Poesia en el crimen

This excellent noir film was somewhat copied forty years later as "Sea of Love," with several changes bringing it up-to-date. One surprise in store for viewers is the comic talents of George Zucco, obviously kept hidden throughout most of his brilliant acting career. He is an excellent comedic sparring partner for Lucille Ball. They work well as a team, providing laughs that are sorely needed in an otherwise serious murder mystery thriller. Boris Karloff adds to the fun as well, giving a monster performance as an insane dress designer--can you believe? The stellar lineup also includes the likes of George Sanders, Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke, and Alan Mowbray. The cast alone is worth the price of admission.

Directed with savvy by Douglas Sirk, the film has a script put together by a hodgepodge of writers. Still, the dialog is filled with witty and intelligent lines. The mystery will keep the viewer guessing until the serial killer is revealed. There are red herrings along the way to lead the best sleuth astray. Even when the movie seems to be ending with the mystery solved, it becomes the wrong solution to the case under investigation. The film proceeds to fool the viewer a second time before the ultimate meanie is apprehended. There are thrills aplenty throughout this delicious cinematic whodunit.

The story involves a serial killer running amok in London who kills beautiful young women lured by newspaper ads. The madman fancies himself a poet copying his style from the dark poetry of Charles Baudelaire, who once wrote about a tempting woman being more beautiful in death. One such poem is sent to Scotland Yard before each murder. Inspector Harley Temple (Coburn) is determined to catch the psycho any way possible, even using a young woman, Sandra Carpenter (Ball), as a decoy to lure the monster out into the open. Sandra is chosen when she inquires about her good friend's disappearance. Coincidentally, her friend's moniker is Lucy. In the process of finding the perpetrator of the crimes, Sandra makes several interesting encounters, eventually meeting a stranger named Robert Fleming (Sanders) with whom she falls in love. Their favorite song becomes "All For Love," which serves as a clue in the mystery.

Another noir film starring of all people Lucille Ball. A serial killer is on the loose in England who uses the personals column to lure his victims. Ball, who is an ex-pat in Blighty working as a dancehall companion, has a friend who goes missing so while giving her account to the local constabulary, the chief investigator strikes upon an idea to have Ball go undercover to see if the killer can be caught. Directed by the future king of the 50's melodramas Douglas Sirk, he manages to make a light noir feel fun & engaging w/o the prerequisite baggage which usually comes w/this sort of material. Aiding Ball admirably are the supporting cast of actors which includes George Sanders, Charles Coburn, Cedric Hardwicke & a scene stealer from Frankenstein himself, Boris Karloff.

Director Douglas Sirk, later best-known for sappy Hollywood melodramas, makes this early Lucille Ball vehicle about a killer that writes poetry to the police about the victim he is going to kill. Ball plays a dance hall girl that loses a friend and decides to help by joining the Scotland Yard force. She begins to answer personal ads by men looking for attractive young women. Along the way she comes in contact with a slaving-like operation and a bizarre eccentric fashion designer played with incredible gusto by Boris Karloff. Karloff has roughly 5 minutes of screen time, but boy does he know how to use it. This is a very enjoyable film. If you are looking for a lot of action - look somewhere else. What you get here is a lot of talk and character studies. The cast is one of the most complete I have seen in some time. George Sanders, Cedric Hardwicke, Charles Coburn, Robert Coote, Alan Napier, George Zucco and Alan Mowbray round out this incredibly talented cast. Zucco really stands out as a plain-clothes policeman. Ball is beautiful, and she does a very credible job in the lead. Sometimes I forget that she was a gorgeous woman with a lot of talent other than making you laugh. But that was certainly her greatest gift. Lured is a good, old-fashioned mystery yarn. The killer is painfully obvious about halfway through, but the actors go through the motions with obvious relish. Unfortunately the DVD release I had by KINO had nothing on it all all in terms of extras...didn't even separate chapters from main feature!

The show closed after four days in London. Stranded Lucille Ball is working as a taxi dancer, hoping something will turn up. She's envious when the girl next to her tells her it's her last day; her tall, dark and handsome man is taking her away from all of this. The next day the newspapers announce it: she's the latest victim claimed by the Poet Killer, a serial killer who likes to send the police Baudelaire-inspired notes. Miss Ball goes to talk to Inspector Charles Coburn, who promptly hires her as bait.

Hunt Stromberg pulled out all the stops on his production: director Dirk Sirk, cameraman William Daniels, script credited to Leo Rosten, and a cast that includes George Sanders, Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Alan Mowbray, Robert Coote... well, it was primed for success.

Mostly it's pretty good, with Miss Ball giving a varied and layered performance, and Sanders at his most charming. There are some issues with the show. As soon as he showed up on screen, I tagged the murderer. Miss Ball's engagement by the police as a decoy has too many details handwaved away, and she never gives the impression she feels herself at risk. That's what spike heels are for.

Still, the studio-bound movie shows its glitter on the screen, and in a theater in the dark, it should look like a fine couple of hours.

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.