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PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN - back in UK cinemas today

Originally released in 1951, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN is writer-producer-director Albert Lewin’s deliriously romantic and contemporary Technicolor™ visualisation of the often-told legend of the sea. Ava Gardner, one of Hollywood's most glamourous actresses, in a thinly veiled portrait of herself, is Pandora, who falls hard for charismatic screen legend James Mason as Hendrik, a 17th-century seaman eternally condemned to sail the oceans.  

The quintessential Lewin film, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN was a production made independently of the Hollywood studios, and its original camera negative has been presumed lost for several decades. Working from a nitrate separation positive and other sources, George Eastman House has supervised a painstaking 35mm restoration of the film, bringing back the rich palette of deep, sensuous colors utilised by renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff. 

Unavailable theatrically for many years and never available on Home Entertainment, PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN will open from today, Friday 14 May, at BFI Southbank, Filmhouse Edinburgh, Irish Film Institute and Key Cities on brand new 35mm prints and in Digital Cinema format. 

What the critics say about PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN:

**** "...this 35mm version has been painstakingly restored from existing prints, bringing back the deep colours so beautifully immortalised on film by its renowned cinematographer Jack Cardiff." - The Daily Record

**** "In the hands of cinematographer Jack Cardiff, Albert Lewin’s deliriously romantic, richly woven tapestry becomes a Technicolor dream, fully deserving of this digitally restored re-release." - David Hughes, Empire

**** "Albert Lewin, one of Hollywood’s few intellectually minded directors, made this romantic fantasy in 1951... Jack Cardiff’s superb Technicolor cinematography looks as beautiful as Gardner and that’s substantially the reason the film has stood the test of time." - Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard 

**** "...it all works wonderfully well: Gardner, especially, just glows on the screen. The cinematography, an early Technicolor effort, was by Jack Cardiff, hence the film's presence in the BFI Southbank's Cardiff retrospective. It's really worth the effort." - Andrew Pulver, The Guardian

**** "Albert Lewin’s tale, restored to gorgeous fettle by Glasgow’s Park Circus, is a first class flight of fantasy." - Alison Rowat, The Herald

**** "Very welcome restored 35mm print of bizarre but lushly effective 1951 seafaring melodrama from brilliant Glasgow based distributors Park Circus. Ava Gardner and James Mason star. What more do you want?" - Paul Dale, The List

**** "...Lewin was a genuine maverick talent." - Adrian Turner, Radio Times

**** "Now released in a restored version, this 1951 British film by an American director, Albert Lewin, is reminiscent of Powell and Pressburger's classics in that its fantastical story is all the more exotic to modern viewers because of the characters' clipped English articulacy... The whole thing is glamourised by inventive visual compositions - including touches of surrealism - and by Jack Cardiff's typically wonderful lighting." - Edward Porter, The Sunday Times

**** "A spellbindingly surreal 1951 film restored to bring out the best in its gorgeous cinematography and heady romance. Gardner and Mason are the perfect hero and heroine." - Mark Adams, Sunday Mirror

**** "...Lewin conjures a celluloid equivalent of the canvasses of De Chirico and Dalí – passionate, classical, mysterious and surreal all at once." - Trevor Johnston, Time Out

PANDORA AND THE FLYING DUTCHMAN has been restored by George Eastman House in cooperation with The Douris Corporation. Funding provided by The Film Foundation, the Rome Film Festival, and the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a partnership of the Directors Guild of America; Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique; the Motion Picture Association of America; and the Writers Guild of America, West.

WATCH TRAILER VIEW POSTER

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE - new trailer

John Frankenheimer's Award-winning 1962 classic THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE has been fully restored and will be back in cinemas next month.

Ahead of its re-release from 16 April, a brand new trailer has been created for the film. 

WATCH TRAILER