Lured (1947)

A serial killer in London is murdering young women whom he meets through the personal columns of newspapers; he announces each of his murders to the police by sending them a cryptic poem. ... See full summary »

Director:

Douglas Sirk

Writers:

Jacques Companéez (story), Simon Gantillon (story),

Stars:

George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn

Cast

Cast overview:
George Sanders	...	Robert Fleming
Lucille Ball	...	Sandra Carpenter
Charles Coburn	...	Inspector Harley Temple
Boris Karloff	...	Charles van Druten
Cedric Hardwicke	...	Julian Wilde (as Sir Cedric Hardwicke)
Joseph Calleia	...	Dr. Nicholas Moryani
Alan Mowbray	...	Lyle Maxwell
George Zucco	...	Officer H. R. Barrett
Robert Coote	...	Officer Barret
Alan Napier	...	Detective Gordon
Tanis Chandler	...	Lucy Barnard

Storyline

A serial killer in London is murdering young women whom he meets through the personal columns of newspapers; he announces each of his murders to the police by sending them a cryptic poem. After a dancer disappears, the police enlist an American friend of hers, Sandra Carpenter, to answer advertisements in the personal columns and so lure the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

personals column | serial killer | baudelaire | fashion designer | taxi dancer | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 1947 (USA)

Also Known As:

Angelockt

Filming Locations:

General Service Studios - 1040 N. Las Palmas, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hunt Stromberg Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title was changed to "Personal Column" midway through the original U.S. theatrical release because staff at the Production Code Administration thought the word "lured" sounded too much like "lurid". Director Douglas Sirk felt the title change confused potential audiences and led to the film's box-office failure.

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Goofs

When Sandra goes to visit Julian towards the end of the movie, they have a conversation, and when Julian says, "That's why he chose death," you can see that Sandra is saying something we don't hear.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits - a flashlight pans along the side of a building, and the credits are written on the side of the wall.

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Connections

Version of Personal Column (1939)

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Soundtracks

"All for Love"
(uncredited)
Music by Michel Michelet
Lyrics by Jacqueline Duffie
Sung by Ethelreda Leopold

User Reviews

Lured/Pièges

As an user has pointed out,"lured" is the remake of Robert Siodmak's movie "Pièges" (1939) starring Marie Dea (Lucille Ball's part),Maurice Chevalier (Sanders' part) ,Erich Von Stroheim (Karloff's) and Pierre Renoir (Cedric Hardwicke's) Both versions are good.If ,like me,you've seen Siodmak's version first ,you'll probably find Sirk's work less interesting and vice versa . The differences between the treatments are minimal.

-George Sanders is a better choice than Maurice Chevalier ,cause we do believe he might be a serial killer,which is difficult with the French chanteur.

-On the other hand the scene featuring Boris Karloff is weaker than its French equivalent where Stroheim was more disturbing.

-In both movies,the weakest link is the part of the story where the heroine is a servant in a shady house.