''Heartbeat'' (Italian: ''Batticuore'') is a 1939 Italian " white-telephones"

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. The cousin of Augusto Genina, he made the most well-known films in Italy during the 1930s, most of them comedies starring Vittorio De Sica. H ...

and starring

Assia Noris Assia Noris (16 February 1912 – 27 January 1998) was a Russian-Italian film actress. Born Anastasia Noris fon Gerzfeld (Anastassia Noris von Herzfeld), she appeared in over 35 films between 1932 and 1965. She starred in films such as the Ma ...

, John Lodge and

Rubi D'Alma Rubi Dalma (24 April 1906 - 7 August 1994) was an Italian actress. Life and career Born Giusta Manca di Villahermosa in Milan, she belonged to an aristocratic family from the Sardinian town of Sassari. After a bit part in the Camillo Mastrocin ...

. It remade in France as '' Beating Heart'' in 1940, and then again in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

as a 1946 film of the same title 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 ...

and

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 ...

.Ricci p.148 It was shot at the

Cinecittà Studios Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios wer ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Gastone Medin Gastone Medin (1905–1973) was an Italian art director.Anile p.132 He worked on more than a hundred and fifty films during his career. Selected filmography * ''Figaro and His Great Day'' (1931) * '' Lowered Sails'' (1931) * ''The Table of the P ...

. It is part of the tradition of White Telephone comedies.

Synopsis

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

a young woman working at a school for thieves attempts to pick the pocket of an

aristocrat The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient Ro ...

. Instead of turning her in he blackmails her into stealing a clock from an

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Cast

References

Bibliography

* Ricci, Steven. ''Cinema and Fascism: Italian Film and Society, 1922–1943''. University of California Press, 2008.

External links

* 1939 films Italian comedy films 1939 comedy films 1930s Italian-language films Films directed by Mario Camerini Italian black-and-white films Films shot at Cinecittà Studios Films set in Paris 1930s Italian films {{1930s-Italy-film-stub