 Major Thomas Coulsons 1930 book, "Mata Hari: Courtesan and Spy",  piqued interest in turning it into a movie, but an MGM executive  said that no one book was the basis of their movie. Mata hari  translates to "eye of the day" in Indonesian (and Malay), and is the  most common word for "sun" in those languages. Censors of many  cities required cuts in the movie, which was typical of many  pre