/1jq49u1SKjoVXvuEuVnnCF8vyeU.jpg
MysteryCrimeThriller

Lured

- Don't answer this ad... Don't... don't... don't...

Sandra Carpenter is a London-based dancer who is distraught to learn that her friend has disappeared. Soon after the disappearance, she's approached by Harley Temple, a police investigator who believes her friend has been murdered by a serial killer who uses personal ads to find his victims. Temple hatches a plan to catch the killer using Sandra as bait, and Sandra agrees to help.

Release Date : 1947-08-28

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Hunt Stromberg Productions

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles : Personal Column

Cast

George Sanders

Character Name : Robert Fleming

Original Name : George Sanders

Gender : Male

Lucille Ball

Character Name : Sandra Carpenter

Original Name : Lucille Ball

Gender : Female

Charles Coburn

Character Name : Harley Temple

Original Name : Charles Coburn

Gender : Male

Boris Karloff

Character Name : Charles van Druten

Original Name : Boris Karloff

Gender : Male

Cedric Hardwicke

Character Name : Julian Wilde

Original Name : Cedric Hardwicke

Gender : Male

Joseph Calleia

Character Name : Nicholas Moryani

Original Name : Joseph Calleia

Gender : Male

Alan Mowbray

Character Name : Lyle Maxwell

Original Name : Alan Mowbray

Gender : Male

George Zucco

Character Name : H.R. Barrett

Original Name : George Zucco

Gender : Male

Robert Coote

Character Name : Detective Wilson

Original Name : Robert Coote

Gender : Male

Alan Napier

Character Name : Detective Gordon

Original Name : Alan Napier

Gender : Male

Tanis Chandler

Character Name : Lucy Barnard

Original Name : Tanis Chandler

Gender : Female

Ann Codee

Character Name : Matilda

Original Name : Ann Codee

Gender : Female

Jimmy Aubrey

Character Name : Nelson (uncredited)

Original Name : Jimmy Aubrey

Gender : Male

Jack Chefe

Character Name : Pierre (uncredited)

Original Name : Jack Chefe

Gender : Male

Charles Coleman

Character Name : Sir Charles (uncredited)

Original Name : Charles Coleman

Gender : Male

Alex Frazer

Character Name : Professor Harkness (uncredited)

Original Name : Alex Frazer

Gender : Male

Gerald Hamer

Character Name : Harry Milton (uncredited)

Original Name : Gerald Hamer

Gender : Male

Eddie Parks

Character Name : Oswald Pickering (uncredited)

Original Name : Eddie Parks

Gender : Male

Dorothy Vaughan

Character Name : Mrs. Miller (uncredited)

Original Name : Dorothy Vaughan

Gender : Female

Stuart Hall

Character Name : Charles (uncredited)

Original Name : Stuart Hall

Gender : Male

Herbert Evans

Character Name : Fleming's Butler (uncredited)

Original Name : Herbert Evans

Gender : Male

Sam Harris

Character Name : Old Man at Concert Asking for Whiskey (uncredited)

Original Name : Sam Harris

Gender : Male

Isabel La Mal

Character Name : Dowager Shushing Fleming at Concert (uncredited)

Original Name : Isabel La Mal

Gender : Female

Marjorie Hoshelle

Character Name : Robert's Rejected Girlfriend (uncredited)

Original Name : Marjorie Hoshelle

Gender : Female

Charles Ferguson

Character Name : Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)

Original Name : Charles Ferguson

Gender : Male

Ethan Laidlaw

Character Name : Man in Dance Hall (uncredited)

Original Name : Ethan Laidlaw

Gender : Male

Mike Lally

Character Name : Mike (uncredited)

Original Name : Mike Lally

Gender : Male

Ethelreda Leopold

Character Name : Blonde Nightclub Singer (uncredited)

Original Name : Ethelreda Leopold

Gender : Male

Annette Warren

Character Name : Blonde Nightclub Singer (uncredited)

Original Name : Annette Warren

Gender : Female

Mary Jane French

Character Name : Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Original Name : Mary Jane French

Gender : Female

Shep Houghton

Character Name : Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Original Name : Shep Houghton

Gender : Male

Sol Murgi

Character Name : Nightclub Patron (uncredited)

Original Name : Sol Murgi

Gender : Male

Wilson Benge

Character Name : Police Criminologist (uncredited)

Original Name : Wilson Benge

Gender : Male

Jack Deery

Character Name : Police Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : Jack Deery

Gender : Male

John Rice

Character Name : Police Officer (uncredited)

