Albert Lewin’s Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is filled with one missed opportunity after another, one wasted moment followed by the next. While Jack Cardiff’s Technicolor cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, what should have been a haunting and lyrical, lush supernatural romance is instead a tepid and lifeless, boring and ultimately ordinary melodrama that feels as predictable and monotonous as the Flying Dutchman claims immortality has been. Scenes that should be filled with tension and dread are undercut by a flat voiceover narration that sucks the vibrancy out of the film – even as it tries to add a bit of false drama to the mix. And the gender dynamics are even more hopelessly regressive and aggravating then other films of the time. It’s a boring slog, only made bearable by Cardiff’s beautiful photography.
