One of Ava Gardner's most alluring performances can be viewed in cinemas again from this week thanks to the Glasgow company Park Circus Films. Pandora and The Flying Dutchman has been restored by the company and is in UK cinemas from today. Much of the beauty of the Albert Lewin film is down to the skill of Jack Cardiff, who died last year aged 94, and was considered one of the greatest Technicolor cinematographers of his day. Writing in The Observer, Philip French says the film, in which Gardner falls fatally for James Mason: "Draws on Dutch and Spanish painters as well as Giorgio de Chirico, and looks as if the colours were mixed on the screen".
Sounds amazing, though I cannot imagine anyone falling fatally for James Mason, let alone someone as stunning as Ava. Look forward to having my mind changed at The Filmhouse in Edinburgh
Park Circus have restored more than 12,000 classic movies, including Casablanca, It's a Wonderful Life and From Russia With Love. Their managing director's ambition is to make going to the movies as special as going to the theatre. You can read my colleague Allan Brown's feature on the company here in The Sunday Times Ecosse.
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