I've just bought a boxed set of six Garbo talkies and this is the first one I watched - as a Billy Wilder buff I already own Ninotchka, and I've seen both Camille and Queen Christina on television years ago - and the thing that jumps out after 84 years is Garbo's charisma and beauty so that the other actors are irrelevant as is the plot. Because this is MGM those other actors include Lionel Barrymore and Lewis Stone, neither exactly chopped liver though Ramon Navarro who gets to play Garbo's love interest and billing to reflect this was long past his sell-by date. The melodramatic elements even in a story about a real person albeit one somewhat fictionalized are unavoidable yet Garbo is able to rise above it even when being 'noble' and suffering exquisitely. It's not necessarily something I'd watch again in a hurry but I'm definitely glad I saw it.
Review of Mata Hari
