WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Uriah43 In this film the legendary Greta Garbo stars as the infamous spy "Mata Hari" who uses her wiles as an exotic dancer during World War I to seduce selected generals and politicians in Paris and then steals their secrets in the heat of passion before passing them on the Germans. Now while I candidly admit that this story doesn't exactly conform to actual history considering the year this movie was produced I have to say that it was still quite interesting all the same. Of course Greta Garbo had much to do with that as I thought she was absolutely stunning. Yet even though I liked her performance I must also admit that in my opinion neither the script nor the other actors involved managed to rise to the occasion and as a result this movie failed to realize its potential. I especially didn't care for the ending as it was just a bit too melodramatic for my tastes. Be that as it may, while this movie might be of interest to nostalgia buffs or fans of Greta Garbo, I have to rate this movie as only slightly better than average.

earlytalkie Audiences today have largely not heard of Greta Garbo, who was the queen of MGM from the silent days up until the time she made her last film in 1941. Her beauty was unrivaled with the possible exception of Marlene Dietrich, to whom she was often compared. "Mata Hari" tells the true story of the WW1 spy who conquered all with her feminine wiles. Garbo is beautifully costumed and superbly photographed in this film, which shows why MGM was at the head of their game even in the early-talkie era. Lionel Barrymore plays a good part in this and Ramon Navarro (who was gay in real life) plays his love scenes with the proper amount of nostril-flaring that went with the Latin-lover image he had fostered. (Although here he plays a Russian, or Rus-si-an, as Garbo pronounces it.) A fun movie that flies by fast.

Cyke 059: Mata Hari (1931) - released on 12/26/1931; viewed 5/26/06.The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster.BIRTHS: Rita Moreno.DOUG: The end of '31 is in sight as we take in our second Garbo picture, Mata Hari. Overall, not as interesting as I'd hoped; I have a feeling Garbo's best stuff is yet to come (Grand Hotel, anyone?). I thought Garbo's performance was much more effective in the first half, where Mata Hari is almost the villain (wow, another villain in 1931!). Anything good about the movie is thanks to her. By the end, she's let herself fall for Rosanoff (Navarro). It seemed weird that a professional spy and seductress could fall in love so easily, especially with this fool. Her acting is good, great actually, but I liked her better when she was a femme fatale, doing femme fatale stuff like running rings around Shubin (Lionel Barrymore). I'd also like to have seen more of Mata dancing. Garbo spends most of the movie with her hair hidden under a lot of overly ornate headdresses. The best scenes are between Garbo and Lewis Stone's Adriani, her evil boss, the only man as smart as she is. The ending is rather abrupt, but in a good way; we know what's going to happen, so there's not much reason to draw it out. Also clever that Mata's last act to Rosanoff is to deceive him one last time, sparing her temporarily blind lover by telling him she's going for some operation when she's really being executed. I was surprised at how popular the character of Mata Hari is, having made appearances in tales of James Bond, Indiana Jones, and also on TV's Charmed. In many ways, she's the quintessential femme fatale. Also interesting is that Mata Hari was a real woman, born Margaretha Zelle, who has had many movies made about her but whose true life has never really been represented on film. At the time, the public was very intrigued by the idea of a woman who used her feminine wiles in the interest of serving her country as a spy; perhaps the truth of the matter wasn't quite as interesting as the movies made it seem. Still, wouldn't it be interesting to see the true story? KEVIN: Mata Hari was an okay movie, carried by the strength of Greta Garbo's performance and little else. When our story begins, Mata is a goddess. She's got every man wrapped around her finger. From the beginning, I felt that in order for this story to work, we must learn who she really is. Not that she's really a spy, which we know from the outset, not her agendas or where her loyalties lie, but who she really is as a person. To that effect, the story is a success. By the end, that goddess is torn down and we see her true self, her fears and her desires. Unfortunately, Garbo's performance is the only one that really has any depth. Although key to the story, her relationship with Alexis (Ramon Navarro), the lovesick flyboy who falls head over heels for Mata Hari, never comes off as more than a naïve infatuation. As I said before, the only thing worth watching here is Garbo, which is still saying a lot.Last film: Frankenstein (1931). Next film: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931).

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.