why the painting of Pandora looked like her; van der Zee was painting from memory. Hendrik explains they were once man and wife and through this he has been given the chance to lift his punishment, but he has rejected it because it would mean the loss of her life yet again. Pandora realizes this is why he has never felt like a stranger to her, and why she has come to him now, unafraid. He accepts her love and they are reunited for eternity. That night, a fierce sea storm overturns the yacht. The next morning, the bodies of Pandora and the Dutchman are found in fishermen's nets. Their destinies have been fulfilled and the curse has been lifted.