Review by Doug Cooper
Stars James Mason, Ava Gardner, Nigel Patrick, Sheila Sim,
Harold Warrender, Mario Cabre, Marius Goring, John Laurie,
Pamela Mason, Patricia Raine
Written by Albert Lewin
Certification UK PG | US PG
Runtime 126 minutes
Directed by Albert Lewin
Every month an old classic movie is dusted off and given a re-release in selected cinemas so filmgoers can take a look back at these marvels and think: "Wow! They don't make 'em like they used to." Quite why Park Circus have taken the trouble to give this resoundingly dreary 1951 melodrama a dust up is beyond me. The new print looks great and famed cinematographer Jack Cardiff's camerawork is mouthwateringly beautiful but the inert dramatics contained therein are stillborn.
The tale revolves around Pandora (Gardner), a lush goddess whom men find irresistible – though she has yet to fall in love with any of her suitors. Until that is, she meets Dutch sophisticate Hendrik (Mason), whose moored his lovely looking yacht near the island paradise she and her friends are staying at. He's a man of sartorial class and elegance who has been living for centuries waiting to meet the right woman who would be willing to give up her life for him. Once found, he would no longer be unhappily immortal.
Pandora falls for Hendrik, but he has competition if he wants to curry her favour, not least from posh racing enthusiast Stephen (Patrick) and arrogant matador Juan (Cabre), who at one point tries to stab the new arrival to death. When Hendrik turns up the next day to see him in the bullring giving a show, the matador's attention is momentarily averted from his sporting practices and he is unluckily gorged by the angry animal. Poor chap.
It's all a bit bonkers to be honest, but conducted at such a funereal pace you'll have to concentrate hard to stay awake. Warrender's clumsy narration telegraphing every development, thought and emotion becomes trying too. It's hellishly overlong and deathly dull. Mason lacks energy but is suitably enigmatic as the sad sailor while Gardner is photographed with splendour, but cannot act for beans. It's remarkable she had a career of such longevity. Her line readings are stiff and lack variety and she is devoid of a radiant personality, so it's hard to believe that all these men are so smitten with her. And let's face it, she's attractive but she's no Marilyn Monroe or Sophia Loren say. Overall, it's a windy bore of little significance that fails to bewitch.