I
had the fine privilege to watch Lured (1947) starring Lucille Ball,
George Sanders and Charles Coburn just hours ago. It's really tough to
get hold of this movie because first, it's so old; second, Singaporeans
have no appreciation for black and white movies; third, film noirs are
even rarer; lastly, I do not have TCM channel and even if I have, I'll
probably have to wait a decade before they show this movie.
Synopsis:
Sandra
Carpenter (Lucille Ball) travels to London and is supposed to be a
performer but unfortunately, the company files for bankruptcy. An all
American girl who is broke, Sandra has to work as a taxi dancer in a
club. Her friend Lucy (Tanis Chandler) raves about going for a date and
goes missing. She is believed to be the 8th dead victim of a famous
"poet killer", who writes poems before a murder to taunt the police for
being always being one step behind him.
Sandra goes to
the police, and is hired by Inspector Harley Temple (Charles Coburn) and
associates to act as an undercover to lure the killer out because of
her keen observation, wit and breathtaking beauty. The killer sources
out these young women by writing personal ads for dates and Sandra.
Sandra becomes an employee of the police, and she has to answer these
ads by pretending to be interested in these blind dates.
By
coincidence or fate, she keeps bumping into Robert Flemming (George
Sanders) who is the handsome and wealthy owner of a night club. At
first, he wants her to work in his club as a singer and a dancer.
However, he falls for her charm and beauty.
Complications
arise, and evidence points to Robert being the killer. Sandra does not
believe it, and tries to lure out the real murderer. Is there a real
murderer, or will Sandra be killed?
Review:
Backdrop
appears to be unclear, sound quality is only moderate, but what can we
except? This movie was made more than 60 years ago!
I
know I'm supposed to discuss the content and the actors' skills, but I
have to say that Lucille Ball looked so gorgeous and perfect in this
movie that it felt surreal! I simply cannot believe such a flawless
female could ever exist! You really have to watch the movie to
comprehend what I am saying. And bear in mind that video enhancements
and all that technological crap to make people look more beautiful
weren't invented yet. What you see is what you get. Lucy was really one
hot and classy lady back then. Her features, her hair and her figure
were all perfect! She was really one of the most beautiful ladies. Ever.
Each time she appeared in a scene, I couldn't take my eyes of her. She also plays a model, housemaid, a glamorous woman and so on as an undercover.
1947
was a period when Lucy left MGM due to some lackluster interests in
her. She had to freelance and it turned out to a good thing because she
was given not her usual musicals or stereotypical comedic parts, but to
star in a film noir with other superb supporting actors. Her acting was
superb. If you divide each shot to 64th of a second and really observe
her expressions, you will see some flawless acting, and she wasted no
unnecessary expressions. Such a fine actress should have been given more
quality movies like Lured. You still see her tough verbal wise cracks
in this movie, which is entertaining! I was so thankful that she had a
lot of screen time! An A actor like her should have been starred in A movies!
Even the toughest movie critiques always praised her and condemned the
ever blind movie companies. And bear in mind that movie critiques seldom
give rave reviews. They're the toughest ever.
I'm so proud of her and she's worth going through so much trouble to watch the movie! Fans of I Love Lucy should watch this movie because it portrays another side of her which is so different and disconnected from the screwball redhead, it just shows how talented she was!
