The first Romulus release was "Pandora and the Flying Dutchman" (1951) with James Mason and Ava Gardner. The American director-producer Albert Lewin had begun to prepare the film for MGM, but the studio had cancelled the project, James Woolf discovered on a Hollywood visit, because of Lewin's problems with the House Un-American Activities Committee. According to John, this resulted in the Woolf's concentration on developing transatlantic projects. Their mentor, Alexander Korda, advised against half-financing "The African Queen" (1951): "Two old people going up and down an African river . . . who's going to be interested in that? You'll be bankrupt!". Korda was proved wrong. From this John Huston film they gained international critical and financial success. Two further films directed by Huston followed, "Moulin Rouge" (1952) and "Beat the Devil" (1953), but were less successful.