Problems with This Version - Spoiler

Can anyone imagine a colorized version of this film improving on Fitzmaurice's (FM) work? Considering how primitive the technology was at the time, the Director exploited what he had to work with. His use of light and shadow, especially in the final scene with Garbo descending the stairway to her execution escort emphasized how alone she was in the midst of so many people.

FM borrowed from Lang and other Expressionists the use of darkness as well as the focus on objects or body parts rather than on people. Consider, as an example, his concentration on the feet of the murderer Jacques. We never see more. All we see are the disembodied feet with that elevated shoe thumping with each step like a tell-tale heart. Ker-thump. Ker-thump. Ker-thump.

FM used those feet to misdirect our emotions. FM shows Garbo leaving the hospital, followed by those feet. She seeks help from two soldiers who interrupt Jacques's pursuit. Ah, she is going to escape! She gets into a taxi to speed away. But, no! In the taxi waits Secret Service Chief Dubois. From the clutches of one would-be killer to those of another.

FM presents Mata Hari as definitely involved with espionage as was Gen Shubin (Lionel Barrymore). As a result, in being executed she is getting what she deserved. Our only sympathy for her comes from her tragic love for Rosanoff (Novarro).

This film was made only a few short years after WWI. Mata Hari offended the middle class morality of her day. That same immorality that may have played a part in her conviction - for what she was instead of what she did - condemned her to film audiences as well. Many had lost loved ones in the war. To have assisted the Germans was unforgivable. To paint her as wrongly accused would not have been acceptable in 1931. The French government would have howled in rage.

If FM remade the film today, he might have drawn Mata Hari as wrongly accused by an evil policeman who wanted Mata Hari for himself. But we have seen that all before with Tosca and Scarpia or Jean Valjean and Javert. And we never tire of that story.