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17 out of 18 people found the following review useful:
The best of Fred Niblo, 8 February 2006
9/10
Author: francois-massarelli from France

This is to my mind the most brilliant of all of Garbo's silent films, and I never fully understood the attitude of most critics who simply dismiss it on the account of the Divine Woman's own lack of care for this particular entry. True, she did not like just doing this film, and true, Mauritz Stiller was actually dying while she was shooting this, therefore, we can understand that she thought poorly of it; yet this was shot at the peak of silent film-making, in 1928, and never before had Fred Niblo been so good, never had his full command of the motion picture been so obvious. All through the film, the direction is superb, subdued and subtle, while the gorgeous settings, MGM's trademark, are lit and photographed at their best. Niblo makes the best of his composition skills, with or without Garbo in the shots, and the way he deals with the extras, putting the stars in the distance, swallowed by the crowd, is clearly an innovation for 1928; his use of a few, but decisive shots based on a moving camera proves that, like the European imports(Murnau, Leni, Fejos, Christensen) or like his fellow Americans (Ford, Borzage,Wellman), he was aware of the German experiments. Of course, the spy story is not the source of any intellect-expanding masterpiece, but, hey, this is a stylish and entertaining film that foreshadows some of Hitchcpock's best British films of the decade to come. And Niblo even handles suspense in a remarkable way in the last five minutes. The edition id remarkable, the print being a bit worn but still clear; and an emasculating restoration has been avoided, retaining thus the crystal-clear, crisp quality of William Daniel's photography. And to conclude, a question about Garbo: who else on earth could wear these dresses and get away with it?

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16 out of 17 people found the following review useful:
Seductive and intoxicating., 11 May 2000
9/10
Author: David Atfield (bits@alphalink.com.au) from Canberra, Australia

Fred Niblo is undoubtedly one of the most under-rated film-makers ever. His visual stylisations, here helped by the incredible photography of William Daniels, can make a fairly routine spy yarn into a beautiful work of art. Of course it helps when Greta Garbo is on your canvas. This is an astonishing film that, had it been given a more believable ending (tragic rather than happy), may well be considered a masterpiece today.

Garbo's beauty and superb acting abilities make the material compulsive. And Conrad Nagel matches her perfectly. Their first love scene is intoxicating in its beauty, and heart-stopping in its passion. It is one of the great love scenes of all time. And in the nail-biting climax there is a moment so grotesquely powerful that you will never forget it. This is a film to savour and love - it represents silent film at its very best. Yes the plot is slight, but what is conveyed beyond that plot is more than profound. And the excellent music score on the MGM video enhances this profundity. This film is beauty itself.

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13 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Tania Hari, 29 October 2005
Author: JoeytheBrit from www.moviemoviesite.com

Filmed after the first all-talking film had been released, The Mysterious Lady is, in terms of story, a fairly routine silent spy melodrama that is immeasurably enhanced by the presence of Greta Garbo in the title role. At her most seductive and alluring thanks to the largely faultless direction from under-rated Fred Niblo and William Daniels' sumptuous cinematography, Garbo dominates whenever she is on screen, relegating Conrad Nagel, a popular and established leading man, to a supporting role.

Garbo plays Tania Fedorova, a soviet spy in pre-world war Europe who seduces army Captain Karl von Raden (Nagel) with the intention of stealing military documents from him. However, she falls in love with the dashing captain. When Raden, who is subsequently informed of her true identity, rejects her love, she steals the documents and Raden is disgraced as a traitor. Escaping from military prison, he travels to Warsaw in pursuit of her…

The film's story is strictly routine, and it is unlikely that it would even be remembered today were it not for Garbo's presence. As it is, the print on the UK DVD is in very poor condition, and it appears that we are lucky that it still exists. Boasting MGM's typical high production values, the women's fashions are placed squarely in the late twenties, despite the film supposedly taking place around the turn of the century. The camera lingers lovingly on Garbo's face, capturing both her ravishing beauty and the duplicitous nature of her character throughout. Her true feelings repeatedly surface each time her companion – whether it is Raden or the dastardly General Boris Alexandroff (Gustav von Seyffertitz) – turns away from her, and the close-up of the deep kiss between her and Raden in which she slowly opens one eye and glances up at the ceiling is truly sublime.

Silent movies were already doomed when this film was released, and it offers the viewer one of the last examples of Hollywood's artistic heights in terms of the use of lighting and shadows and of shot composition. Imprisoned by sound, the camera spent the first years of talking pictures in a soundproof booth, and cinema lost the kind of beauty evident in this film. When it was once again freed from the booth the camera somehow seemed to have lost that eye for beauty and, with the distraction of sound, it has never really recaptured it.

