''Lured'' is a 1947

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

directed by

Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. Sirk started his career in Germany as a stage and screen director, but he left fo ...

and starring

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

Charles Coburn Charles Douville Coburn (June 19, 1877 – August 30, 1961) was an American actor and theatrical producer. He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award three times – in ''The Devil and Miss Jones'' (1941), ''The More the Me ...

, and

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), better known by his stage name Boris Karloff (), was an English actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstein'' (1931) (his 82nd film) established h ...

. The film is a remake of

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German film director who also worked in the United States. He is best remembered as a thriller specialist and for a series of films noirs he made in the 1940s, such as ''The Killers'' (19 ...

's 1939 French film ''

Pièges ''Personal Column'' (french: Pièges) is a 1939 French thriller film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Maurice Chevalier, Pierre Renoir, Marie Déa and Erich von Stroheim. It was shot at the Joinville Studios in Paris. The film's sets wer ...

'' (titled ''Personal Column'' in the United States). The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Nicolai Remisoff Nikolai Vladimirovich Remizov (russian: Никола́й Влади́мирович Ре́мизов; in Saint-Petersburg – 4 August 1975 in Riverside County), also known as Nicolai Remisoff, was a Russian and Russian and American artist, polit ...

Plot

Sandra Carpenter (

) is an American who had come to London in order to perform in a show, but is now working as a

taxi dancer A taxi dancer is a paid dance partner in a partner dance. Taxi dancers are hired to dance with their customers on a dance-by-dance basis. When taxi dancing first appeared in taxi-dance halls during the early 20th century in the United States, mal ...

. She is upset to find out that friend and fellow dancer Lucy Barnard (

Tanis Chandler Tanis Chandler (born Tannis Anne Goldthwaite; August 29, 1924 – May 7, 2006) was a French-born American film actress. She was perhaps best known for masquerading as a male to gain a role in a film. Early years Chandler was born in Nantes, F ...

) is missing and also believed to be the latest victim of the notorious "Poet Killer," who lures victims with ads in newspapers' personal columns, afterwards sending poems to taunt the police.

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Harley Temple (

) believes the killer to be influenced by the 19th-century French poet

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poetry, French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticis ...

. He asks if Sandra would be willing to work undercover to help find her missing friend and the killer. He sees first-hand how observant she is and gives her a temporary police identification card and a gun. Sandra is asked to answer personal ads, watched over by an officer bodyguard, H.R. Barrett (

George Zucco George Zucco (11 January 1886 – 27 May 1960) was a British character actor who appeared in plays and 96 films, mostly American-made, during a career spanning over two decades, from the 1920s to 1951. In his films, he often played a suave ...

). By coincidence, she meets the dashing man-about-town stage revue producer Robert Fleming (

). In the meantime, Sandra answers an ad placed by Charles van Druten (

), a former fashion designer, who is now mentally imbalanced. Barrett has to come to her rescue. She next needs to be saved, this time by Fleming, from a mysterious figure named Mr. Moryani (

Joseph Calleia Joseph Calleia ( ; born Joseph Alexander Caesar Herstall Vincent Calleja, August 4, 1897 – October 31, 1975) was a Maltese-born American actor and singer on the stage and in films, radio and television. After serving in the British Transport ...

). Moryani apparently lures young women to South America by offering them a promising opportunity whilst, in reality, wanting to recruit them for forced slavery or other forced services. Fleming shares a stately home with Julian Wilde (

Cedric Hardwicke Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of Shakespeare and Shaw, and ...

), his business partner and friend. Fleming ultimately does win Sandra's heart, and they become engaged. Inspector Temple thanks her for her efforts and even agrees to come to their engagement party. During the party, Sandra accidentally discovers incriminating evidence in Fleming's desk, including a distinctive bracelet worn by her friend Lucy and her photograph. Fleming learns that Sandra was an undercover police agent when he is placed under arrest. Circumstantial evidence mounts up, his typewriter is identified as the one used for the poems, although he adamantly denies any involvement in the crimes. Sandra still loves him and believes him, but

do not. Fleming refuses to see Sandra, believing she only pretended to be in love with him in order to trap him. Lucy's body is found in the river. Wilde assures his incarcerated friend that he will hire the best lawyer and do everything possible to clear him. It occurs to Inspector Temple that it is Wilde who fancies poetry and more likely to be the killer. Temple confronts Wilde, but has no proof, and then learns that Fleming has confessed to the murders. As Wilde prepares to flee the country, he is visited by Sandra. He is secretly obsessed with her, just as he was with the other women he abducted. Wilde at first expresses his desire for Sandra, then removes his scarf and tries to strangle her. Scotland Yard's men, led by Barrett, break through the windows to rescue her, just in time. It is then revealed that Fleming's confession was faked, part of a scheme by Sandra and Temple to trap Wilde. Fleming is set free, and he and Sandra make up and toast to better days ahead.

Cast

as Robert Fleming *

as Sandra Carpenter *

as Chief Inspector Harley Temple *

as Charles van Druten *

Sir Cedric Hardwicke Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of William Shakespeare, Shakes ...

as Julian Wilde *

as Dr. Nicholas Moryani *

Alan Mowbray Alan Mowbray (born Alfred Ernest Allen; 18 August 1896 – 25 March 1969) was an English stage and film actor who found success in Hollywood. Early life Mowbray was born in London, England. He served with distinction in the British Army in W ...

as Lyle Maxwell alias Maxim Duval, Moryani's accomplice *

as Officer H. R. Barrett *

Robert Coote Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of ''My Fai ...

as Detective *

Alan Napier Alan William Napier-Clavering (7 January 1903 – 8 August 1988), better known as Alan Napier, was an English actor. After a decade in West End theatre, he had a long film career in Britain and later, in Hollywood. Napier is best remembered for ...

as Inspector Gordon *

as Lucy Barnard * Ethelreda Leopold as Blonde

Nightclub Singer A nightclub act is a production, usually of nightclub music or comedy, designed for performance at a nightclub, a type of drinking establishment, by a nightclub performer such as a nightclub singer or nightclub dancer, whose performance may ...

(voice dubbed by

Annette Warren Annette Warren (born July 11, 1922) is an American vocalizer and popular jazz and song stylist best known for dubbing the singing voices of such stars as Lucille Ball in ''Sorrowful Jones'' (1949) and '' Fancy Pants'' (1950), and Ava Gardner in t ...

)

Reception

Film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing, "The flawed film never settles into a dark and sinister mood (filmed in a Hollywood studio) but succeeds only in keeping things tension-free and lighthearted with continuous breezy comical conversations as Ball does a sturdy

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

turn at sleuthing with her comical detective partner Zucco (who knew the usually typecast villain could be so amusing!). It can't quite measure up to compelling film noir, but it's pleasing and easy to handle despite everything feeling so contrived and confining."Schwartz, Dennis
. ''"Ozus' World Movie Reviews",'' film review, March 7, 2007. Last accessed: July 8, 2010.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Douglas Sirk 1947 films 1940s psychological thriller films American crime thriller films American remakes of French films American black-and-white films American detective films Film noir Films directed by Douglas Sirk Films scored by Michel Michelet Films set in London American police detective films American serial killer films United Artists films American neo-noir films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films