100 Years Ago Today... Mata Hari's Execution
Sunday, October 15, 2017 at 9:08AM by Nathaniel R
Sorry to begin your day with something so grim but it's actressy. Today marks the centennial of the execution of exotic dancer Mata Hari by firing squad for espionage during "The Great War" (aka World War I)...
Her story was first told on the big screen just three years after her death in Mata Hari (1920) with Dane Asta Nielsen in the title role. Austrian/Hungarian Magda Sonja followed her in the role in another silent Mata Hari: the Red Dancer (1927). Third time's the charm with Swedish actress and one of the all time greatest movie stars Greta Garbo as Mata Hari (1931)
Where to go after Garbo? You wait it out, silently because you don't want to be in direct competition.
Though Mata Hari sometimes popped up as a supporting character in pictures, the iconic sex symbol wasn't the subject of another feature until Jeanne Moreau took a crack at her in Mata Hari Agent H21 (1964)
Since then the dancer/spy has mostly been a supporting player in various war dramas but occassionally gets the television miniseries treatment. She's been played by just about every nationality of actress at this point but few internationally famous names after Moreau but for Zsa Zsa Gabor in Up the Front (1972). The most recent actress to take a crack at the role was France's Vahina Giocante in the 2016 miniseries "Mata Hari"
I am alarmed to realize that I've never seen any of the Mata Hari biopics - not even the Garbo! Have you?
Reader Comments (7)
The Garbo.
Yes!
Always the Garbo!
What Marcelo said.
Great post. We need to be talking about her more.
In the 1960's there was going to be a big Broadway musical about her - but it had such disastrous previews that it closed on the road. The director was the great Vincente Minelli who I guess could not work his magic on stage. I love the French poster- those eyes La Moreau is a forever.
I'm sad to admit that I haven't seen any of Hari's screen biographies either.
Too bad that Altman's tv project with Cate Blanchett as Hari never saw the light of day. That might have been something!
Not a single drop of campy love for the Sylvia Kristel/ Curtis Harrington effort no matter how misguided and unsuccessful??
I have seen the Garbo version and while it only glancingly sticks to the facts of Mata Hari's life she makes it a treat. The costume design is amazing!
Toby, Sylvia's greatest performance was in Airport 1979. And that performance was what truly made it a disaster movie.