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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!

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.

GINGER ROGERS again is photographed in soft focus so that she can fool the camera lens into having us believe her as an 18 year-old girl who is taught to be a pick-pocket at a crime school run by no less than BASIL RATHBONE. Encouraged to become a petty thief, she is sent off to ply her trade and soon finds herself caught up in a romantic liaison with a wealthy Frenchman JEAN-PIEREE AMOUNT.

In outline, the story sounds like it would have a lot of potential as a charming romantic comedy. And sometimes it almost works. Rathbone does a smoothly professional job as her crime school mentor and ADOLPHE MENJOU adds sophistication to the supporting cast. But Ginger remains unconvincing throughout, sadly miscast in a role that could only have been carried off by an actress who was young enough to assume such a role.

Whatever tricks of photography were needed to photograph Rogers in a soft glow are simply wasted. She's never for a moment convincing as an ingénue and the film should have been scrapped once it was revealed that the casting mistake would ruin the story. Alas, another misfire for Rogers during a period which alternated between good and bad roles in some films that ranged from mediocre to excellent.

Summing up: Hardly worth your time.

I stumbled upon this film in an early-morning, commercial-filled broadcast, but such was its charm that I not only stuck with it but sought out a copy of my own. Part of its appeal is an unusual--and unusually wistful--role for Rogers: as a reluctant pickpocket-in-training, she combines a poignant innocence with her trademark spunk. Basil Rathbone is, as always, elegantly nasty as her mentor/Svengali, and the good old-fashioned happy ending will satisfy the romantic in you. This may not be for those who prefer Ginger in dancing mode, but if you enjoyed the cheerful sentimentality of Kitty Foyle, you should check out Heartbeat.

This movie starts out great in the first half hour. Basil Rathbone, Ginger Rogers and Aldolph Menjou play some very funny scenes. Unfortunately, Jean Pierre Aumont shows up and the comedy disappears. We get a love story that doesn't really go anywhere. There's little chemistry between Rogers and Aumont. Plus, there's the problem of having a real Frenchman playing with an American actress who is supposed to be a French woman, but does not have a French accent.

The movie also doesn't take place at any particular time. At first I thought we were in the 1890's in Paris, but then it sort of shifted to the 1920's and 30's. In the narrative, the movie takes place over a few weeks, so this is not a deliberate time jump, just a result of sloppy film-making.

The movie should have stuck with Rathbone and Menjou, but they disappear for much of the second half of the film and we are left with the much duller character of Aumont. This forces Rogers to supply whatever comedy and passion the film is capable of showing. She looks like she's waiting for Fred Astaire to show up. Alas, he never does.

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.

If you imagine a sort of Parisian start to "Oliver Twist", then you can envisage "Arlette" (Ginger Rogers) alone and broke on the unforgiving streets of Paris. Luckily, their equivalent of "Fagin" is running his own school for pick-pockets and so "Aristide" (Basil Rathbone) decides that she might make for an ideal addition to his student fraternity. Her first attempt is a bit of a disaster but luckily for her, her victim (Adolphe Menjou) is an ambassador with a mission of his own. If she does some sleight of hand for him, the he'll forget she tried to pinch his pearl pin. Her mark is the dashing young "Pierre" (Jean-Pierre Aumont) who happens to have a secret of his own. She turns out to be more efficient this time, but their magnets are turned on and soon the two are falling head over heels for all to see - except them! With his secret now in the wrong hands a series of misunderstandings, duplicity and diplomatic shenanigans follow. What chance of any romance surviving this? Rogers is on engaging form here, especially at the start as the naive and nervous "Arlette" has to learn the ropes from her manipulative tutor, and there's an obvious but still quite amiable chemistry with Aumont that builds nicely, if predictably. Mona Maris turns in quite a fun series of cameos as the ambassador's long-suffering wife and though it's far too long, it's still quite an enjoyable "Ginger does Dickens" that's just a bit stodgy in the middle.

This is a very watchable movie, but it is also amazingly dumb in places and should have been a lot better. A lot of the problem should rest on the shoulders of Ginger Rogers, who for at least the second time in her career is ridiculously portraying a woman half her age! This 35 year-old actress plays an 18 year-old and is about as convincing at that as she would have been playing Hattie McDaniel's role in GONE WITH THE WIND! This same ridiculous idea was the plot for another Rogers film, THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR, where at 32, she played a school girl!!! While a very small number of actresses MIGHT have been able to carry this off, Ms. Rogers appeared at least her chronological age and in both films it just comes off as ridiculous. While not quite as bad as Mae West in MYRA BRECKINRIDGE (who was 77 and STILL making passes at young men), it was still along the same lines as far as actresses who won't admit that they are no longer the young starlets they had once been decades earlier.

