Mata Hari
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Movie Reviews of Mata Hari
Movie Review: When youth sings, old men stay home and pay the piper.
Summary: 5 Stars
Garbo as the German spy in Paris in WW I. She is having an affair with a general (Lionel Barrymore) when she meets a young flyer (Ramon Novarro) and they fall in love. Ordered to get secret papers from him, she seduces him and forsakes their love. Complications occur and she shoots Barrymore to protect Novarro, who's in a plane crash and is blinded. Garbo is convicted of Barrymore's murder and is ordered shot. She and Novarro meet one last time to reconcile their love before she goes before the firing squad.
The dialogue and much of the acting is somewhat contrived and on the stiff side, but the Garbo mystique is in full bloom. Perhaps the best scene in the picture is when Garbo seduces Novarro and makes him blow out a religious candle before taking him to bed: she plays the coy, powerful mistress to perfection. It's a very exotic production, and it's easy to see why Garbo became such a sensation. Definitely worth a watch.
Movie Review: What ever you do, don't put out The Madonna's Holy light.
Summary: 5 Stars
Loosely based on the real Mata Hari (WWI spy), this is a tail of a spy that may have got caught up in something greater than God and Country.
Mata (Greta Garbo), a German spy, has been pumping Russian General (a not very convincing Lionel Barrymore) for some time for Russian intel. When by chance she comes across a young enthusiastic Russian flight lieutenant (Ramon Navarro) with much more interesting secrets. Hot on her tail is French Secret Service chief Dubois (C. Henry Gordon). At the beginning of the movie Dubois predicts that Mata will wind up in front of a firing squad.
Will Mata deliver the goods or will Dubois' prediction come true?
Other than Barrymore's acting and the hokey Hari dance this was a well paced and emotional film.
Anna Christie
Movie Review: Mata: Yours forever!
Summary: 5 Stars
Mata Hari was probably one of the most tragic episodes of the WW1. Mata Hari personified the mythical woman, the femme fatal, the unreachable ideal, the highest peak of the erotica, and at the meantime the symbol of the fall down for many men, who naively succumbed before her alluring beauty.
Greta Garbo made a spelling portrait of this spy throughout her brief existence. Her forbidden loves, hazardous encounters and risky job at the service of Germany. What I love the most from the script resides in the lack of melodramatic excess and the presence of two other acting legends: Lionel Barrymore and Ramon Novarro like her most devoted and seduced men.
The dancing sequence will remain as one the most glamorous and sensual ever filmed.
A cult classic all the way out.
Movie Review: simply a solemn interpretation
Summary: 5 Stars
The quality of the dvd is good. There is certain cut in the scene of the dance; but in general a stupendous and great movieMovie Review: Not really great, but worth watching
Summary: 4 Stars
This seems like one of those films that sounded better on paper than in the actual finished product. The sets and costumes are gorgeous, the plot (though rather loosely based on the history behind the real Mata Hari) had a lot of potential to be interesting and gripping, and it has four big names heading the bill. Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro are two of my favorites, and though I haven't seen him in a huge amount of films yet, I've also really enjoyed Lewis Stone in the films I have seen him in. The other big star, Lionel Barrymore, overacts as usual, though he does pull off the role well. (Though I know he was talented in spite of his tendency to overact, it's beyond me why he was once considered a better actor than his brother John.)
However, in spite of the big names, the promising storyline, and the gorgeous costumes and sets, the picture ultimately seems to fall rather flat. Perhaps part of it could be attributed to how this is after all an early talkie, made in 1931; it would take a little bit longer yet for films to lose this stagy feeling, with almost nonstop chatter, and go back to having more freedom of motion and a balance between dialogue and scenes and moments that didn't rely so heavily on constant talk. Many of these lines themselves weren't very dramatic or original, more like empty words used to fill the time. Additionally, it just didn't seem to have a whole lot of dramatic tension or to be a very compelling interesting story till it was well more than halfway over. There's also the problem of how Ramon is supposed to be portraying a Russian aviator. Given his Mexican accent and Mexican appearance, it's not really convincing, though he is as beautiful as always, and does manage to convey his talent and bring depth and emotion to the role in spite of the oftentimes rather lame script. And as in all of her other roles, Garbo also really shines. She always managed to elevate films that would otherwise be outright clunkers to something interesting and at a higher level due to her subtlety and her electric presence, not to mention how beautiful she was even when she had to wear some pretty ridiculous outfits, as she does here (particularly her hats). Basically (in my opinion at least), it's one of those films that one watches just to see the stars of because they made it interesting by their mere presence, whereas, had the leads been lesser-talented and less-captivating actors, one might not be all that inclined to want to watch it.
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