Lured (United Artists) (1947)

Feature Stories on Stromberg, Sanders, etc. Stromberg Brings Something New In Mystery Thrillers to Screen A montage of scenes from Hunt Stromberg’s suspense-packed mystery drama, “Lured,” now playing at the.Theatre through United Artists release. The frightened lady in the case is Lucille Ball, with, respectively, George Sanders, Boris Karloff and Cedric Hardwicke. The dignified gentleman to the right is Charles Coburn, playing a Scotland Yard official. Mat (3B) .45 One man who seems to possess the ability to sense what will be new tomorrow is Hunt Stromberg, who rose from a job as a newspaper reporter to become one of Hollywood’s top motion picture producers. Today he owns bis own pro¬ duction organization. One of his newest pictures is the sensational United Artists release called “Lured,” starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn and Boris Karloff. This psycho¬ logical mystery-romance is due to open on. at the . Theatre. In an industry where it is sometimes fatal to take chances because each new picture is a gam¬ ble, Stromberg has maintained a consistent rec¬ ord in foresight of what the public will acclaim tomorrow. Through his ability in picking newcomers he has earned the reputation of being one of Holly¬ wood’s greatest star makers. His willingness to be the first to try out new screen subjects and personalities has made him the father of many of Hollywood’s screen trends. It was Stromberg who took Jane Russell after five years’ absence from the screen and presented her as “the world’s most exciting brunette” in his production of “Young Widow.” The list of Stromberg production achieve¬ ments in some 27 years in the business includes “Naughty Marietta,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Women,” “The Great Ziegfeld,” (for which he received the Academy Award), “Idiot’s De¬ light,” “Treasure Island,” “White Shadows of the South Seas,” and a host of other pictures of varied types and themes. The producer was also succesful in rescuing the trite whodunit theme and bringing the easy¬ going but crime-hardened detective to the screen in the “Thin Man” series. The heavy-handed, heavy-headed, flat-footed lobby dick was swept out for a suave William Powell and his svelte sidekick, Myrna Loy. When producers had en¬ graved a tombstone to musicals, Stromberg made “Naughty Marietta.” And when the producers said that Robert Montgomery couldn’t be any¬ thing but a cocktail bar playboy, he was starred in “Night Must Fall,” the story of a murderer. It has always been Hunt Stromberg’s theory that you can hold interest and attention through¬ out the years only by doing something different. And this sage producer has certainly done it again! For “Lured” definitely brings something new in psychological thrillers to the silver screen. Recent Trip Home Amazes Mr. Sanders v The handsome film actor, George Sanders, took time out from his motion picture chores in Pro¬ ducer Hunt Stromberg’s fascinating mystery ro¬ mance, “Lured,” to recall highlights of his recent^ visit to London and to discuss his future plans which call for a return to England. During his trip to England last September, Sanders was able to spend only a fortnight there, which was, in his own words, “not long enough.” Most of his time was spent with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Sanders, at their home at Leather- head, Surrey. The time for seeing old friends was confined to three days while he was stopping at the Savoy Hotel in London. “Lured” is the second picture Sanders made within the past year for Producer Stromberg. The eerie story is laid in London, and Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn and Boris Karloff share starring honors with him. United Artists is releasing the picture which is slated to bow in at the . Theatre on . His first picture for Strom¬ berg was “The Strange Woman,” in which Hedy Lamarr was co-starred. Getting back to Sanders’ impressions of Eng¬ land during his recent trip, which, incidentally, was his first visit home in eight years, he declared that “everything seemed frightfully foreign.” “People seemed to be talking a different language when I first arrived,” he said. “But after you’ve been there for a while you start getting into th«# way of things. You forget quickly the comparative**" luxurious atmosphere of America.” The scarcity of food in England, compared to what he has been used to in the United States, did not present a hardship to him. “It didn’t bother me in the slightest,” he said. “I think people in America eat too much anyway.” One of the friends Sanders spoke with when he was in London was the novelist, Somerset Maugham^ whom he has known for years. Maugham’s novel* “Then and Now,” not long ago was bought for the screen by Sanders in company with Producer Arnold Pressburger and Director Douglas Sirk. A corpora¬ tion, called Regency Productions, was formed, with Sanders named vice presi¬ dent. “It is by no means sure¬ fire screen material,” San¬ ders observed. “The screen treatment can be ap¬ proached from any one of six different ways. Whether or not it will make a suc¬ cessful picture depends entirely upon the skill of the writer we suc¬ ceed in signing.” If a suitable adapta¬ tion of the novel is created, Sanders will of course play the part of Machiavelli, and the picture will be made in England. • j= George Sanders ==j Whips Up a Meal L ====== * * * — Currently a victim of domestic friction, George Sanders, who plays a starring role in Hunt Strom¬ berg’s dramatic mystery-romance, “Lured,” is gradually adjusting himself again to the life of a bache¬ lor. He’s learning to cook. On Wednesdays, his manservant has a day off, and that’s when George resolutely dons an apron, and in solitary determination pre¬ pares his own evening meal. It’s always the same. “I see no reason for attempting anything new,” he said. “I’ve found that I can come off with this quite decently, so why tempt fate.” His Wednesday night menu con¬ sists of shad roe, broiled, with ba¬ con, a glass of milk, and for des¬ sert a dish of ice cream with fro¬ zen strawberries. Sanders dislikes to go to res¬ taurants. He hates to wait in line. He dislikes crowds, noise, incon¬ siderate waiters and going out gen¬ erally. In his starring role in “Lured,” which opens next . at the Theatre through United Artists release, Sanders shares stellar hon¬ ors with red-haired Lucille Ball, the veteran actor Charles Coburn, and Boris Karloff, star of so many horror thrillers. The picture is set in London, with Scotland Yard playing a big part in the plot. Newspapermen Make Good Film Producers Mix printers’ ink with celluloid and in the unique alchemy of Hollywood, the result is a successful motion picture producer. This formula may explain the success in pictures of such men as Hunt Stromberg, Mark Hellinger, Nunnally Johnson and Darryl Zan- nuck, the mogul of Twentieth Century-Fox. By a coincidence, Hunt Stromberg, a former St. Louis, Missouri, newspaperman, recently produced a film called “Lured,” in which the personal column in one of London’s important newspapers plays almost as impor¬ tant a starring role as do George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn and Boris Karloff. This sensational mystery-romance is being re¬ leased by United Artists and is due to open on . at the . Theatre. Mark Hellinger, whose “The Killers” recent¬ ly moved him into the ranks of top producers, still is so much of a newsman at heart that he writes a weekly column which is syndicated from coast to coast. And Nunnally Johnson is a graduate of the New York Herald Tribune. Darryl Zannuck, at Twentieth Century-Fox, lays claim as a fourth estater to a technicality. During the first world war his letters home were so interesting that they were reprinted by his home town paper, the Wahoo, Nebraska, Democrat. The motion picture industry has an obliga¬ tion of gratitude to these producers, whose combined nose for news is the fountainhead for up-to-the-minute entertainment which ap¬ peals to millions. Page Sixteen