Heartbeat

Rating:
Summary: Voulez Vous en Asprin?
Review: As the French comedy "Battement de Coeur," this must have been oh so charmant. Mais. En Anglais, and directed by the torpid Sam Wood, it's the epitome of an old movie on the late, late show. Ginger Rogers tries hard but this is her umteenth version of "Cinderella" and the strain is starting to show... Basil Rathbone jumps at the chance to play something besides Sherlock Holmes, but as so often, his comedy style consists of raised eyebrows and scampering around the set. Not the finest hour of either of these two great stars. Quelle drag, n'est ce pas?

Rating:
Summary: Voulez Vous en Asprin?
Review: As the French comedy "Battement de Coeur," this must have been oh so charmant. Mais. En Anglais, and directed by the torpid Sam Wood, it's the epitome of an old movie on the late, late show. Ginger Rogers tries hard but this is her umteenth version of "Cinderella" and the strain is starting to show... Basil Rathbone jumps at the chance to play something besides Sherlock Holmes, but as so often, his comedy style consists of raised eyebrows and scampering around the set. Not the finest hour of either of these two great stars. Quelle drag, n'est ce pas?

Rating:
Summary: Cute, charming rainy day movie
Review: Ignore Maltin for once, and check out this little seen gem. Silly at first, but it gradually grows on you. Rogers plays a young run-away, desperately turning to crime to survive the streets of Paris. Basil Rathbone is the owner and operator of a rather unique school for pickpockets she unwittingly stumbles upon.

After receiving some prelimanary training on the art of theft Rogers is sent out into Paris to repay Rathbone's investment. Things get compilcated though as she is caught trying to lift a man's tie-pin on her very first day. Instead of turning her in to the police, the man comissions her to make a lift at a high society ball. Her mark turns out to be a handsome French Diplomat, and the plot then follows their various misadventures as they fight, argue, and fall in love.

Jean Pierre, playing the diplomat, has great chemistry with Rogers, and we get to see the great Basil Rathbone as head master at a school for pickpockets. The plot manages to stay surprising, and the dialogue is above average. Rogers (in a rare non-dancing role) is very charming and handles the comedy well. All in all, a well made film perfect for old-movie lovers. B+

Rating:
Summary: Sweet & romantic classic
Review: Set in France, this romantic non-musical stars Ginger Rogers as Arlette, a young pick-pocket who falls in love with a handsome diplomat (Jean Pierre Aumont). Fresh out of pick pocket school, Arlette gets caught on her first professional attempt and ends up at an embassy ball where she is blackmailed into stealing a watch from a young diplomat.
To her surprise, she not only succeeds in stealing his watch but also in stealing his heart as he easily falls for her beauty and charm. Enchanted by him herself, Arlette tries to hide the truth from him but can't do it for very long.
Watch Basil Rathbone in a brief but funny performance as the professor of the pick pocket school, and enjoy the great on-screen chemistry between Rogers and Aumont.