Heartbeat

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.

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!

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 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.

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.