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IMDbPro

Mata Hari

  • 1931
  • Tous publics
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro in Mata Hari (1931)
Watch Mata Hari Official Trailer
Play trailer2:42
1 Video
75 Photos
CrimeDramaRomance

A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.

  • Director
    • George Fitzmaurice
  • Writers
    • Benjamin Glazer
    • Leo Birinsky
    • Doris Anderson
  • Stars
    • Greta Garbo
    • Ramon Novarro
    • Lionel Barrymore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.5/10
    4.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • George Fitzmaurice
    • Writers
      • Benjamin Glazer
      • Leo Birinsky
      • Doris Anderson
    • Stars
      • Greta Garbo
      • Ramon Novarro
      • Lionel Barrymore
    • 63User reviews
    • 25Critic reviews
    • 73Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 3 wins total

    Videos1

    Mata Hari Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:42
    Mata Hari Official Trailer

    Photos75

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    Top cast29

    Edit
    Greta Garbo
    Greta Garbo
    • Mata Hari
    Ramon Novarro
    Ramon Novarro
    • Lt. Alexis Rosanoff
    Lionel Barrymore
    Lionel Barrymore
    • General Shubin
    Lewis Stone
    Lewis Stone
    • Andriani
    C. Henry Gordon
    C. Henry Gordon
    • Dubois
    Karen Morley
    Karen Morley
    • Carlotta
    Alec B. Francis
    Alec B. Francis
    • Caron
    Blanche Friderici
    Blanche Friderici
    • Sister Angelica
    • (as Blanche Frederici)
    Edmund Breese
    Edmund Breese
    • Warden
    Helen Jerome Eddy
    Helen Jerome Eddy
    • Sister Genevieve
    Frank Reicher
    Frank Reicher
    • The Cook-Spy
    Mischa Auer
    Mischa Auer
    • Firing Squad Victim #3
    • (uncredited)
    William Bailey
    William Bailey
    • Dubois' Aide
    • (uncredited)
    Roy Barcroft
    Roy Barcroft
    • Extra
    • (uncredited)
    Reginald Barlow
    Reginald Barlow
    • Prosecutor
    • (uncredited)
    Frederick Burton
    Frederick Burton
    • Major at Executions
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Cording
    Harry Cording
    • Ivan
    • (uncredited)
    Cecil Cunningham
    Cecil Cunningham
    • Gambler Selling Ring
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • George Fitzmaurice
    • Writers
      • Benjamin Glazer
      • Leo Birinsky
      • Doris Anderson
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews63

    6.54.1K
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    Featured reviews

    7mik-19

    Worth a watch

    German spy Mata Hari works in Paris during World War 1 under cover as an exotic dancer, and falls in love with a young Russian officer while she is taking advantage of him.

    The script is rubbish, dialogue trite at best, and the treatment doesn't hold together well. Adrian's costumes are ridiculously improbable, but in a sinfully pleasurable MGM kinda way. You simply sit there and gape at Adrian's inventiveness and sense of kitsch. And William Daniels photographs them beautifully.

    As he does his favorite subject, Greta Garbo. There is no way anyone could call Mata Hari one of the better Garbo roles, although she looks gorgeous at every turn, even in her slightly awkward Balinese dance in the beginning, all arms and legs. And still Garbo manages to be sexy! Notice the glance she sends Ramon Novarro as she draws the curtain of her bed. This was a short period in the history of Hollywood, when there was no functioning censorship, and it is always titillating to see what cinematographers, directors and stars made of it. And here they exploit it to the full.

    Not a great film, not even in the Garbo canon, but still worth a watch, absolutely.
    phred22

    Pure Fantasy, Pure Melodrama, Pure Camp

    Anyone wishing to know the truth about Mata Hari, the exotic dancer who was executed as a spy during World War I, will soon realize this is not the movie for them. But the real Mata Hari was a pathetic middle-aged woman who got in way over her head when she tried espionage--her legend is much more entertaining. Greta Garbo plays the femme fatale brought down by love to the hilt and the cast ably supports her, although modern audiences may find Ramon Novarro ludicrous as the romantic lead. The best are C. Henry Gordon as the French police chief and Lewis Stone as the leader of Mata Hari's spy ring. Nearly every line is out of melodrama--I just wish I had a better memory to quote some for you. My recommendation: just enjoy it.
    10Ron Oliver

    One Legend Portrays Another

    Seductively mysterious, the exotic dancer MATA HARI pays the ultimate price for being the most famous spy of World War One.

