LeonLouisRicci The Silky, Shiny, Clinging Costumes Glitter with that MGM Sheen on Greta Garbo, Slinking around as a Sultry, Seductive Spy. Not Only a Spy but the Infamous Enigmatic Exotic Dancer who it was Speculated Caused the Death of Thousands in WWI.So why isn't this Movie One of the Great Ones. Because its Clunk Overshadows the Funky Hats and Sparkly Attire. It is Assembled with a Montage that is Hardly Exciting. It Lingers a lot, and for a Spy Drama that can be Troublesome. The Lingering can be Forgiven when One Ogles the Sensuous Garbo and Her Delicious Duds, but the Story Drags.Lionel Barrymore Overacts as Usual and Roman Navarro Plays it Very Naive, Almost Childlike and is just too Vulnerable for Any Tension and as a Result Their Scenes Together are not as Good as the Ones when He is Off Screen. There is One Exception and that is Perhaps the Most Moving Scene of the Movie. The Oft Mentioned Madonna Candle.Overall, it is Definitely Worth a Watch and the Shadowy Lighting is Interesting at Times and Greta Garbo is Always Appealing, but the Film Disappoints because when it isn't Very Good (and it is occasionally) it is Very Bad.

JoeB131 Interesting in it's lurid time.It tells the story of Mata Hari, a spy for Germany in France during WWII who falls in love with a Russian pilot (whose name is changed for some reason) and is executed for spying.Now, the real interesting story was how the French government executed this woman on flimsy evidence, but that's not the story the directors wanted to tell. They wanted the one with the spy who fell in love and caused her own death.The movie drags on in places and would no doubt have car chases and explosions if made today. And usually, I say that derisively about modern cinema, but frankly, it would have actually helped this film.Oh, yeah. We don't see her get shot.

bkoganbing Any resemblance to the little Dutch girl with a most interesting life for the prurient who became Mata Hari and this film starring Greta Garbo is strictly coincidental. About the only two things I can think of is that she was a spy and she did die by firing squad.Mata Hari had a fascinating life and was 41 when she met her demise and Garbo was 27 when she made this film. Her espionage activities only covered a small part of her life, her whole story ought to have been told. What this film lacks in facts it certainly makes up for in a kind of campy allure. Garbo is certainly at her sexiest as the woman who drives men of all ages mad with desire, so much so they wind up betraying their country. That's what she does to Lionel Barrymore who plays a Russian general who does same. She turns him into an old fool.But she herself gets good and foolish when she meets up with young Russian aviator Ramon Novarro. When she herself falls in love, it proves to be her undoing. There are a couple of really good performances here by a pair of ruthless adversaries. Lewis Stone is her spymaster and not a man to trifle with. See how he deals with another of his reluctant employees played by Karen Morley. He's far from the wise and good Judge Hardy in this role. His opposite number is C. Henry Gordon who knows full well that Garbo is a spy and is just waiting to nail her and I don't mean in the biblical sense.Mata Hari is a camp delight today, it certainly hasn't aged well. But that's not to say you won't enjoy Greta Garbo in this part.

netwallah In the early scenes Mata Hari (Greta Garbo) dances a slinky oriental dance; it's not clear what sort of culture she is meant to represent—there are silver pagodas on her head, and a many-armed god in the background, as well as other orientalist culture indicators sprinkled throughout. It's enough that she's exotic, without needing to pin her nationality down. Her costumes are gorgeous and also vaguely oriental, but with much silver lamé. She wears hats. It's Paris during WW I, and there are spies all over the place, and she's the most independent and fearless of them all, cool and heartless, using men easily, as she does General Shubin (Lionel Barrymore), until she meets the handsome young Russian aviator Rosanoff (Ramon Navarro), who has excellent posture, melty eyes, and a Spanish accent. Navarro is all pleasing surfaces. In the course of being irresistible, she steals secrets from him and accidentally falls in love. This causes problems, she has to kill Shubin to protect Rosanoff, and she has to part with the aviator. His plane crashes, but she finds him when he is blinded in hospital and tells him sweet lies, and she protects him in court and faces the firing squad. The movie is purely a Garbo vehicle, and she is fine, breezing through the clichés and the bad writing, and acting cool and then passionate. She is, of course, compellingly lovely. When she is not dancing, she moves sinuously, mostly. She has an odd carriage when walking slowly through a room, leading with her head bent forward, her neck arched, her shoulders one or two inches from a shrug. Otherwise she reclines langorously and gazes at other characters with a smile impossible to read.