Un coeur à prendre

I waited to view 'Heartbeat' until I had first managed to watch the French original from 1940 that this movie is derived from. I felt that to see them in chronological order offered the best chance to appraise them relatively.

I thoroughly enjoyed 'Battement de coeur', finding it possessed a lightness of touch and was full of sparkling wit. Despite watching it on a SECAM tape that didn't play terribly well in my PAL VCR, the French original bowled me over with its zest and sprightly charm. The inestimable Danielle Darrieux shines as only she can.

After such a pleasing viewing experience, I was rather intrigued to discover how the story would play out under different auspices, but with Max Kolpe again contributing to the writing. It really proved to be a bad case of deja-vu when a week later I watched the DVD of 'Heartbeat'. I honestly don't know who decided that it should be a scene-by-scene remake. Constrained by adhering rigidly to the scenes from 'Battement de coeur', 'Heartbeat' was always going to struggle to be anything other than forced in areas to persons who had already viewed the 1940 movie. For example, the scene where Ginger Rogers kicks the floor in adolescent frustration at being detained just falls flat, whereas the scene in 'Battement de coeur' exhibited buckets of vitality and flouncing joie de vivre. The half-hearted reenactment of scenes and characters' movements was eerie and strange to observe.

Up to about two-thirds of the way through, I wasn't particularly held by the script or by the performances. For me, the early scenes in the pick-pocket school are uninspired recreations of those in 'Battement de coeur'. Even the dummy they practice on is exactly the same! Luckily though, it gradually grew on me and began to charm me somewhat. In contrast to many reviewers, I feel that the romantic elements of the second half aid the movie considerably. The scenes in the last reel of Rogers and Aumont dancing contain more spontaneity and zest than those that have gone before.

'Heartbeat' is inoffensive and contains some reasonably funny moments involving watches. Despite being over-aged for her role, I thought Rogers was appealing and displayed a nice mix of teenage shyness and spunkiness. Adolphe Menjou and Basil Rathbone appear fleetingly but are good value as always. As the teacher, Rathbone is watchable but he cannot quite equal the menacing and imposing performance of Saturnin Fabre in 'Battement de coeur'. Menjou does well and is at the centre of many of the funniest intrigues. Overall, the movie is relatively likable but considerably hamstrung by its aping of the French original. Do attempt to take in 'Battement de coeur' before seeing this, for goodness' sake!

This film, although not among Ginger Rogers best work, is certainly worth checking out. As usual she is most engaging--she plays a teen (she was actually 35) somewhat convincingly. She has run away from a girls reformatory and is recruited by Professor Aristide (Basil Rathbone), who runs a pickpocket academy in Paris. She is assigned a pickpocketing "job" by a corrupt ambassador (Adolph Menjou). Of course along the way she meets a man (Jean-Pierre Aumont), falls in love and well, you get the drift. The supporting cast is also entertaining most notably Adolph Menjou, although one doesn't see Basil Rathbone nearly enough here. At times the story is slow moving and quite predictable, but when Ginger is on the screen her beauty,charm and magnetism more than compensate for this. If you are a fan of Ginger Rogers, Adolph Menjou or Basil Rathbone this largely forgotten film is worth a look.

Before turning into a big yawner, the story starts off with a bang. Rathbone is a self-appointed professor of a pickpocket academy that he runs like a military school. There the fine arts of relieving people of their valuable personal possessions are taught and practiced in grand style. So I was prepared for the imaginative best.

But then the romance between Rogers and Aumont takes over and the talk never stops. That might be okay if Rogers were allowed her usual sparkly style. But she's not. Instead her character parades around in fluffy finery that a hundred lesser actresses could have managed. And that leads me to believe the studio, RKO, was using her celebrity to advance French import Aumont's career. That may also account for why an obviously over-age Rogers, 39, is miscast as a reform school "girl". That too might be okay if actor Aumont had more than one lifeless expression, but here he's about as engaging as an upscale manikin.

All in all, the romance that dominates drags the film into well-deserved oblivion. Too bad such able performers as Menjou and Cooper are largely wasted in the process. Wasted too is a promising pickpocket premise that could have produced real amusement. Anyway, I would advise fans of Rogers, myself included, to skip this disappointing entry. In short, there's a good reason it's unknown among the Rogers canon.

A young girl( a lively Ginger Rogers) escaped from a reformatory, becomes the best student in a Parisian school for pickpockets(ruled by Basil Rathbone). At the beginning she attempts out her skills on an old man(Adolphe Menjou). Later when she tries to rob an attractive diplomat(Jean Pierre Aumont) they fall in love instead.

This fresh and funny farce is one the last works where director Sam Wood shows an increasing blandness in a lighthearted love story with comedy touches. Main and support cast is frankly outstanding. Top-notch, virtuoso acting by Ginger Rogers, she was the number one as dancer actress and a fascinating comedian: ¨Monkey business¨ and won an Oscar for her portrayal in ¨Kitty Foyle: natural story of a woman¨. Remaining cast formed by the French young Jean Pierre Aumont as dashing diplomat, the classic Sherlock Holmes, Basil Rathbone, the memorable Adolphe Menjou, Henry Stephenson as veteran Ambassador and the Italian Eduardo Ciannelli. Sam Wood was a good filmmaker, an expert director of actresses, almost all the magnificent acting in his movies were given by ladies, with the exceptions of the Marx Brothers in ¨Night at the Opera¨, and ¨A day at the races¨ and Robert Donat in ¨Goodbye Mr Chips¨; as are extraordinaries, Ann Sheridan and Betty Field in ¨King Row¨, it is Ingrid Bergman, marvelous when we remember her in ¨For whom the bells tolls¨, and of course Ginger Rogers in ¨Heartbeat¨ and ¨Kitty Foyle¨; these outstanding Rogers'performances are matched by Joan Fontaine's ¨Ivy¨, Gladys George's ¨Madame X¨ and Jean Arthur's ¨The devil and Miss Jones¨. Plus the picture packs a very high standard cinematography by Joseph Valentine.From the late 1920s Sam Wood was with MGM, where he remained until his death at 1966 with some exception as ¨Heartbeat¨ with RKO. Sam Wood angered the acting community by his work for Joseph McCarthy and his House UnAmerican Activities Committee.

Lets get this out of the way right off the top, Ginger Rogers is too old for her part in this film! True she looks very lovely and far younger than the 35 years she was when this was made, perhaps 25 or 26, but she is supposed to be an 18 year old escapee from a reform school and there is no amount of soft focus that could make that believable.

As far as the rest of the film its a mediocre effort wasting the other two assets it has on hand, Adolph Menjou and Basil Rathbone, in small parts. The story itself is rather ridiculous held up by the talent involved but it's wasted effort. A forgettable enterprise, all the stars have made better films that should be sought out instead.