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

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Camerini began his career in the film industry in 1920, working for his cousin the director Augusto Genina. Camerini went on to direct his own fi ...

and starring

Assia Noris Anastasia Nikolaevna von Gerzfeld (, sometimes transliterated as Anastassia von Hertzfeld; 16 February 1912 – 27 January 1998), known professionally as Assia Noris, was a Russian-Italian film actress. Born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, Noris ...

, John Lodge and Rubi D'Alma. 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 an Anglo-South African 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 drama ...

.Ricci p.148 It was shot at the

Cinecittà Studios Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City) 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 were constru ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

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

Gastone Medin Gastone Medin (1905–1973) was a Dalmatian 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 Tab ...

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

Synopsis

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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

aristocrat The aristocracy (''from Greek'' ''ἀριστοκρατία'' ''aristokratía'', "rule of the best"; ''Latin: aristocratia'') is historically associated with a "hereditary" or a "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the ...

. 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 so ...

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 Films scored by Cesare Andrea Bixio {{1930s-Italy-film-stub