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Mata Hari Specifications
She's a household name that conjures up international intrigue and wartime espionage, predatory sexuality and fatal passion. So how is it that none of the several movies titled Mata Hari is very satisfying? This Greta Garbo vehicle is much less interesting than the 1931 Sternberg-Dietrich film Dishonored (whose doomed spy lady went by the name X-27). The divine Swede plays the Javanese-Dutch exotic dancer who romances a Russian aviator in perfumed Paris on behalf of German intelligence. It's typical that the Balinese temple harness Garbo almost wears in the first nightclub number looks sexier in stills than it does in motion: Mata Hari is less a film than the idea for a film. George Fitzmaurice's direction is static, silent-era holdover Ramon Navarro makes a cookie-dough leading man, and the feisty Karen Morley (as Mata's secret-agent colleague) exits the picture much too soon. The gowns--and harness?--are by Adrian. --Richard T. Jameson
Mata Hari Overviews
Mata Hari: the name breathes mystery, intrigue and sexual allure. Who better to play the notorious World War I spy than Greta Garbo, the enigmatic, exquisite screen icon called The Swedish Sphinx? Garbo is mesmerizing as the dancer-turned-German secret agent in a wartime Paris seething with secrets and betrayal. The notable supporting cast includes Lionel Barrymore as a Russian general besotted with her, Lewis Stone as an icy master spy, and Ramon Novarro as a handsome aviator who wins the heart Mata Hari did not know she possessed. With the world at war, love was her weapon. And the only men she couldn't seduce were the 12 in the firing squad that ended her tragic and tumultuous life.
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Product Information and Prices Stored: Nov 25, 2011 10:53:09 |
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