Mata Hari (1931)

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Movie
German title Mata Hari
Original title Mata Hari
Country of production USA
original language English
Publishing year 1931
length 90 minutes
Rod
Director George Fitzmaurice
script Benjamin Glazer
Leo Birinski
production MGM
music William ax
camera William H. Daniels
cut Frank Sullivan
occupation

Mata Hari is an American feature film that shows a very free portrayal of the events that led to the martial arts shooting of Mata Hari . The film, starring Greta Garbo, directed by George Fitzmaurice , premiered on December 26, 1931.

plot

The story is only roughly based on the life of the real Mata Hari . It is set in Paris against the backdrop of the approaching German front. Mata Hari, who as an exotic dancer interacts with the highest circles in the government and the military in Paris, is currently the lover of the Russian General Schubin. She spies on him in order to pass on secrets to the German chief of espionage Adriani. In addition to Mata Hari, Carlotta also works for Adriani, but she makes the mistake of falling in love with her victim. Adriani then has Carlotta murdered and warns Mata Hari that she will face a similar fate if she does not obey. Mata Hari later falls in love with a young Russian officer from whom she steals valuable papers. In the meantime, the French counterintelligence has tracked Mata Hari and arrested her. In addition, her lover was wounded and blinded from the consequences of his injury. After Mata Hari is sentenced to death by shooting by a military tribunal, she asks to see her lover again. Then she is shot.

background

The idea of ​​using Greta Garbo as a spy was nothing new to the studio. As early as 1928 she played a Russian secret agent in the melodrama The War in the Dark . With the advent of talkies, Garbo had become perhaps the most famous movie star in the world, and her studio MGM did their best to market the actress as the mysterious, mythical Swedish Sphynx . An adaptation of the life of the well-known spy Mata Hari provided the opportunity to present Garbo again as a glamorous vamp and fascinating woman. The story itself is only roughly similar to the life of the real Mata Hari, but the film never made any claim to authenticity. Instead, the studio endeavored to show Garbo in a whole range of spectacular costumes. Mata Hari's future biographer Sam Waagenaar was involved in researching the film on behalf of MGM. The collected material flowed into his 1964 biography of the dancer.

Gilbert Adrian took the opportunity to create some of the most elaborate creations of his career on a budget of $ 30,000. At the beginning of the plot, Garbo appears in a kind of bikini made of gold lamé with a three-tier headdress to perform a dance in front of a statue of Shiva in a glamorous nightclub. However, the actress can only be seen in so-called ' longshots ', which suggests that a light double performed the sequence. Later, Garbo wore an almost transparent negligee, which was no exception given the censorship regulations that were still rather lax at the time. Other highlights include a kind of trouser suit made of gold brocade and various hats, including a kippah , which was subsequently copied by many viewers. Over time, the Garbo's costumes become more and more splendid, but when she is finally executed, she only wears a black coat and her hair is combed back tightly. The scene in which the actress's face alone dominates the screen is later copied in Queen Christine .

Mata Hari got serious problems with the censor in England. In a scene in which the dancer seduces the young officer Rosanoff, she lies lasciviously on the bed, and diagonally above her is an icon with an eternal light . Mata Hari asks Rosanoff to turn off the light, which he does in the American version. For the English market, however, the scene had to be re-shot: Instead of an icon, this version shows the image of the birth mother with the eternal light in front of it. Overall, the role of Mata Hari was one of the very few really bad or coldly calculating female characters that Garbo had to play in her career. At the same time, she was seen as an independent, independent woman who decided her life and fate freely and without outside influence. At one point in the plot, when Adriani threatens to have her killed if she does not obey unconditionally, she replies:

“I am Mata Hari. I am my own master."

The close interplay with Marlene Dietrich , who was specifically developed by Paramount as an answer to Greta Garbo, is interesting in connection with the story of its origins . After MGM announced that Garbo would play a spy, Paramount decided to use Dietrich in Dishonored in a comparable role.

Theatrical release

With a production cost of $ 558,000, the film was above the average budget of an MGM film. At the box office, Mata Hari became the actress' most successful film to date, with grossing US $ 931,000 and a further US $ 1,296,000 worldwide for a total of US $ 2,227,000 and a profit of US $ 879,000 . Given the worsening global economic crisis at the beginning of the 1930s, Greta Garbo and her large international following became one of MGM's most important assets.

Reviews

Most critics again praised Greta Garbo's performance.

In the New York Times , Mordaunt Hall wrote in his January 1, 1932 review, sometimes enthusiastically:

"Espionage and counter-espionage are effectively portrayed in" Mata Hari ". The film is the glamorous and romantic conception of the last days of the Dutch dancer and courtesan, who was shot as a spy by the French in 1917. In this beautifully staged and skillfully filmed production, [...] the fascinating Greta Garbo delivers another brilliant portrayal. [...] Garbo's interpretation of her role is a true characterization in which she reveals something of the nature of the dancer and spy. This Mata Hari, whose name translates as "eye of the morning", is an independent woman who lets Adriani, the head of German espionage, know that she has her own ideas. "

The lexicon of international film found little positive to report in decades:

"Stylistically outdated espionage and love melodrama, very sentimental, but played wonderfully by Greta Garbo."

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Espionage and contre espionage are dealt with effectively in "Mata Hari," a glamorous and romantic conception of the latter days of the life of the Dutch dancer and courtesan who was shot as a spy by the French in 1917. In this beautifully staged and ably directed production [...], the alluring Greta Garbo delivers another brilliant portrayal [...] Miss Garbo's interpretation of her role is a definite characterization in which she reflects something of the nature of the dancer and sqy. This Mata Hari, a name which in Hindustani means "Eye of the Dawn," is an independent person who lets Andriani, the head of the German agents in the French capital, know her mind.
  2. ↑ Mata Hari. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 10, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used