Heartbeat

Director: Sam Wood Sam Wood

Overview

A remake of the 1939 French film Battement de Couer, Heartbeat reunites star Ginger Rogers with her Kitty Foyle director Sam Wood. Ms. Rogers plays Arlette, a reform school alumnus who is recruited by Faginlike Professor Aristide, headmaster at a school for pickpockets. Before long, Arlette becomes Aristide's prize pupil, and is being groomed for bigger things. Assigned by a corrupt foreign ambassador (Adolphe Menjou) to steal a valuable watch from wealthy and handsome diplomat Pierre (Jean Pierre Aumont), Arlette not only bungles the job, but also falls in love with her would-be victim. Heartbeat wasn't the first mediocre American remake of a French film, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/29/2017
UPC:	0889290125293
Original Release:	1946
Source:	Film Detective
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	48,086

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ginger Rogers	Arlette Lafron
Basil Rathbone	Professor Aristide
Jean-Pierre Aumont	Pierre de Roche
Adolphe Menjou	Ambassador
Melville Cooper	Roland Latour
Mikhail Rasumny	Yves Cadubert
Mona Maris	Ambassador's Wife
Henry Stephenson	Minister
Eduardo Ciannelli	Baron Dvorak
Eddie Hayden	Fat Thief
George Davis	Butler
Major Sam Harris	Ball Guest
Torben Meyer	Thief at Ball
Ivan Lebedeff	Thief at Ball
Paul Misraki	Composer

Technical Credits

Hans Wilhelm

Max Kolpet

Michel Duran

Morris Ryskind

Rowland Leigh

Raymond Hakim	Producer,Producer
Sam Wood	Director
Hans Wilhelm	Screenwriter
Max Kolpet	Screenwriter
Michel Duran	Screenwriter
Morris Ryskind	Screenwriter
Rowland Leigh	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

There's a nifty little romance-cum-farce hiding in Heartbeat, but it unfortunately only manages to peak its little head out every so often. This coyness is most unfortunate, and one only wishes that director Sam Wood and the various writers credited with the screenplay had been able to coax the film's better qualities out into the open more often. It's not all their fault, of course. One of the major impediments the film faces is in its central casting. Leading actress Ginger Rogers looks like quite a lovely woman in Heartbeat, but she most definitely does look a woman, not the almost-out-of-her-teens youth that the part calls for. Rogers overcompensates for the age discrepancy by flouncing about, and the effect is not credible. Although a very fine actress and often an expert comedienne, Rogers doesn't appear comfortable in the part, her age aside. For his part, Wood works with a much-too-obvious touch; a feathery Ernst Lubitsch touch is needed here, and Wood's lacks the delicacy and precision required. And while the screenwriters have supplied many amusing moments and touches, the film loses its footing in the second half, changing from a fairly original little comedy to a much-too-predictable romance. However, Jean-Pierre Aumont provides welcome charm and dash as the eventual man in Rogers' life, and Basil Rathbone is a sheer delight as the pickpocket teacher.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler