Pandora and the Flying Dutchman is a 1951 British Technicolor romantic fantasy drama film directed by Albert Lewin and produced by Lewin and Joseph Kaufman from Lewin's own screenplay, based on the legend of the Flying Dutchman. It was filmed mainly in Tossa de Mar, on the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain. The land record speed scenes were shot at Pendine Sands in Wales. The film stars James Mason and Ava Gardner, with Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim, Harold Warrender, Mario Cabré and Marius Goring in supporting roles. In Tossa de Mar, a statue of Gardner was erected in 1996 on the hill overlooking the town's main beach. In the United States, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) delayed its release until Gardner's star-making performance in Show Boat (1951) could be seen. The tactic worked, and this film solidified her status as a rapidly rising star. The film is mostly spoken in English, but some characters speak Catalan (the local fishermen at the beginning of the film) and Spanish (the bullfighter's entourage). Artist Man Ray, who was a friend of Albert Lewin, produced some sets for Pandora. He created particular cubist-style chess pieces and several paintings seen in the film, notably the main one, a sort of surreal scene in the De Chirico fashion. Plot In autumn 1930, fishermen in the fictitious small Spanish 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, breaking the "fourth wall", retells the story of these two people to the audience. Esperanza's small group of English expatriates revolves around Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gardner), an alluring American nightclub singer and femme fatale. All the men love her (or believe that they do), but Pandora is unable to love anyone. One of her admirers Reggie Demarest (Marius Goring) commits suicide in front of Pandora and her friends by drinking wine that he has laced with poison, but Pandora shows indifference and later comments that she is relieved by his death. She tests her admirers by demanding they give up something they value. 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