Mata Hari (1931 film)

For other uses, see Mata Hari (disambiguation).

Mata Hari
Directed by	George Fitzmaurice
Produced by	George Fitzmaurice Irving Thalberg
Written by	Benjamin Glazer Leo Birinsky Doris Anderson Gilbert Emery
Starring	Greta Garbo Ramon Novarro Lionel Barrymore
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	December 26, 1931
Running time	89 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$558,000 (est.)

Mata Hari is a 1931 pre-code film loosely based on the life of Mata Hari (the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle), an exotic dancer/courtesan executed for espionage during World War I. The film stars Greta Garbo in the title role. The film is credited with popularizing the legend of Mata Hari.

Cast (in credits order)

• Greta Garbo as Mata Hari
• Ramon Novarro as Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff
• Lionel Barrymore as General Serge Shubin
• Lewis Stone as Andriani (pavilion owner)
• C. Henry Gordon as Dubois (French Secret Service chief)
• Karen Morley as Carlotta (German agent)
• Alec B. Francis as Major Caron (Mata's lawyer)
• Blanche Federici as Sister Angelica
• Edmund Breese as Warden
• Helen Jerome Eddy as Sister Genevieve
• Frank Reicher as The Cook / Spy (German captain)

Financial success

Commercially, this was Garbo's most successful film and MGM's biggest hit of the year, netting a profit of nearly one million dollars.^[1] It was a sensation in the US, and overseas rentals, especially in Continental Europe, matched those in the US. These combined grosses amounted to $2,227,000 or $31,601,862, adjusted for inflation.^[2]

Censorship upon reissue

As with many pre-code Hollywood films, this film was censored upon its reissue in May 1939 after the enforcement of the Hays Code. At least one known cut was made in the seduction scene of Lt. Rosanoff by Mata Hari; the ending of the scene was moved up with a fadeout.^[3]

See also

• Pre-Code Hollywood

References

1. ^ Vieira, Mark A. (1999). Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.. p. 52. ISBN 0-8109-4475-8. 
2. ^ Ellenberger, Allan R. (2009). Ramon Novarro: A Biography of the Silent Film Idol. McFarland. p. 114. ISBN 9780786446766. 
3. ^ Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood, p. 60

External links

• Mata Hari at the Internet Movie Database
• Mata Hari at AllRovi
• Mata Hari at the TCM Movie Database
• Production notes and still gallery at GarboForever.com