Here Is My Heart

Not only do they not make 'em like this anymore, they can't.

Unfortunately, this delightful bit of charming musical whimsey is so far removed from our brutal, jaded modern world that the recipe is probably lost forever. But then, that's part of what makes "Here Is My Heart" so appealing. It's a slice of movie past that seems like a wonderful little lost place in time to 21st century sensibilities.

Watching it is like discovering breathing.

Bing Crosby somehow deftly owns the film, in spite of sharing the screen with such veteran scene stealers as Roland Young and Reginald Owen, who are at their best. The fact that Bing may have been at his vocal peak at the time certainly helps, as he proves why he was the number one male vocalist for two decades, flawlessly crooning "June In January" and "With Every Breath I Take". But it's the way he commands the screen with little visual bits of business that is a revelation. This type of love story was Der Bingle's stock in trade prior to his Father O'Malley days, and it's evident why he rose quickly to the list of top ten box office stars during the thirties. Trouble is, most of his films from this period are sitting in vaults somewhere, gathering dust.

Be sure to catch this charmer of a movie if it ever shows up on late-night TV or in a theater. It's a crime that it's not available on video!