Mata Hari [1931, USA, drama, DVD5]

Paris 1917. Dubois, head of the French spy service, has evidence that a woman is acting as a spy for the Germans. Whoever she may be has been committing crimes punishable by execution by firing squad. Dubois is the only person who seems to believe that that spy is Mata Hari, a renowned exotic dancer who is the toast of Paris and the object of attraction to most men who have ever met her. She is indeed the spy Dubois believes her to be. She reports to Adriani. Although Adriani is confident that whatever information she passes his way is accurate, he is less confidant that she would not cross him or the Germans just for fun or out of spite. Much of the information she has been able to obtain has come from a Russian general, Serge Shubin, with who she has been having a somewhat secret romantic liaison. Shubin knows what he is doing is treasonous as he knows what Mata Hari is doing with the information, but he continues to pass information her way if only because of his lust for her. One of the men under Shubin's command is Lieutenant Alexis Rosanoff, a pilot whose latest mission is to deliver important dispatches between Russian officials in Moscow and Paris. His task is unheard of because of the danger of flying over enemy German airspace. It's love at first sight for Rosanoff when he meets Mata Hari, who is eventually directed by Adriani to discover what is contained in the dispatch Rosanoff is flying back to Moscow. The problem for Mata Hari is that she, in turn, eventually falls in love with Rosanoff, who has no idea that she's a spy. While she still has to hide her spy status from Dubois and Rosanoff, Shubin or Adriani ever finding out about her feelings for Rosanoff could cost her her livelihood and her life as Adriani once told her that being in love and being a spy were incompatible.