Original Name : John Rice

Gender : Male

Brooks Benedict

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Brooks Benedict

Gender : Male

Carl M. Leviness

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Carl M. Leviness

Gender : Male

James Conaty

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : James Conaty

Gender : Male

Robert Haines

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Robert Haines

Gender : Male

Wilbur Mack

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Wilbur Mack

Gender : Male

Herschel Graham

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Herschel Graham

Gender : Male

Rudy Germane

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Rudy Germane

Gender : Male

Frank McLure

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Frank McLure

Gender : Male

Jeffrey Sayre

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Jeffrey Sayre

Gender : Male

Sayre Dearing

Character Name : Concertgoer in Lobby (uncredited)

Original Name : Sayre Dearing

Gender : Male

Harold Miller

Character Name : Concertgoer in Lobby (uncredited)

Original Name : Harold Miller

Gender : Male

Cyril Delevanti

Character Name : Medical Examiner (uncredited)

Original Name : Cyril Delevanti

Gender : Male

Wyndham Standing

Character Name : Assistant Medical Examiner (uncredited)

Original Name : Wyndham Standing

Gender : Male

Eric Wilton

Character Name : Ticket Booth Clerk (uncredited)

Original Name : Eric Wilton

Gender : Male

Florence Wix

Character Name : Blue Eyes (uncredited)

Original Name : Florence Wix

Gender : Female

Marion Gray

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Marion Gray

Gender : Female

Joe Gilbert

Character Name : Concertgoer (uncredited)

Original Name : Joe Gilbert

Gender : Male

Reviews

J

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

Poet Killer Believed To Be At Bay! Lured (AKA: Personal Column) is directed by Douglas Sirk and collectively written by Leo Rosten, Jacques Companéez, Simon Gantillon and Ernst Neubach. It stars Lucille Ball, George Sanders, Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke, Joseph Calleia and Boris Karloff. Music is by Michel Michelet and cinematography by William H. Daniels. A serial killer in London is murdering young women whom he meets through the personal columns section of the newspaper. Taunting the police with cryptic poems, the killer is proving most illusive, so much so that when a friend of dancer Sandra Carpenter (Ball) disappears, the police enlist her to act as bait to lure the killer in. There's a lot to like about Lured, on proviso you have your expectation level correctly set as to what sort of film it is. It's a very uneven movie in tone, which when one sees that there were four writing contributors involved in bringing it to the screen, perhaps comes as no surprise. A remake of Robert Siodmak's 1939 film Pièges (set in Paris), it is never sure if it wants to be a comedy mystery or a dark brooding thriller. A shame because in spite of it being a set bound production, Sirk and Daniels create a sinister visual mood when the story lurks around the constructed London sets. The cast are ever watchable, though you can see Ball struggling to rein in her natural comedic bent during the more dramatic sequences, but she leads off from the front and looks positively lovely and radiant. Karloff fans get a fun extended cameo, with the great Uncle Boris playing up to a caricature of unstable characters he could do in his sleep, Sanders is suitably stand-offish, Coburn ebullient, while Hardwicke and Calleia add a touch of class to the support ranks. Michelet's musical score is in keeping with the mixed tonal flow of the picture, in fact sometimes sounding like it should be in a screwball movie from decades previously, but with competent professionalism coming elsewhere from Sirk, Daniels and the lead cast members, it's an enjoyable movie. Even if it's all a bit too jolly and nonchalant for its own good at times. 6.5/10

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2022-03-28

Lucille Ball looks really quite glamorous at times in this well cast mystery that is distinctly devoid of, well, actual crime.... She is drafted in by Scotland Yard to assist them in their investigation of eight girls who have gone missing over recent years; the latter being her friend. The one thing these mysteries may have in common is that each girl was written a poem before they went off the radar, and each may have responded to a lonely-hearts type ad in the newspaper. So "Sandra" is tasked with responding to each of these ads with a view to ensnaring our would be kidnapper/murderer (George Zucco is great as her police minder throughout this exercise). This is probably the most enjoyable phase of the film, as she encounters a few of life's more curious folks - not least a wonderful, brief, cameo from Boris Karloff - before she alights on the debonaire George Sanders (or does he alight on her?) and his business partner Sir Cedric Hardwicke. The former certainly fits the bill - he makes his romantic intentions clear from the outset, and when certain seemingly conclusive clues start to appear then Charles Coburn ("Insp. Temple") concludes they have their man...but do they? The story is nothing new here, but the cast work well and though hardly menacing, the drama does build well to a cleverly played out endgame. Ball is very far removed from the characterisations she became much more familiar for, and acquits herself well in good company with her co-stars, a decent script and this is well worth a watch