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10 out of 10 people found the following review useful:
the Legend begins..., 5 March 2001
8/10
Author: carroll wayne scott (wscot1@jcpenney.com) from dallas, texas

If you care for Garbo's sound movies go back and see what made her such a sensational international star. This one is a delight. She is most seductive with the grace and glide of an animal. One of my favorite of all of her films. You can easily see why people became Garbomanics. There was nothing like her on the screen...before or since.

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9 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Garbo Potboiler, 15 December 2005
10/10
Author: Ron Oliver (revilorest@juno.com) from Forest Ranch, CA

A young Austrian officer doesn't realize how profoundly THE MYSTERIOUS LADY he meets at the Opera will change his life.

Greta Garbo's entrancing beauty is the main attraction in this Silent drama from MGM. Her face alone would have assured her a place in film history. But this film, which deals with World War One espionage, has other things to offer, including a good performance from Conrad Nagel as Garbo's co-star. The story is a wee bit ludicrous, but MGM graced the film with excellent production values as befits a movie starring their enormously popular star. (The idyllic afternoon sequence shared between the two lovers is especially commendable.) The plot does have some fair degree of excitement and should not disappoint the typical viewer.

Ably filling smaller roles are Gustav von Seyffertitz as the evil Russian spymaster and Edward Connelly as the head of the Austrian Secret Service, who also happens to be Nagel's uncle. Movie mavens will recognize an unbilled big Russ Powell as a rain-drenched carriage driver.

This silent film has been given a fine orchestral background score by Vivek Maddala.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
Garbo at Her Most Seductive, 27 September 2005
7/10
Author: dglink from Alexandria, VA

While "The Mysterious Lady" is only a mildly entertaining romantic thriller, the film's seductively beautiful star, Greta Garbo, illuminates the screen whenever she appears and raises the film several cuts above what it might otherwise have been. The predictable plot is serviceable, if somewhat less than credible, and the handsome one-dimensional leading man and the sinister snarling villain, complete with flamboyant dark mustache, visually cue the audience to the identities of the hero and his nemesis.

Only Garbo infuses her character with the depth and ambiguity to keep the audience guessing as to her sympathies and motives. Although her husky accented voice enhanced her aura, the actress was a master of projecting emotion without words. Her shifting facial expressions convey more than words, and even her body language speaks volumes about the character. Garbo moves with a fluidity and grace that enhances her innate seductive sexuality. She captivates the viewer even with the simple act of descending a staircase. When cinematographer William Daniels back lights her profile in closeup, she literally glows on the screen.

While "The Mysterious Lady" has high MGM production values, fine cinematography, and lush sets, the film does not rank among the finest of silent cinema. With a lesser actress at its center, the film would likely have been forgotten. However, with Garbo, the film transcends its cardboard plot and provides a serviceable backdrop for the work of one of Hollywood's greatest icons.

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6 out of 6 people found the following review useful:
"The Spy Who Loved Me", 8 June 2002
Author: lugonian from Kissimmee, Florida

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

"The Mysterious Lady" (MGM, 1928), directed by Fred Niblo, stars the seductive Greta Garbo as Tania Federova, a woman of mystery who in reality, is a Russian spy who seduces her victims.

The story opens at an opera house where Captain Karl Von Raden (Conrad Nagel) finds himself being seated next to a woman (Garbo) expecting the arrival of her cousin who never comes. After the opera, Karl notices the attractive woman he sat next to now standing on the curb in the rain. She informs him that she has no money for taxi fair, so he agrees to escort her home himself. While at her apartment, they immediately embrace and have a romantic affair. Afterwards, Karl is told by an "Uncle Eric" that his encounter with a woman he met at the opera had been pre-arranged and that she is a spy. When the two meet again on a train, Tania tells Karl she loves him, but he refuses to believe anything she says. Knowing that Karl has in his possession valuable secret plans, she decides to carry out her orders and steal them, leaving him a note that they are now enemies. Now that it is known that he had an affair with a lady spy who has taken the secret plans, Karl is met with a court-martial, stripped of his military uniform and sent to prison. After a carefully planned escape, Karl heads for Vienna posing as a musician at a Case, to avenge Tania and retrieve those secret plans.

The small list of supporting players feature the sinister-looking Gustav Von Seyffertitz as General Boris Alexandroff, Tania's chief of Russian Intelligence; Edward Connolly, Albert Pollet and Richard Alexander. Interestingly, both Garbo and Von Seyffertitz would return to spy duty in 1931 in separate motion pictures: Von Seyffertitz as the head of the secret service to Marlene Dietrich's X-27 in "Dishonored" (Paramount); and Garbo starring as "Mata Hari" opposite Ramon Novarro.

"The Mysterious Lady" is good, not great, silent spy melodrama with Garbo perfectly cast in the title role, looking alluring even with her wavy curly hairstyle, a few years before Garbo's transformation to her more famous long straight hair. Conrad Nagel is satisfactory as her co-star, but no threat to Garbo's more famous leading man, John Gilbert, who might have made a go in the part of Karl.

