Customer Reviews

Mata Hari [VHS]

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Actually, the only real reason I wanted to see this picture was the alluring Greta Garbo. The woman radiates mystery, which in today's cinema is all-to-rare. She is really the best thing about this film, which is kind of cheesy in everything else. The costumes are gorgeous, the sets are well-contrived, but it's the worn story and wooden acting all around Garbo that drag this film down.
This is a Hollywood rendering of a famous spy, Mata Hari, who, on being caught, is executed by firing squad in the end. There is no faulting Garbo's contribution, as she slithers from one scene to the next, fully convincing as the ill-fated, beautiful spy. I only the rest of the cast had put forth that much effort! Ah well.
Fans of Miss Garbo will, no doubt, fully enjoy this film, as Garbo is actually very moving in her scenes. Now don't get me wrong, I actually enjoyed this film, myself. I just wish more effort could have been put forth by just a few more of her colleagues.
I give this film four stars on the basis of Garbo's unique ability to light up the screen whenever she appears, and for the glorious costumes that populate her environment. Just sit back and enjoy the visual treat that was Greta Garbo.

Excellent early 30's vechicle for Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro. Both stars have never been better in both looks and performances. Lighting of the film is a real highlight and it's performances like this that make you wonder why the great Ramon Novarro didn't stay one of the greatest heartthrobs of 30's romances, he is sensational. Garbo as always is exotic, mysterious and totally captivating. Any real lover of Hollywood's glamour era when stars were real stars should purchase this video.

As MATA HARI, Garbo shows us hints of what was soon 2 come(Queen Christina, Camille) but in THIS film she is a sexy siren. No wonder 20s and early 30s people fell head over heals for her. All other "goddesses" are pale shadows. There was nothing as magical as Garbo. The script is corny at times, Lionel B. hams his part(see Mickey Rooney "do him" in BABES IN ARMS 1939) but the film has a magic air that is spellbounding... In no way a great thriller or a suspenser(laughable when it is attempting 2)but a great GARBO vehicle. Roman Novarro is OK but is ruined with some of the lines he has to say.

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.

This is the Garbo movie I watch nearly every week, and have watched
for years. For one thing, no other Ameican movie so brilliantly
choreographed costumes, decor, lightning,star make-up like this
extraordinary fantasy of the notorious spy. The fact it was made in
l932 is another plus because our movie stars looked so damned glorious
back then. Hours and entire days were spent lighting one
close-up. Adrian came up with knockout fashions for his great star:
fantastic lame capes, sequined/precious stone gowns, fur-lined
greatcoats, hats of all types, ravishing photography by William
Daniels. Garbo is cast opposite a perfect male beauty of that era: the
now forgotten but very sensual Ramon Navarro, who had been a great
silent star like Garbo but unlike her, he was on his way out. He was
later murdered in the early 50s by two neanderthal hustlers who used
the black,art deco dildo given to him by his tragic lover,
Valentino.... Cedric Gibbons designed the high gloss fantasy world of
intrigue in Germany. Camera set-ups and groupings, especially in the
surreal court scene, often looks like a Russian avant-garde
movie. Shadows, Garbo's face painted in ultra white make-up, very
thick eyeliner and false lashes, so that she resembles a symbol,
rather than a person make you realize just how lovingly a screen
goddess was treated in those days. (I mention this movie often in my
book on old Hollywood, "The Kiss of King Kong"). Best scene
is with Garbo at the hospital, visiting her lover, Navarro. Wearing a
stunning 30s hat with a metal pendant, a knock-out furlined coat,
photographed unforgettably by Daniels, you're transported into another
dimension. The final scene of Garbo being led off by soldiers to be
shot is another unforgettable movie moment. Viva la Garbo, Adrian,
Daniels, MGM! Garbo would never look so magnificent and other-worldly.

In spite of the spectacular costumes and lighting, this is one of Garbo's duds in which her shining talent rose far above her surroundings. MGM's early talkie version of the Mata Hari legend, the exotic French spy, is weighed down by a verbose, corny and at times confusing script, an inadequate co-star and that leaden atmosphere which was an MGM trademark and dates so many of their dramas.

The print is unrestored but in better condition than other Garbo DVDs. There, are however, some noticeable jumps in continuity which could be scenes missing from the print. There are no extras except a trailer. Unless the DVD is purchased as part of one of the Garbo collections, it is poor value.

This film I feel epitomises the true glamour of old Hollywwod , a quality sadly lacking in todays film making and stars. Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro make a stunning couple in this their only film teaming.
Whether it is an accurate depiction of the famed spy's life is immaterial as you will find yourself carried away by the beauty of the production as a whole. I personally have never found Garbo more exotic and beguiling and Ramon Novarro as always comes across as the beautiful young man who you can't help but like. Ramon really holds his own up against Garbo and shows why he was a top star of both the silent and sound era at MGM. He is wonderful in "Mata Hari" and this film was responsible for my great interest in him.
The superb supporting cast is filled with MGM regulars like Karen Morley, the wonderful Lewis Stone, Lionel Barrymore etc. Cast list like that simply make you realise what is lacking in Hollwood nowadays.
Being a "Garbo" picture naturally the sets, and in particular the costumnes and lighting are top notch. The overaul film has a really beautiful glow about it and some of the camera angles
are superb. The scene showing Ramon extinguishing the Icon candle is very beautifully done with an almost biblical quality to it.
For those of you who love the old Hollywood, MGM, or are Garbo or Ramon Novarro fans, "Mata Hari" is not to be missed. Enjoy!!

Mata Hari, whose name translated loosely as "Eye of the Morning," was an eastern princess who had been immersed in dance from the moment of her birth--or so she said. In actual fact, she was Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, born to a respectable family in Leeuwarden, Holland. In 1895, with the family fortune in decline, she married Rudolf John MacLeod and with him moved to Java. The marriage was horrendously unsuccessful and the couple separated in 1903, when she returned to Europe. After a stint as everything from an artist model to a circus horseback rider, Margaretha reinvented herself through a name change, skimpy costumes, and fairly lacivious dances. Critics regarded her as a lousy dancer, but the public loved her, and she would continue her career as both dancer and courtesan for the next fourteen years, passing between lovers as freely as she passed between the theatres of Europe. During World War I, however, the combination of Mata Hari's lovers and her touring schedule brought charges of espionage. Accused passing information to Germany that caused the deaths of some fifty thousand French soliders, she was found guilty and executed by firing squad in 1917 at age 41. Much argument concerning her guilt or innocence continues to this day.

But you won't really learn much of this from the 1931 MGM film MATA HARI. The Dutch Mata Hari is played by Swedish star Greta Garbo. Mata Hari and Garbo have precisely one trait in common: neither can dance worth a damn. Where Garbo is concerned the film tries to conceal this by a mixture of costuming and "artistic" cinematography that avoids showing Garbo's legendarily large feet and works to dodge the more obvious edges of her lack of dance talent. But Garbo is hardly the only performer who is miscast. Her young Russian lover is played by Mexican actor Ramon Novarro. Her older Russian lover is played by Lionel Barrymore and her German handler by Lewis Stone, both of them very distinctly American, and her French nemisis by C. Henry Gordon--who isn't quite as badly cast, for although American he doesn't scream it.

Given all this, it is startling that the film works as well as it does. There are many exceptions, but MGM seemed to feel it was not necessary to be greatly painstaking where Garbo's films were concerned: she was such a great star that she could survive anything, no matter how commonplace. As such she is frequently the only good thing in the film, often let down by so-so co-stars, silly scripts, and mediocre production values. But this isn't quite the case with MATA HARI. Yes, the casting is odd, but everyone involved was a noted and meticulously professional performer; yes, the script is silly, but it has a consistent internal logic. The cinematography is excellent and Garbo is near the height of her physical beauty--and if the movie tends to treat her as a clothes horse, at least the clothes in question are entertaining in their obvious exoticism. All this said, while the film is extremely hot-house artificial, it does seem to capture something of Mata Hari. Not the facts, of course; those were expendable. But the glamour of the legend, the myth of the glamourous spy who seduced men, betrayed them, destroyed them, using her beauty as a the ultimate secret agent weapon. It is a prototype that would be repeated endlessly right up to present day: Hitchcock's films aside, female spies are almost always presented as beautiful young women of wanton disposition.

Interestingly, Garbo herself may have gone on to become a spy for the Allies during World War II. Noel Coward, who did the same, noted that while Garbo had a reputation for almost pathological reclusiveness before and after the war, during the war itself she was at every embassy cocktail party imaginable, chit-chatting with everyone--and since she was Garbo, the great artiste, many sought to impress her by telling her virtually everything they knew. The word in Coward's circle was that she had agreed to use her celebrity to meet specific persons of interest, talk to them, and pick up loose information that might be of use to the Allies. It was a ploy that Coward was uniquely positioned to recognize: he often did much the same.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

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.

The quality of the dvd is good. There is certain cut in the scene of the dance; but in general a stupendous and great movie