Vicarious death to redeem The basic gist is that a few centuries earlier, a Dutch ship captain (Hendrik) had honour-killed his wife, too late discovering that she had been faithful. In court, he railed against God. By God's hand, like Peter (Ac.12) his dungeon guards sleep and the door opens. However, God sentences him not to die-it is not a ghost story-until he finds a woman happy to die for him. In essence, the moral is vicarious death to redeem. He sails alone the seven seas, only permitted regular but brief disembarkations, chances to meet a redeemer.
Pan forward to the 1930s. Pandora is a rather cold-hearted beauty, who men seem prepared to die or kill for: they are active; she is passive, only her body being touchable. She finally lovelessly agrees to marry a man (Stephen), basically as best in show so far. Then she meets the mysterious Hendrik. His only chance seems to him to have her die for him. When she finally offers, he discovers that he loves her too much to allow such sacrifice, and sacrifices what he believes to be his only hope of redemption. This to me would seem to offer him that redemption, but the film demurs. Having concealed his love for her sake, she nevertheless discovers it and the idea of sacrificial death being her optional fate, is played out. The test of your love is how much you will pay, is a big question asked.
The story could have had any old woman, but instead it makes as if she is a reincarnation of the wife he had killed-same appearance; same soul. A lame suggestion is that they are still husband and wife, even though her death ended that marriage way back-death does us part (Rm.7). The film also throws in tarot cards (a sad prop to carry a warning-prophecy to another suitor (Juan), who commits murder but thanks God who has spared him long enough to make confession). Yep, he had a gypsy mother. Another woman (Janet), who has been waiting in the wings to bag Stephen (that poor deluded fool), seems likely to bag him once his fiancé (Pandora) has died alongside Hendrik: he probably gets the better suited girl. The philosopher in the circle (Harold) seems to have strange ideas about death transferring people to "the other side of time", yet them apparently still moving in time: presumably he meant "the other side of mortality". He does have some good lines.
The film has I think, a certain feel of Shakespeare, and is not too bad a watch. It could have worked better without tarot and reincarnationalism promos, and didn't need the lead lady to on a whim swim nude to visit an unknown ship in the middle of the night, expecting to meet the crew. Sure, nothing untoward seen, and conveniently she found a wrap before meeting the captain, but what girl (American) would naturally pay a visit to a new arrival in the bay, in so informal a way?