Evening star., 1946-06-20
a little contrast obviously would not
hurt things at all.

a little contrast obviously would not
hurt things at all.
X y X
On the sound theory that the
more fancy men the better in the
life of a girl going from rags to
riches. Heartbeat" provides Miss
Rogers with three as against the
one Shaw gave the heroine of "Pyg-
malion." The three represent quite
variety as men 60. One teaches
her the art of picking pockets be-
cause he is fascinated by what he
thinks is her high acting potential.
The second, an ambassador. takes
her into diplomatic society because
he would like to her her steal
watch whose owner, he thinks, is
the ambassadress's lover. The third
teaches her to fall in love with
charming young man, one of the
most pleasant things a charming
young man could do for a beautiful
girl.
The collective efforts of the three
certainly keep the pretty things
Of life from being dull. Similarly,
the lives of the customers.
X * **
Paris. which is just alien enough
to seem the logical place, is the set
ting for Heartbeat" It is against
this background that the audience
is introduced to Miss Rogers. She is
not looking her best at the first
meeting. At the time. she is Just an
innocent, frightened fawn-like child
who has just escaped from reform
school. Her innocence is attested by
the fact that her first place of
refuge is Basil Rathbone's school
for pickpockets. He is a suave one,
as professors of pickpocketing would
have to be, and he takes her as a
boarding pupil on sort OF scholar
ship.
1t is no time at all before Miss
Rogers Is the schools prize student.
She is not good enough, however, to
make Ambassador Adolphe Menjou
her first victim. Instead of having
her thrown back into the reform
school, however, he shows that he is
a diplomat with imagination by
hiring her to lift the watch of a
Prince Charming who he suspects of
having charmed his wife. The
watch. the ambassador is sure, will
have his wife's picture in it.
At the diplomatic ball, where the
fitch is to be made, Prince Charm
ing finds himself not only robbed
OF his watch, but also his heart.
After that-but, of course, you
know what comes after that.
That what follows is never dull
is a tribute to the agreeable or
handedness with which everyone
performs his chores. Miss Rogers
clearly Is aware that you must
have seen something of the same
sort before But she sees to It
that her. canine casts a special
kind OF spell. It is one made up
Of many moods, most Of them COM
ic. She is fine spitfire when the
occasion calls for that, as several
occasions do. She can lapse from
that into kind of poignant soft
ness. At other times, there's
fine craftiness about her, a thing
she learned in her guttersnipe
days and, when she wants to do
so, she can play hard to get well
enough to make even Prince Charm
ing rue the night he ever met her.
A most fetching girl, her Galatea,
who happens in this instance to be
called Arlette.
A couple of highly polished jobs
are those produced by Rathbone
as the head Of the pickpocket COL
lege, and Menjou rs the Ambassa-
dor who Is not above employing a
pretty girl with such an odd talent.
| Jean Pierre Aumont, the Prince
Charming chap, is natural for
his assignment, even in such elfin
moments as that when he tells
her:
"You can't 60 back to reform
school at this hour of the night"
"oh. yes you can," she replies
quietly, you can get in any time"
Heartbeat" is quite captivating
in that sort of off-hand way.