Heartbeat

2345. HEARTBEAT (1946-USA). With GINGER ROGERS, JEAN PIERRE AUMONT, ADOLPHE MENJOU, BASIL RATHBONE, EDUARDO CIANNELLI. Ginger Rogers adds just the right touch of glamour to this most unusual and entrancing combination fairy tale-romantic comedy. She stars as poor little Arlette, a young reform school escapee. Arlette is without identification and has been wandering the streets of Paris. She is taken in by Professor Aristide,’ a short-tempered teacher who runs a school for pickpockets. Even though she claims she is “not a bad girl” and has no stomach for stealing, Arlette quickly emerges as the professor’s top pupil. She then attempts to pilfer a pearl stick pin from a man riding a streetcar. He turns out to be an ambassador who also has larceny in his heart, and who promptly recruits Arlette to purloin a watch from a handsome young diplomat at an embassy ball. He is Pierre (played by dashÂing Jean Pierre Aumont), and you just know that he and Arlette are fated to fall in love. One comical situation is piled atop the next, and the result is a pure delight. While Rogers, Aumont and Adolpfie Menjou (as the ambassador) each are in top form, Basil Rathbone almost steals the film – no pun intended-in his brief scenes as the larcenous professor. 101 minutes. Romantic Comedy