thinbeach Von Raden falls for an attractive woman named Tania at a music hall. She turns out to be a Russian spy who steals important information from him. The loss of this information lands Von Raden in jail, before his senior in the Secret Service lets him out to go and steal some important information back off the Russians, with help from Tania. Whether he can achieve this or not rests on the basis that she still loves him, which is one of the films major falling points - we are given no reason to believe she ever loved him in the first place. Well, we are given a reason - he treats her to a nice day in the forest - but its not overly convincing. Even worse, apparently Von Raden still has feelings for her - despite the fact she lied to him, ruined him, and put him in jail. Nothing about any of this is believable at all, and those are just the main details - there are a hundred other falsities like it. We might forgive these logic flaws if we were entertained, but we are not really. The entertainment relies on the tension of being caught out, and towards the end has some elements of Hitchcock-esque suspense, but that tension is negated by the unreality of it all. Noticeably - and typically, for positive reviews of bad films - most of the complimentary comments here focus on either the cast or the production values - topics which are less significant for the enjoyment of the film for general audiences. But who am I kidding, general audiences don't visit this forgotten patch in 2017. I'm talking to the air.

bkoganbing Not too long before Greta Garbo played the most famous female spy of all in Mata Hari, during her silent screen period she was cast in The Mysterious Lady as a Mata Hari type. Garbo plays a Russian spy working under her Russian spymaster Gustav Von Seyffertitz who was one of the great villains of the silent screen.Her mission is to get a copy of the Hapsburg war plans and the one she chooses as her target is staff officer Conrad Nagel. Nagel's like putty in her hands and though she even falls for him, she does her duty by the czar.But when she wants out Von Seyffertitz won't let her out. In the meantime Nagel has escaped and he's determined to clear his name. After that Garbo decides that true love is for her.Though Garbo and Nagel did not become a screen team in the way that Garbo and John Gilbert did, Nagel was more than adequate as a replacement for Gilbert in a role that probably he got first crack at. Garbo is divinely alluring as only Garbo could be.Good film and it worked out for Garbo far better than Flesh And The Devil did.

Steffi_P Writing scores for silent movies requires a considerable talent, but for some pictures the music must practically write itself. This is not to play down the efforts of the many fine score composers, but simply to say that for someone with musical ability, a picture such as The Mysterious Lady is constantly suggestive of melody, tempo and timbre, in a way that translates naturally into a musical setting.This musical effect is, it seems, largely down to the director Fred Niblo. Niblo, an ex-Vaudevillian who married into the Cohan family, came into motion pictures relatively late in life (he first sat in the director's chair at 42), but he soon proved himself to be one of the finest and most poetic craftsmen of the cinema. The Mysterious Lady was made at a time when the talkies were beginning to muscle in, but Niblo proudly blows a trumpet blast for the dying art form. Interestingly, The Mysterious Lady actually contains a lot of examples of images filling in for sound. Sometimes this is for narrative purposes, such as the superimposition of the opera scene when Nagel plays the piano, to inform the audience of what he is playing. Other times it is purely atmospheric, such as the shot of a row of violins in the orchestra, later grimly echoed by a similarly composed shot of the drums at Nagel's degradation.Throughout, the picture sustains a lovely rhythmic flow. The love scene between Garbo and Nagel is delicately suggested through a series of interlocking images, unspoiled by intertitles. Niblo shows complete control over the pace at any one moment, the first few minutes being frenzied and choppy, then slowing to that glorious romantic feel when Garbo is introduced in a very memorable entrance. Only once does Niblo overdo it, when he throws in a superimposition of Nagel daydreaming about assaulting Garbo – the context and Nagel's uncomfortable expression are enough without this heavy-handed display.So if Niblo was a kind of visual composer, who was his muse? Well, let's not extend a metaphor too far, but it certainly appears that Niblo was inspired to make beautiful images to complement the natural beauty of Greta Garbo. And to an admirer of fine dramatic performance Garbo is doubly beautiful because she is such an outstandingly good actress. At a period when too much screen acting was hammy and unsubtle, Garbo was refreshingly understated. To watch a Garbo picture, especially a silent one, is to witness dozens of little moments of performance genius. One example here is when her character hears the news that von Raden has been imprisoned because of her. She shows the tiniest glimmer of a reaction, enough for the audience to pick up on and understand, but not enough for her character to give herself away to those around her. Garbo captivated audiences with her mysterious allure and startling passion – the X-factor that made her a phenomenal star.Like the silent picture, Niblo's days as a director were coming to an end. Whether his decision to retire a few a few years after this was down to the sound revolution or not I am unsure. I have not seen any of the handful of talkies he made, and I simply don't know whether he gave them the same grace and musicality that we see here. What I do know, what every film buff knows, is what Greta did next. Of all Hollywood stars, Garbo's transition from silence to sound was among the most successful. Such was her power, her naturalism and her overwhelming appeal, that in spite of the 1930s demand for more earthy performers, she remained one of our brightest stars.

Neil Doyle GRETA GARBO is at her most attractive, photographed with great finesse and style for this "Mata Hari" kind of tale about a seductive woman who leads an entrapped man (CONRAD NAGEL) into a romance for ulterior purposes but soon falls in love with him.The opening scenes are reminiscent of what Max Ophuls did with "Letter from an Unknown Woman" in recreating the romantic ambiance of old Vienna with horse-drawn carriages and gaslight. The lush atmosphere is combined with the stunning Garbo close-ups (full face or in profile) with back lighting that is extraordinarily beautiful.Although the story is nothing to rave about, it does contain one of her most natural performances before the camera and she's certainly at the peak of her own brand of beauty.Regretfully, not much can be said for CONRAD NAGEL as the Austrian officer. He practically disappears when shown in the same shot with Garbo and his overall performance is as bland as can be. Yet, the seduction scene before a blazing fireplace is extremely well staged and all it needed was John Gilbert as a replacement for Nagel.Summing up: Although I'm not a big Garbo fan, this one is worth watching for the graceful Garbo alone.