Mata Hari (1931)

Directed by George Fitzmaurice. Starring Greta Garbo, Lionel Barrymore, Ramón Novarro, C. Henry Gordon, Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Alec B. Francis, Blanche Friderici, Helen Jerome Eddy, Edmund Breese, Frank Reicher, Mischa Auer.

The intriguing story of the famed exotic dancer accused of espionage during the Great War comes perilously close to being reduced to mere wartime romantic melodrama. She’s assigned to get her hands on dispatches in the hands of a Russian pilot (Novarro) but struggles against succumbing to his charms, much to the chagrin of his jealous superior (Barrymore). Garbo is her usual mysterious and alluring self (even in unbecoming headdresses) and Barrymore executes nimble character work, but Novarro and the leading lady make for a boring couple despite the saucy insinuations of one key scene. Excessive dramatic liberties spoil its value as a history lesson, though it has a couple of briefly effective suspense sequences involving a killer wearing a shoe lift. Censored upon reissue after the implementation of the Hays Code. Auer went uncredited for his small role at the beginning.

61/100