Lured is a 1947 American film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, and Boris Karloff. The film is a remake of 1939 French film Pièges directed by Robert Siodmak, which was titled Personal Column in the United States; Personal Column was also the title of this film as originally released. It did not enjoy good business under that name – the code administration was concerned that some people thought the film was titled "LURID", so United Artists pulled it from distribution, and subsequently re-released it with the alternate title.

Plot

Sandra Carpenter is an American who came to London in order to perform in a show, but is now working as a taxi dancer. She is upset to find out that her friend and fellow dancer, Lucy Barnard, is missing and believed to be the latest victim of the notorious "Poet Killer," who lures victims with personal ads in newspapers, afterwards sending poems to taunt the police. Inspector Harley Temple of Scotland Yard believes the killer to be influenced by the 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire. Temple asks if Sandra would be willing to work undercover to help find Lucy and the killer. He sees first-hand how observant she is and gives her a temporary police identification card and a gun (unlikely in 20th century London). Sandra is asked to answer personal ads, watched over by a police bodyguard, H.R. Barrett.