    Coming only fourteen years after the execution of its title character, here is a densely plotted film given the full MGM gloss & glamour. Production values are excellent, even if the script strays a bit too much into fiction to tell its story.

    Languid & languorous, Greta Garbo slinks across the screen like a large cat, almost purring her dialogue rather than speaking it. Utterly fascinating, it is easy to see why she dominated her generation & why her legend still endures. Finally coming fully alive during a penultimate murder scene, Garbo exhibits the frenetic energy of which she was capable on screen. Fortunately, she is only required to dance once, leaving to the imagination the full impact of Mata Hari's original private performances.

    Ramon Novarro, who receives co-equal billing with Garbo, had been an important movie celebrity far longer than she, but her rising sun tended to obscure most other stars in her orbit and Novarro has to work hard to get much notice in their joint scenes .As always, MGM's chameleon actor (this time he plays a Russian) gives a very competent performance, but as a romantic pair they make a rather unusual couple - which simply means that Novarro's sexual ambiguity is perfectly mirrored by Garbo's intrinsic androgyny.

    Lewis Stone is quite effective as a sinister German spymaster. C. Henry Gordon gives some nice moments as a tough French policeman. Lionel Barrymore is also on hand, flamboyantly overacting as a Russian general who delivers military secrets to Mata Hari in exchange for her favours; he apparently decided Garbo wasn't going to steal the entire picture and he puts up an outrageous display of ham acting.

    Karen Morley & Frank Reicher appear as German agents who learn the price of becoming no longer useful to Berlin; movie mavens will recognize an uncredited Mischa Auer in the opening scene as an unfortunate victim of Mata's wiles.

    *******************************

    Born to a prosperous hatter in The Netherlands on August 7, 1876, Margeretha Geertruida Zelle was convent schooled and later attended a teacher's college. In 1895 she married British-born Campbell MacLeod, a captain in the Dutch colonial army and lived with him in Java & Sumatra from 1897 until 1902.

    After their divorce, Margeretha settled in Paris, where she changed her name to the Malay 'Mata Hari,' which means 'eye of the day.' Fabricating a mystique of exotic mysticism, the beautiful Mata supported herself quite nicely as a courtesan and erotic dancer, giving special performances around Europe to delighted clientele. Several military officers of various nations counted themselves among her lovers.

    The details of Mata's involvement in espionage still remain rather vague. It's possible she entered the German Secret Service as early as 1907, but she later is thought to have worked for the French Secret Service, as well. As a citizen of neutral Holland, she was still able to travel freely after the commencement of the War and it is alleged that she garnered secrets from Allied officers for her German employers. It was the British who tipped off the French as to Mata's supposed activities while in Belgium, and she was arrested upon her return to France.

    At the court martial trial, she could only be found guilty of giving outdated information to the Germans, which she claimed was entirely innocent. However, it was more than enough to imprison her for three months, before her final rendezvous with a firing squad on October 15, 1917.
    Snow Leopard

    Garbo Makes the Role & the Character Her Own

    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.
    7ma-cortes

    Better than average rendition based on famous Femme Fatale of WWI who used her beauty to seduce

    A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari , an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I . Based loosely on the real-life story of the World War I alluring spy , though the title character was real, the events in the film are mostly fictional . The exotic dancer uses her contacts in European high society, along with her seductive charm , to collect military secrets during the war . It starts in Paris 1915, Folies Bergere , where Mata Hari is playing a spectacle impersonating an oriental dancer along with Goddess Kali sculpture . Mata Hari beguiling everyone from a Russian officer (Lionel Barrymore) and a pilot (Ramon Novarro , he wears internal lifts in his boots so that the difference in hight between himself and Greta Garbo was increased on screen ; and being the first time Novarro took second billing since becoming a star) . Mata Hari successfully plays both sides against each other until at last her deceptions catch up with her.

