Un coeur à prendre

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.