''Heartbeat'' is a 1946 American romantic drama film directed by

Sam Wood Samuel Grosvenor Wood (July 10, 1883 – September 22, 1949) was an American film director and producer who is best known for having directed such Hollywood hits as ''A Night at the Opera (film), A Night at the Opera'', ''A Day at the Races (fi ...

and starring

Ginger Rogers Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starri ...

. It is a direct remake of the French romantic drama ''Battement de cœur'', released in 1940.

Plot

Professor Aristide (

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

) runs a school for pickpockets in Paris. He takes on pupils like Yves (

Mikhail Rasumny Mikhail Rasumny (May 13, 1884, in Odessa, Russian empire – February 17, 1956, in United States) was a Soviet and American film actor. Biography Rasumny was born in Odessa, son of the famous cantor Ephraim Zalman (Solomon) Razumny, who was chief ...

) and young Arlette (

) by testing their dishonesty. He takes Arlette even though she fails by only stealing an apple instead of money; she's a runaway from a reform school where she's supposed to stay until she turns 21. Arlette decides to steal just enough to buy into a sham marriage to avoid the reform school. On her first try, however, a well-dressed man (

Adolphe Menjou Adolphe Jean Menjou (February 18, 1890 – October 29, 1963) was an American actor. His career spanned both silent films and talkies. He appeared in such films as Charlie Chaplin's ''A Woman of Paris'', where he played the lead role; Stanley K ...

) catches her lifting his stick pin and brings her to his fancy house. He is an ambassador. When Baron Dvorak (

Eduardo Ciannelli Eduardo Ciannelli (30 August 1888 – 8 October 1969), was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli. Early life Ciannelli ...

) arrives, the two agree to a scheme to take Arlette to a diplomatic reception posing as the baron's niece. It's only when they arrive at the reception that Arlette is told that she is to steal the pocket watch of Pierre de Roche (

Jean-Pierre Aumont Jean-Pierre Aumont (born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons; 5 January 1911 – 30 January 2001) was a French actor, and holder of the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de guerre 1939–1945, Croix de Guerre for his World War II military service. Ea ...

). She does so while they are dancing, but removes a picture of the ambassador's wife which is inside it (

Mona Maris Mona Maris (born Mona Maria Emita Capdeville or Maria Rosa Amita Capdeville, November 7, 1903 – March 23, 1991) was an Argentine film actress. Early life Mona Maris was born Mona Maria Emita Capdeville. Some sources spell her last name as C ...

). The ambassador is thrilled to find no picture in the watch as he had been worrying his wife might be growing tired of him and has Arlette slip it back into Pierre's pocket. Pierre insists on driving Arlette home and stops along the way to confess how much he likes her; he kisses her and gives her flowers from his garden before dropping her off at the baron's house and extracts the promise that she'll meet him at the train station the next day, as they are both (supposedly) going to Geneva, where she claims to attend boarding school. Arlette then sneaks back to Aristide's school but is confronted by the suspicious master thief, who throws her out when his suspicions that she was freelancing are confirmed. She decides to say goodbye to Pierre at the train station and confesses everything. Although he is angry and misses his train, he ultimately insists that she stay the night at his house and prepares a guest room for himself. The next morning, Pierre's penniless friend Roland (

Melville Cooper George Melville Cooper (15 October 1896 – 13 March 1973) was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), Mr. Collins in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) and ...

) arrives to stay while Pierre is in Geneva. Pierre arranges for Roland to sham-marry Arlette in exchange for 10,000 francs. In Geneva, however, he quickly becomes jealous and returns, only to find that Arlette and Roland have hired Yves as a butler and bought clothes he must pay for. Arlette first tries to mollify Pierre and then flaunts her presence when the ambassador's wife shows up. The woman storms out when she finds Arlette's photo in Pierre's watch, a trick that Pierre finds charming. Pierre confesses to Roland that he is in love with Arlette, but Roland convinces him that his reputation would be ruined if he married her. However, Arlette gets cold feet and cannot go through with the wedding ceremony. Pierre refuses her attempts to make up and heads to another embassy reception. Yves explains the problem to Arlette, but the girl insists that the people whose opinion Pierre is worried about are themselves schemers, liars, and cheats and heads to the reception herself. Pierre has a final change of heart but returns to find her gone and races to the reception. Pierre finds Arlette charming the minister (

Henry Stephenson Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in ''Mutiny on the Bou ...

) and cuts in to ask Arlette to marry him. The baron agrees that gaining a niece is better than having her spill his and the ambassador's secrets. Pierre and Arlette then have a grand wedding.

Cast

as Professor Aristide *

as Arlette Lafron *

as Pierre de Roche *

as Ambassador *

as Roland Latour *

as Yves Cadubert *

as Baron Ferdinand Dvorak *

as Ambassador's Wife *

as Minister Tarvey

Bess Flowers Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress best known for her work as an extra in hundreds of films. She was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in more than 350 feature films and numerous ...

Eddie Hayden Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle * Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Lin ...

Ivan Lebedeff Ivan Lebedeff (born Ivan Vasilyevich Lebedev ( rus, Иван Васильевич Лебедев), 18 June 1894 – 31 March 1953) was a Russian film actor, lecturer and writer. He appeared in 66 films between 1926 and 1953. In 1940, his no ...

Louis Mercier Reverend Lewis Page Mercier (9 January 1820 – 2 November 1875) is known today as the translator, along with Eleanor Elizabeth King, of three of the best-known novels of Jules Verne: ''Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas'', ''From the Earth to ...

and

Torben Meyer Torben Emil Meyer (1 December 1884 – 22 May 1975) was a Danish-American character actor who appeared in more than 190 films in a 55-year career. He began his acting career in Europe before moving to the United States. Early life Meyer was ...

appear uncredited.

Soundtrack

*Ginger Rogers - "Can You Guess?" (Music and Lyrics by

Paul Misraki Paul Misraki (28 January 1908 – 29 October 1998) was a French composer of popular music and film scores. Over the course of over 60 years, Misraki wrote the music to 130 films, scoring works by directors like Jean Renoir, Claude Chabrol, ...

and

Ervin Drake Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman; April 3, 1919 – January 15, 2015) was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as " I Believe" and "It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variety of styles and his w ...

)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heartbeat 1946 films American black-and-white films 1946 romantic drama films Films directed by Sam Wood American romantic drama films American remakes of French films RKO Pictures films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films