While "The Mysterious Lady" had been available on video cassette for a number of years now, accompanied by the same musical score that originated from 1973's public television presentation of "Movies-Great-Movies," as hosted by Richard Schickel on WNET, Channel 13, in New York City to commemorate MGM's fiftieth anniversary, Turner Classic Movies premiered this silent melodrama June 5, 2002, with an all-new soundtrack conducted by Vivek Maddana. Although the new score is at times satisfactory, I feel that it is totally unnecessary to score a silent movie that has been scored already, especially when the old score succeeds in setting the mood and pace to the story. With the setting of "The Mysterious Lady" taking place in Vienna, the new Maddana score in parts gives the impression that the storyline takes place in Venice, Italy. Originally distributed at 98 minutes, the TCM presentation of "The Mysterious Lady" plays at 89 minutes.

After many years since I had last seen "The Mysterious Lady," watching this rarely unseen Garbo silent melodrama again makes it all worth while. (***)

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
A delicious silent film!, 7 September 2007
10/10
Author: ancientnut from California

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A memorable tale of romance, espionage, and suspense with a luminous Greta Garbo as Tania, a Russian Mata Hari, and Conrad Nagel as Karl, the Austrian officer who falls under her spell. The film is flawlessly directed by the under-rated Fred Niblo (Blood and Sand, The Temptress), who adds sparkling effects that had me tracking back to watch them again.

If you believe that sensuality in silent films was implied or off-screen, watch the scene on the TCM Archives DVD in chapter 4, 18:20-19:40. In Tania's home, Karl grabs her and begins to kiss her, but she pushes him away. He bows his head in shame and prepares to leave. Standing in the doorway, he apologizes to her. She motions to him to come to her and an expression of joy and excitement lights up his face. He walks to her as she stands with her left hand cupping her left breast. He kisses her extended right hand, places his right hand on the hand she holds over her breast, and they dive into a passionate kiss. Steamy stuff indeed for 1928! The surprising plot twists in the final 10 minutes had me laughing in amazement right up to the end. An excellent score by Vivek Maddala adds to the enjoyment of this cinematic gem.

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5 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Very Good Melodrama With a Typically Fine Garbo Performance, 9 March 2006
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

Greta Garbo's usual fine performance, along with a good supporting cast and an interesting (if somewhat familiar) story, make "The Mysterious Lady" a very good melodrama. It has a good mix of romance, intrigue, and suspense that gets the most out of the fairly simple premise, and along the way there are also some good touches by director Fred Niblo.

In a part similar to her role in the better-known "Mata Hari", Garbo here plays a glamorous Russian spy who targets an Austrian officer, aiming at first to steal important military secrets, but soon genuinely falling in love with him. The conflict between personal feelings and perceived patriotic duty sets up the rest of the drama, and it builds up to an interesting climactic scene, with an exuberant party taking place in Warsaw while, in a private room, a tense confrontation plays out.

Besides keeping a good pace and atmosphere, there are a few places where Niblo's direction also highlights key props in a fashion that would have pleased Hitchcock. And while Garbo as usual dominates the screen, the supporting cast features solid performances. Conrad Nagel plays the Austrian, with Gustav Von Seyffertitz as a Russian spy-master. Perhaps the best performance in the supporting cast is by Edward Connelly, in a smaller role as Nagel's uncle. It's a good combination that makes for a very good movie.

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4 out of 5 people found the following review useful:
Effective spy melodrama - one of Garbo's last silents, 2 March 2003
Author: arneblaze from Putney, VT

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is a blueprint for the screenplay to Garbo's later talkie, MATA HARI. Here she plays a spy who seduces officer Nagel. She manages to fall in love with him but he rejects her, once he knows she is a spy. She goes ahead with her plans to steal documents from him. He is stripped of his officer's rank. Later, she kills her superior in order to save his life and flee with him.

Both Garbo and Nagel are effective, but in no way extraordinary. The film is well made without being memorable overall. Scenes of interest are: Garbo's first shot as camera pulls back from Nagel's face, revealing her engrossed in the opera and a side shot of her face which follows; lighting as she lights a candleabra; cinematography and editing in Nagel's degradation scene; composition of a shot of Nagel at the piano with mirrored reflections; Garbo at the fireplace; and a tracking shot with Garbo as she greets guests on her way to a rendezvous.

The MGM/UA VHS release of 1990 includes an original orchestral score and sound effects. The print used was quite poor - very scratched, decomposing in spots and with tints turning on and off within scenes. Supposedly MGM had no surviving negative or prints and had to make do with a well-worn one. This video release has since been discontinued and it has never been released on DVD.

All in all, an okay film, but nothing extraordinary.

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