    This is the classic adaptation by filmmaker George Fitzmaurice with Greta Garbo as the notorious dancer playing exotic dances and Ramon Novarro as her lover . While this film was in production, rumors began circulating that co-stars Garbo and Novarro were having an affair ; this was untrue, but they did develop a strong friendly rapport . The Greta Garbo/Ramon Novarro combo turned Mata Hari into a major worldwide blockbuster, with $2.22 million in worldwide rentals . This is a melodramatic biography about notorious dancer with smouldering allure who had relationships with high-ranking military officers, politicians , millionaires and others in influential positions in many countries . This is Greta Garbo's one of the greatest picture , a romance based on the true life story of the exotic woman spy , Mata Hari . Truly all-star such as Lionel Barrymore and Ramon Novarro's highest-grossing picture after Ben-Hur ; this production will leave in mind and heart the memory of an unforgettable thrill , emotion and sensitivity . Furthermore , an important support cast such as Karen Morley , Henry Gordon , Lewis Stone and uncredited Mischa Auer in opening scene as condemned man who won't betray Garbo's love . This George Fitzmaurice's romantic spy melodrama Mata Hari was well received by critics and enthusiastically embraced by moviegoers .

    Although the story is inspired on real events, it's mostly a historical fiction , the actual deeds are the followings : His true name was Margaretha Zella(1876-1917), a Frisian-Dutch known dancer and double agent during WWI. She was a successful courtesan , though was known more for her eroticism and sensuality rather for her stunning classic beauty. At 18, she answered an announce in newspapers about a man looking for spouse . She married Netherland Colonial Official and they moved to Indonesia , at island of Java. But the marriage was a disappointment and the couple early separated in 1903. Meanwhile she practices Indonesian traditions, uniting a local dance company learning the exotics jigs. Later she revealed her artistic name, Mata Hari, for 'eye the day' of the sun. She moving back to Europe , winning fame and fortune as exotic dancer. She was one of the leaders of the contemporary dancers, such as Ruth Dennis and Isadora Duncan that looked to Asian world for inspiration. During WWI, as neutral origin citizen was able to cross national borders freely , she travelled among Netherland, France, Germania, Spain but her several movements inevitably attracted attention. In early 1917 the German staff in Madrid transmitted messages to Berlin referring the activities of a German spy , code named H-21. French Intelligence intercepted it and identified as Mata Hari. Then she was detained and put on trial, framed of spying for Germany and condemned death warrant , accused to cause deceasing of at least 50.000 allied soldiers. She was founded guilty and executed by firing squad at the age of 41.

    Other versions based on famed courtesan/spy are : a silent version ¨Mata Hari¨ with Magda Sonja , ¨Agent H 21¨ (1964) by Jean Louis Richard with Jeanne Moreau and Jean Louis Trintignant and ¨Mata Hari¨(1985) by Curtis Harrington with Sylvia Kristel , Derek De Lint , Christopher Cazenove , Oliver Tobias , Gaye Brown and Gottfried John.

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      While this film was in production, rumors began circulating that co-stars Greta Garbo and Ramon Novarro were having an affair. This was untrue, but they did develop a strong friendly rapport.
    • Goofs
      Near the beginning, Lt. Rosanoff flies over the German lines to land in Paris. The movie is set in 1917. The plane Rosanoff is flying using a Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp engine which was ubiquitous in aviation from the 1930s through the late 1940s. However, the engine was not built until 1925.
    • Quotes

      Andriani: The only way to resign from our profession is to die.

    • Connections
      Alternate-language version of La Danseuse Hindoue (1927)
    • Soundtracks
      Oriental Shadows
      (uncredited)

      Music by Montague Ewing

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    FAQ18

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 28, 1932 (France)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Мата Хари
    • Filming locations
      • Agoura Ranch, Agoura, California, USA(execution scenes)
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $558,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 29m(89 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.20 : 1

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