Pre-sitcom superstardom, Lucille Ball was apparently synonymous with B-pictures and I never realised she’d starred in a few film noirs during the 1940s before I Love Lucy came to define her iconic legacy. I really liked Ball’s turn as a private detective’s helpful secretary in The Dark Corner, which I watched for the first time last year, and I decided to investigate another film called Lured (1947), which turns out to be from the same screenwriter, Leo Rosten. Lured is distinctive as it was directed by Douglas Sirk, and as a black-and-white mystery thriller set in London, this is quite a contrast from the technicolour melodramas that Sirk would become known for; having said that, it’s still a stylish and jaunty affair. Sandra Carpenter (played by Ball) is an American performer working in London as a ‘taxi dancer’ (a paid partner to dance). Her career path takes a turn when her work friend, Lucy (Tanis Chandler) goes missing, suspected to be the next victim by a sinister serial killer who meets his prey by writing poetry in the personal columns of newspapers. Needing an undercover woman to “lure” the villain in, Scotland Yard inspector Harley Temple (Charles Coburn) conscripts Ball’s character as an undercover operative on their payroll. The result isn’t a thriller that is necessarily taunt, it runs a little long and is quite episodic. That’s also where the movie’s pleasures lie as it gets to be a bit of everything: a gothic mystery in the darkened London streets, a kooky horror tale within a Boris Karloff side-quest, and a flirty romance throughout wealthy interiors when Ball takes the interest of night-club owner Robert Fleming (George Sanders). There’s lots of fun British supporting character actors including George Zucco as Ball’s uptight supervising officer and Cedric Hardwicke as Fleming’s pretentious buddy. Elegant dresses, charming patter and running jokes, and tense moments where Ball is caught in danger, this old-fashioned flick gives something like Last Night In Soho a run for its money in its fusion of fashion, murder and mystery. George Sanders is very suave and charming, and Ball is very charming too, and while she has obvious comedy chops for the one-liners, she also keeps things sincere and dramatic as well. You can stream Lured on Tubi but I’m sure widely available elsewhere. Recommended.
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