The Mysterious Lady

Were it not for the unbelievably naff ending, this could be one of the best espionage thrillers I've ever seen! As it is, Greta Garbo is still super as the Mata Hari style agent for the Czar out to obtain secrets from the Austro-Hungarian empire. After she shares a box with him at the opera, "Tania" uses her undoubted talents to seduce and dupe the decent, but rather gullible, "Karl von Raden" (Conrad Nagel) as he travels on a train, relieving him of some state secrets and costing him his career, his honour - and a lengthy prison sentence. Luckily for him, though, his uncle is in charge of the secret police and manages to facilitate the now disgraced officer's opportunity to find out who in their War Office helped her with her plan. He takes up as a pianist and encounters her at a party hosted by her beau "Gen. Alexandroff" - the spymaster who relished in his disgrace and the pair soon realise that, yes - you've guessed - they are in love... Now, it has to be said that Nagel and Garbo have a chemistry here, but then she has a chemistry with just about anything - animal, vegetable or mineral. Sadly, though, that romance contributes to the downfall of this hitherto quite engaging and perilous spy story. Her charms start malevolent and effective, now they border on the pathetic with an ending, as I said, that really reduces the whole thing to melodrama. It's still a really good outing for both, though, with plenty attention to the detail and Fred Niblo keep the pace of the story from following the plot into the doldrums.