Mata Hari Reviews

Sylvia Kristel, star of the soft-core sex hit of the 1970s, EMMANUELLE, plays the master spy of WW I, Mata Hari, in a mostly dull performance that suffers greatly in comparison with Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Jeanne Moreau, who have all essayed the part. A nightclub dancer, Mata Hari carries on affairs with a number of prominent French military men. When the war breaks out, she is enlisted in the German secret service thanks to the efforts of Capt. Karl Von Byerling (Cazenove), with whom she is soon having a sexual relationship. Kristel's greatest gift has always been the ability to look casual even while being naked and mauled by a gang of Asian pirates or the like, and in this film she gets plenty of opportunities to show off her still-attractive body. Decent production values and good use of Budapest as a double for a number of European capitals give the film a visual flair not expected in what is basically an exploitation product.