''Personal Column'' () is a 1939 French

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Robert Siodmak Robert Siodmak (; 8 August 1900 – 10 March 1973) was a German Jewish film director. His career spanned some 40 years, working extensively in the United States and France, as well as in his native country. Though he worked in many genres, he was ...

and starring

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...

Pierre Renoir Pierre Renoir (; March 21, 1885 – March 11, 1952) was a French stage and film actor. He was the son of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and elder brother of the film director Jean Renoir. He is also noted for being the first a ...

Marie Déa Marie Déa (born Odette Alice Marie Deupès 17 May 1912 – 1 March 1992) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 50 films from 1939 to 1983. She was married to the actor Lucien Nat. Selected filmography External links * { ...

and

Erich von Stroheim Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim, ; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of ...

. It was shot at the

Joinville Studios The Joinville Studios were a film studio in Paris which operated between 1910 and 1987. They were one of the leading French studios, with major companies such as Pathé and Gaumont Film Company, Gaumont making films there. A second studio was a ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

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

Maurice Colasson Maurice may refer to: *Maurice (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people with the name Places * or Mauritius, an island country in the Indian Ocean *Maurice, Iowa, a city * Maurice, Louisiana, a village * Maurice River, a tr ...

and

Georges Wakhévitch Georges Wakhévitch (; Georgy Leonidovich Vakhevich; August 18, 1907 in Odessa, Russian Empire – February 11, 1984 in Paris) was a Russian-born French art director. The son of a naval engineer, he immigrated to France in 1921. He grew up in Par ...

. ''

Lured ''Lured'' is a 1947 American film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Boris Karloff. The film is a remake of 1939 French film ''Pièges'' directed ...

'', an American re-make, 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 (film industry), Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. However, he also directed comedies, westerns, and war f ...

and starring

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...

, was released in 1947.

Plot

After one of her fellow

taxi dancer A taxi dancer is a paid dance partner in a ballroom dance. Taxi dancers work (sometimes for money but not always) on a dance-by-dance basis. When taxi dancing first appeared in taxi-dance halls during the early 20th century in the United State ...

s is murdered by an unknown man whom she met through a personal column ad, Adrienne Charpentier is recruited by the police to answer a series of similar adverts to try to track down the killer. She meets and falls in love with the charming nightclub owner and womanizer Robert Fleury, but clues begin to appear that suggest that it is he who is the murderer.

Partial cast

as Robert Fleury *

as Adrienne Charpentier, la journaliste/the newspaper woman *

as Brémontier *

as Pears, l'ex-couturier/the former fashion designer *

André Brunot André Brunot (3 October 1879 - 6 August 1973) was a French film actor. He appeared in more than twenty films from 1910 to 1966. Filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunot, Andre 1879 births 1973 deaths French male ...

as Ténier, l'inspecteur en chef/the chief inspector *

Jacques Varennes Jacques Varennes (6 September 1894 – 8 November 1958) was a French film actor who appeared in around seventy films during his career. He appeared in Maurice Tourneur's 1938 historical film '' The Patriot''.Waldman p.156 Selected filmography * ...

as Maxime *

Henri Bry Henri is the French form of the masculine given name Henry, also in Estonian, Finnish, German and Luxembourgish. Bearers of the given name include: People French nobles * Henri I de Montmorency (1534–1614), Marshal and Constable of France * ...

as Oglou Vacapoulos * Catherine Farel as Lucie Baral * Madeleine Geoffroy as Valérie *

Milly Mathis Milly Mathis (8 September 1901 – 30 March 1965) was a French actress who appeared in more than 100 films during her career. Born on 8 September 1901 as Emilienne Pauline Tomasini in Marseilles, France, she made her film debut with a small, uncr ...

as Rose *

Jean Témerson Jean Témerson (1898–1956) was a French actor. Selected filmography * ''The Lover of Madame Vidal'' (1936) - Guillaume - le domestique * '' With a Smile'' (1936) - Cam (uncredited) * '' Pépé le Moko'' (1937) - Gravère * '' Blanchette'' (1 ...

as Batol, un inspecteur/an inspector *

Mady Berry Mady Berry (14 October 1887 – 18 January 1965) was a French stage and film actress.Waldman p.146 Selected filmography * '' Gloria'' (1931) * '' All That's Not Worth Love'' (1931) * '' Moon Over Morocco'' (1931) * '' The Girl and the Boy'' (193 ...

as Sidonie, la cuisinière/the cook *

Pierre Magnier Pierre Frédéric Magnier (February 22, 1869 – October 15, 1959) was a French actor who began on the stage in the 1890s and became a prominent silent film actor in France. He was the second actor to portray ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' in any film i ...

as l'homme d'affaires/the businessman *

André Numès Fils André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries, as well in Portugal, ...

as le spectateur barbu/the bearded bystander * Raymond Rognoni as un inspecteur de police/a police inspector *

Pierre Labry Pierre Labry (1885–1948) was a French stage actor, stage and film actor.Capua p.122 He was active in the French film industry between 1920 and 1948, appearing in more than a hundred films. Selected filmography * ''La croisade'' (1920) * ''Gigo ...

as Le danseur

Bibliography

* Alpi, Deborah Lazaroff. ''Robert Siodmak: A Biography''. McFarland, 1998.

External links

* 1930s thriller films French crime drama films 1939 crime drama films Films directed by Robert Siodmak Films scored by Michel Michelet 1939 films 1930s French-language films Films set in Paris French black-and-white films Films shot at Joinville Studios 1930s French films {{1930s-France-film-stub