It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I have seen most - but not all - of Garbo's films and in Mata Hari she gives her best performance. Here she is at her seductive best and seems completely at ease in the role of WWI's most famous spy. She commands the screen in all her scenes and, I must admit, lives up to her customary billing as a Hollywood Legend. I am always puzzled by the irresistible spell she is acknowledged to cast over most men. "What most men feel when drunk, that is how she appeals to sober men", or words to that effect, someone wrote. Count me out of this feeling, but in Mata Hari she comes close.Good story, good support acting and good, overall atmospheric production. Especially good was C. Henry Gordon as the French detective hot on her trail. Lionel Barrymore, standing and walking, does well as her elder lover and a miscast Ramon Novarro is her younger lover. He plays a Russian with a Mexican accent, but he was still at the height of his popularity so Hollywood gave him a pass. See it if you get a chance as it is one of Garbo's most interesting performances and in one of her most interesting movies.7/10 - The website no longer prints my star ratings.

Greta Garbo is at her most alluring as Mata Hari the famed World War One spy who seduced officers for military secrets. The enigmatic Garbo was perfectly cast for the Hollywood treatment and surrounded by lavish MGM production values she is a stunning sight to behold. Garbo's potent eroticism however is really all the film has to offer due to the terrible miscasting of Ramon Novarro and Lionel Barrymore in the two male leads. The delicate Novarro's passion comes across as less love and more of awe and desire to be half the man Garbo is. Their close-ups are beauty contests. Barrymore as Russian General Stubin is pure farce sounding more Ozark than Odessa. Garbo of course dominates any composition (even with the MGM Lion) so their clumsy presence is diluted somewhat. Once again Lewis Stone admirably shadows Greta and the perfectly utilized (what a perfect interrogator's face) C. Henry Stephens as the dogged inspector gives a strong performance.Outside forces also intercede and that is the censorship in place when Mata Hari was re-released (and may be the only print available) . They cut to pieces Garbo's erotic and highly charged dance beautifully photographed and made her look sloppy along with the fact she was no dancer to begin with. Gone completely is her execution at the end which is quite powerful. I either saw this scene in the films entirety or in a documentary some forty years back.It is a tribute to the face of Garbo that she can suffer inferior subordinates and censorship and still command your attention.

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).

As the notorious "Mata Hari", Greta Garbo makes both the role and the character her own, providing a portrayal that is much deeper and more complex than the historical character probably was. The rest of the cast and production work well enough, but they are mostly there only to provide Garbo the backdrop and the foils that she uses to develop the main character.The story focuses Mata Hari's liaisons with two Russian officers, an older general played by Lionel Barrymore, and a young aviator played by Ramon Novarro, with an implacable Secret Service man (played by C. Henry Gordon) trying to stop her. Each of the three plays his part well, while allowing Garbo to take the spotlight. Lewis Stone also makes good use of his limited screen time, and Karen Morley has some memorable moments as another spy.The story probably has little in common with the historical facts, and while the historical character is an interesting one, it seems certain that Garbo's character is more so, combining her obvious appeal with a depth of feeling and a complicated set of priorities, as few other actresses could have done. Designing the story and characters with her in mind works well, making for good drama and one of Garbo's many effective performances.