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. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
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. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Howard Greer - Costume Designer, John Sherwood - First Assistant Director, Sam Wood - Director, J.R. Whittredge - Editor, Roland Gross - Editor, Paul Misraki - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Mel Burns - Makeup, Lionel Banks - Production Designer, Joseph A. Valentine - Cinematographer, Raymond Hakim - Producer, Robert Hakim - Producer, George Sawley - Set Designer, Morris Ryskind - Screenwriter, Hans Wilhelm - Screenwriter, Rowland Leigh - Screenwriter, Hans Wilhelm - Play Author, Michel Duran - Play Author, Max Kolpe - Play Author
