LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

adrian-43767 MATA HARI's main interest is the great Greta Garbo and she does deliver a very sound performance, if not exactly a match for CAMILLE or QUEEN Christina. As a woman of exceptional beauty and elegance, I can imagine that most men must have been besotted by her in the 1930s.The story is more about love than history (which it does not bother to follow with any degree of accuracy), and it makes no judgment about espionage, apart from a chief spy saying that death is the only way to leave the "profession".Acting, direction and photography are generally competent, considering what was happening in the cinema in 1931. The only drawback -- from my standpoint -- is Ramon Novarro, who comes across as rather weak (I believe GG did not want him as the male lead, and you can see why).If you are willing to cast your mind back to 1931 and to suspend your disbelief, there is much to enjoy in this picture.

drjgardner I'm not a big fan of Garbo in general, and her talkies specifically. Her acting was more suited to the silent era, and this film, an early talkie, has a lot of silent film elements as well as silent film stars like Ramon Navarro and Lewis Stone. In fact, for 1931, this was an all star cast. Garbo herself had just been nominated for an Oscar for "Anna Christie" (1930), Stone was nominated for "The Patriot" (1930) and was in the highly popular "Big House" (1930), and the great Lionel Barrymore got his only Oscar for "A Free Soul" (1931). Navarro was still popular, though his best days were behind him.Considering how many great films occurred in 1931 (e.g., "Frankenstein", "Cimarron", "City Lights", "Dracula", "The Champ", "M", "Public Enemy", "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde", "Monkey Business"), this is clearly a 2nd tier film though it was a big commercial success at the time.

writers_reign I've just bought a boxed set of six Garbo talkies and this is the first one I watched - as a Billy Wilder buff I already own Ninotchka, and I've seen both Camille and Queen Christina on television years ago - and the thing that jumps out after 84 years is Garbo's charisma and beauty so that the other actors are irrelevant as is the plot. Because this is MGM those other actors include Lionel Barrymore and Lewis Stone, neither exactly chopped liver though Ramon Navarro who gets to play Garbo's love interest and billing to reflect this was long past his sell-by date. The melodramatic elements even in a story about a real person albeit one somewhat fictionalized are unavoidable yet Garbo is able to rise above it even when being 'noble' and suffering exquisitely. It's not necessarily something I'd watch again in a hurry but I'm definitely glad I saw it.

JohnHowardReid Available on a superb Warner Brothers DVD, this film has much to recommend it, nevertheless it does have a few negatives including a less than charismatic performance from Ramon Novarro. The actor didn't wish to play the role and I don't blame him! He is obviously both outnumbered and miscast. He did redeem himself as the number one lead in "The Cat and the Fiddle" (1934) in which he was billed above Jeanette MacDonald, but alas, his slow, downward spiral from his seemingly secure position as Metro's number one lead began with "Mata Hari". Novarro's role is not large and when you think back about the film, it's Garbo herself, plus Lionel Barrymore and to a lesser extent, C. Henry Gordon, who claim all our attention. Even in Novarro's brief scene with an unbilled Cecil Cunningham, it's Miss Cunningham who not only gains all our attention but stays in our memory. If you've just seen the movie, think back! It's Miss Cunningham who dominates the action not only by what she says but by the way director Fitzmaurice and photographer William Daniels have placed her center-frame. As you might expect, "Mata Hari" is an exotic Garbo vehicle from start to finish! Incidentally, Garbo herself dubs all her dialogue in the French version!