The second problem is that the film in many ways has two totally different tones. I loved the first portion of the film where we see Basil Rathbone operating a school for would-be thieves! This segment is very funny and incredibly original--I really wanted to see much more of this. The second portion was a very familiar love story with complications. Sure, it was fun to watch but not nearly as much as the other part--and it was very, very hard to believe that the budding romance could be real. Frankly, the film tries a bit too hard and comes off as forced.

The bottom line is that this is merely a time-passer and nothing more. If you do watch it, though, try not to laugh when Ginger tells the camera how old she is supposed to be--it isn't supposed to be a comedy!

When will they learn? That's purely rhetorical if anybody asks you. Born in 1917 - and still with us - Danielle Darrieux began her career in movies at the start of the Sound era and before the end of the thirties was the biggest female star on the French screen playing essentially the same role over and over in a series of lighter=than air romantic comedies that often required her to sing a song or two. In the mid-point of the decade she teamed up with writer-director Henri Decoin for The Green Domino, an entry with slightly more substance, they married and made a string (six) of successful souffles before divorcing in 1941 after Premiere Rendez- vous, but remained friends and made a further three films together. One of the biggest successes was Battement de coeur in which Darrieeux played a fugitive from Reform School who enrolled in a school for pickpockets under the leadership of Saturnin Fabre and, after a series of adventures encountered her Prince Charming in the shape of Claude Dauphin. It was delightful and enchanting in equal measure the perfect antidote to the outbreak of war. For reasons best known to themselves RKO decided to remake it in 1946 with a decidedly mid-thirtyish Ginger Rogers in the Darrieux role, Basil Rathbone replacing Saturnin Fabre and authentic, albeit wooden, Frenchman Jean-Pierre Aumont in the Claude Dauphin role. In a reverse alchemy a soufflé turned into a suet pudding and no one came out of it well. One to be avoided.

Despite having some talent and material to work with, this feature produces just a few good moments, and it never really comes together the way it might have. The cast, headed by Ginger Rogers and including some fine supporting actors, certainly supplied plenty of talent. The story idea was only mildly imaginative, but it had the potential for some decent comedy and entertaining romantic mix-ups. But it seems to go in too many different directions at different times, and perhaps as a result, it has a few stretches of good material packed amidst some longer, less interesting parts.

Rogers was easily one of the more attractive and talented actresses of her era, but the role of Arlette just doesn't seem to work for her. The character is not really as interesting as the situation, and Rogers often seems to be trying too hard. In any case, the character never quite rings true.

The story starts with Arlette, a reluctant enrollee in a school for petty criminals, getting roped into a scheme by an unscrupulous aristocrat that plunges her into a series of romantic and personal complications, as she develops a tangled relationship with a diplomat played by Jean-Pierre Aumont. The story is pure fluff, deliberately implausible but with some good possibilities, and it would likely have worked better with a lighter, more farcical touch all around.

Basil Rathbone is well cast as the 'professor' at the crime school, and there are some amusing details in his classes and teaching methods, but all of the sequences in the 'school' are essentially just elaborations on the basic gag idea. Adolphe Menjou was an ideal choice for the unprincipled nobleman, but he has to contend with some clunky dialogue in his part. For all of these and other reasons, "Heartbeat" - though probably worth seeing - never hits its stride, and it delivers less than it could have.

Reform school knock-out Ginger Rogers (as Arlette Lafron) is trained as a Parisian pickpocket, upon release from the institution. Unfortunately, Ms. Rogers is almost immediately caught. During the running time, she receives admirable support from sexy Jean-Pierre Aumont, teacher Basil Rathbone, and ambassador Adolphe Menjou. Even in soft focus, the lovely Rogers is an unconvincing 18-year-old. Interestingly, she did, with script and charm, manage the girlishness in "The Major and the Minor" (1942). Perhaps, "Heartbeat" was hoped to be the same sort of success. Not quite, but the cast and crew do what they can.

**** Heartbeat (5/10/46) Sam Wood ~ Ginger Rogers, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Basil Rathbone, Adolphe Menjou

To be successful, there has to be close coordination between the script writer, the cinematographer, and the director, and this movie has it. It was the golden age that gave us scripts that those with some education could understand and admire. The supporting facial expressions, the expert camera work, alas, where are they now?

