Mata Hari

"Mata Hari" is a pre-code film that took lots of liberties with the real life story of the World War One spy, but who cares? One watches a film like this to enjoy the old stars in action, including Lionel Barrymore, hamming it up sans wheelchair. Though Garbo has never been one of my favorites I enjoyed her performance here; she smiled quite a bit and never once said she wanted to be alone. Most of the time she just wanted to be with handsome Ramon Novarro, and who could blame her?

Funniest moment to me: Ramon's character is obviously Catholic (as Ramon was in real life) and he has promised his mother to keep a candle lit before this Madonna icon and never let the flame go out, because if it goes out then evil will descend upon him. So Mata (Greta) tells Alexi (Ramon) that his room is too brightly lit; he goes around and turns off all the lights -- except for the candle. So then she asks him to blow out the candle. "If I am everything to you then you will blow it out." He asks her in shock: "But why would you ask me to?" (a perfectly reasonable question she doesn't answer). He ends up rejecting the sacred for the profane, blowing the flame out and the room goes into darkness. The camera pulls away and we are supposed to know instinctively that they are making love all through the night. And of course evil descends on Ramon's character, and he goes blind, but what the heck, this is Hollywood.

Watch it for the stars, not for history. If you want history, read a book.

In 1917, in Paris, the famous dancer Mata Hari (Greta Garbo) has a double life as a German spy, obtaining secrets from French and Russian officers in bed. The chief of the French Secret Service Dubois (C. Henry Gordon) is unsuccessfully in her tail trying to find proofs to incriminate Mata Hari. The Russian general Serge Shubin (Lionel Barrymore) has a crush on Mata Hari, but when she meets the young Russian pilot lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff (Ramon Novarro), she sleeps with him to photograph secret documents in his possession. But they fall in love for each other, and the jealousy of her lover Shubin provides the evidences to Dubois to arrest her.

This fictional and naive romance based on the life and death "Mata Hari" is an enjoyable melodramatic love story. Of course it is not a historic event, but this pleasant romantic fantasy is supported by an extremely beautiful Great Garbo performing a charismatic role in a great production. In spite of not being a masterpiece, I totally disagree with the unfair reviews in IMDb. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Mata Hari"

As the notorious "Mata Hari", Greta Garbo makes both the role and the character her own, providing a portrayal that is much deeper and more complex than the historical character probably was. The rest of the cast and production work well enough, but they are mostly there only to provide Garbo the backdrop and the foils that she uses to develop the main character.

The story focuses Mata Hari's liaisons with two Russian officers, an older general played by Lionel Barrymore, and a young aviator played by Ramon Novarro, with an implacable Secret Service man (played by C. Henry Gordon) trying to stop her. Each of the three plays his part well, while allowing Garbo to take the spotlight. Lewis Stone also makes good use of his limited screen time, and Karen Morley has some memorable moments as another spy.

The story probably has little in common with the historical facts, and while the historical character is an interesting one, it seems certain that Garbo's character is more so, combining her obvious appeal with a depth of feeling and a complicated set of priorities, as few other actresses could have done. Designing the story and characters with her in mind works well, making for good drama and one of Garbo's many effective performances.

...from MGM and director George Fitzmaurice. Greta Garbo stars as the title lady, an exotic dancer who enthralls all who see her perform, allowing her to gain access to valuable intelligence which she relays to her aloof handler Andriani (Lewis Stone). Among Mata Hari's conquests are General Shubin (Lionel Barrymore) and young ace pilot Alexis Rosanoff (Ramon Novarro).

When historians roll their eyes at the mention of Hollywood history lessons, this is the kind of film they are thinking about. The truth only remains as far as it makes the leads look attractive and dramatic. Garbo, who naturally bears little resemblance to the real Mata Hari, gets to wear some outrageous costumes and perform a lurid, pre-code dance with a giant statue of the goddess Shiva. Barrymore hams it up, and Navarro makes for an unconvincing Russian. Despite the sloppy script, there's some good set design and camerawork, and the appeal of the leads, particularly Garbo at the height of her stardom, helped make this one of the top ten biggest box office hits of the year, and the biggest for MGM.

Loosely based, as the phrase goes, on the life and death of the exotic dancer who was convicted and executed for spying by the French in World War I, in truth this movie isn't much more than an excuse for the Divine Garbo to wear glamorous gowns (by Adrian), emote to the heavens and of course twist almost every man in the movie around her little finger. Of course, this time, even Greta can't get away from her real-life counterparts's fate and so pays the ultimate price for her actions in the final scene.

It's a strange movie that seeks to encourage the viewer's sympathies for a traitor who betrayed the Allied War effort for reasons which are never exactly made clear. She's also responsible for the death of her old admirer John Barrymore's bewitched, middle-aged Russian general as well as tricking the handsome young Russian pilot, Ramon Navarro, into revealing his secret mission to her.

It's a credit to Garbo's star-power and charisma that she just about pulls it off. Occasionally you see her lapse into some of the Garbo-isms she carries over from her silent movies but she undoubtedly has a great face and a feline grace about her which definitely set her apart from any other Hollywood leading lady of the day. It's also a great pity that cuts were made by the censor to the movie including her sexy opening dance and her later bedroom scene with Navarro.

Barrymore and Navarro chew what scenery Garbo has left them in parts which don't require much of themselves, other than to show puppy-dog like infatuation and devotion to their enchantress.

In short, the movie has star-vehicle written all over it and as such it serves Garbo well. I would have thought that the film's proximity to Mata Hari's true story might have seen it adhere more to the actual events but certainly not for the last time, Hollywood prints its own legend and not the facts, as much to make its stars look good as for such trivial reasons such as sticking to the actual truth.