It took me a long time to realize that I just don't get the whole Garbo mystique. I saw her first in "Grand Hotel" and, yeah, I got caught up in the aura--how could you not? But it's not like she was carrying the entire film. Then I saw her in "Ninotchka," which is sheer delight, and it took me years to realize that Melvyn Douglas and Ina Claire were what made the film.
"Mata Hari" is a perfect example of my rude awakening. It took me years to realize that Garbo was just a prop with a funny hairdo (what was UP with those quotation-mark bangs??), a thin-lipped and masculine face, a deep voice, and an exotic accent. She had two expressions--heartsick and flirtatious, the latter of which she seemed to convey only by talking through a smile with her head tossed back--and yet she still managed to over-act.
In "Mata Hari," Garbo dances what possibly be the most unerotic, non-sensuous exotic dance in the history of cinema, while seducing Ramon Novarro (a Russian pilot with a thick Mexican accent) and Lionel Barrymore (looking thinner and darker-haired than I'd ever see him). Thankfully, they cover her silly hair with turbans for most of the film--and, frankly, the costumes are the best reason to watch it, for they're spectacular. The film seemed to last FOREVER. And with every scene it got more ridiculous (although I admit to enjoying the scene with the candle-lit Madonna).
The best part was the brief sight of the wonderful Mischa Auer (credited only as "Firing squad victim #3"), sans moustache, in the first scenes of the film. He looked about 16 years old (although he was actually 26).
If it's sultry foreign seductresses we're talking about, give me Marlene Dietrich any day.
"Mata Hari" is a perfect example of my rude awakening. It took me years to realize that Garbo was just a prop with a funny hairdo (what was UP with those quotation-mark bangs??), a thin-lipped and masculine face, a deep voice, and an exotic accent. She had two expressions--heartsick and flirtatious, the latter of which she seemed to convey only by talking through a smile with her head tossed back--and yet she still managed to over-act.
In "Mata Hari," Garbo dances what possibly be the most unerotic, non-sensuous exotic dance in the history of cinema, while seducing Ramon Novarro (a Russian pilot with a thick Mexican accent) and Lionel Barrymore (looking thinner and darker-haired than I'd ever see him). Thankfully, they cover her silly hair with turbans for most of the film--and, frankly, the costumes are the best reason to watch it, for they're spectacular. The film seemed to last FOREVER. And with every scene it got more ridiculous (although I admit to enjoying the scene with the candle-lit Madonna).
The best part was the brief sight of the wonderful Mischa Auer (credited only as "Firing squad victim #3"), sans moustache, in the first scenes of the film. He looked about 16 years old (although he was actually 26).
If it's sultry foreign seductresses we're talking about, give me Marlene Dietrich any day.