The reviewers from the American side of the Atlantic always seem to have a strange fixation on the ages of the performers. For me, Ginger Rogers fit the role most admirably, and so, please, her true age here is irrelevant. The only thing I noticed is that this film was set to take place in Europe, although many actresses, such as Ginger Rogers, have American faces. You can often tell a European face, but too bad, Audrey Hepburn was then below 18, not good for the Hayes office. It could be that those on the European side of the Atlantic might notice such things, and otherwise, no problem. No such problem, in fact, for Adolphe Menjou, who, perhaps surprisingly, was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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.

I don't get these people who nastily compare this movie to the original French movie. Don't bother - what movie is EVER better the second watching? It's the delightful discovery the first time of the amusing dialogue, the unfolding of the plot, that brings so much amusement. Basil Rathbone has a wonderful part, and the movie gets off to a rollicking start with some very funny classroom scenes. Adolph Menjou brings charm and class to everything he does, and Ginger Rogers proves again why she, and not so many other actresses, was in the upper echelon of Hollywood royalty. That's the other thing - all these nasty comments about Ginger playing an 18 year old at 35. Why? She was gorgeous, and it's easy to suspend disbelief. It's a fricking movie. Why don't they complain that it REALLY wasn't filmed in Paris, as long as they are whining about authenticity?

As much as I like Ginger Rogers (and so many other members of the cast) it was impossible for me to relate to her at age 35 and wearing a dreadful part "fright wig" passing for an 18 year old reform school delinquent; it was just too big a stretch for this viewer's imagination and I thought in general the film lacked verve. In relation to Ginger playing a much younger character than her years how can one forget her in "The Major and The Minor" at age 32 passing herself off as a 12 year old? With the softest focuses available at the time this was still an incredible piece of casting! I believe this film was a remake of a French film entitled "Battement De Coeur" made in 1939 which I intend to track down for comparison purposes.

Arlette is an escaped reform school girl who joins an academy for pickpockets in Paris.

"It's no good, when I lie everyone knows it. Maybe I should go in to politics where it doesn't matter."-classmate

"A white marriage where after the wedding you never see the groom again."-classmate

"To steal to stay honest. For that I'll do it."-Arlette

Arlette decides she can't steal, but a classmate tells her she should get married and that would solve her problems. The problem is she needs money for one of these "white marriages"...so she steals and gets caught the first time out. The Ambassador catches her and then blackmails her into stealing the watch of a young diplomat Pierre who she subsequently falls in love with.

This is a young gorgeous and sassy Ginger Rogers. She is brash but beautiful. The sets and costumes are lush and gorgeous.

"I always cry when I'm happy."-Arlette.

Heartbeat was a huge hit, one of the biggest of Ginger's career. Rogers had been the most popular film star in Europe for many years, dating clear back to 1934's "The Gay Divorcee" and with her leading man, Jean-Pierre Aumont being a hero of the French Resistance during World War II, Heartbeat played in France for years. Millions of free tickets were given away in Europe, without any publicity, to give some small relief to the people in despair after World War II, and it appears the studio assisted in the effort because despite the huge box office receipts, profit was much less than usual for a Rogers film.

The bizarre outfit she wears, sport shorts with matching color high heels and a fur top! Seems utterly inexplicable. It is explained however, through the plot: Melville Cooper is selected to be Ginger's husband in an arranged marriage to gain her freedom from reform school, and the hapless bankrupt uses Jean-Pierre Aumont's money to buy her several outfits (Aumont is outraged at the cost). Thus Cooper's taste is responsible for that gauche bikini, which is so striking that people have talked about it ever since.

Lighthearted, swinging through poverty and despair to crime and on to one of the most elegant romances ever seen, "Heartbeat" was a perfect tonic for war-torn Europe.

OK, so we know Oscar won't be knocking at the door for this title, but it is a watchable and charming film. Despite being a bit older than the age of her character, Ginger Rogers plays the part well and does look young. In many scenes she pulls off the part well enough and looks quite stunning. Adolph Menjou is also quite entertaining, his character's appearance usually brings out a laugh or two. I do recommend this film. The story has enough to it to keep you in your chair, and you may find yourself wanting to see more of a certain actor or actress. It's not my film of choice but if it's available give it a chance. It wasn't great but this film has enough to it to keep the viewer interested.

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.