While some may consider it an inferior remake of Robert Siodmak’s
Personal Column from 1939, Douglas Sirk’s
Lured is an entertaining story performed by an extremely talented cast and set against beautiful backdrops like a magnificent symphony hall and a stunning, heaven-like nightclub called the Silver Dove. Lucille Ball plays Sandra Carpenter, an American woman working as a taxi dancer in London who’s recruited by Scotland Yard inspector Harley Temple (Charles Coburn) to help find the man who murdered her co-worker. Monitored and guarded by officer H.R. Barrett (George Zucco), Sandra serves as bait to catch a killer-kidnapper of women, including serving as a model for the eccentric Charles van Druten (Boris Karloff) and as a maid in the household of stage producer Robert Fleming (George Sanders). The film’s tone may be too lighthearted for some hardcore noir fans, but Sirk inserts a number of genuinely suspenseful scenes, including the climax when Sandra lies down for a nap by the fireplace.
