Here Is My Heart (1934) User Reviews

Saw the premiere with Kitty Carlisle and Scott Barton

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 24 February 2005]

This film had been thought of as lost for about half a century when apparently Kathryn Crosby must have been rummaging through some closets and announced that Bing had a copy of this formerly lost film of his.

It was restored and back in the early 1990s I saw the newly restored version with my friend Scott Barton and hosting the film was its co-star, Kitty Carlisle. It was a great afternoon.

And the film was well worth saving. Songwriters Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger gave Crosby, It's June In January and With Every Breath I Take to sing and Robin teamed up with Lewis Gensler for Love Is Just Around the Corner. All three songs were good selling records for Bing and a particular favorite of mine has always been With Every Breath I Take. He sang these a few times during the film both solo and as duets with Carlisle.

The records incidentally were the first movie songs and almost the first songs Crosby recorded for the brand new Decca record label. Although Decca signed many artists, Crosby was their number one artist for 20 years. Decca and Crosby were virtually synonymous.

No acting stretch here in terms of character. Crosby plays a rich crooner. Jokes about his wealth were a staple in Bob Hope's repertoire, although Hope did pretty good in that department as well. In 1934 Crosby was accumulating his fortune, but he wasn't near the point where as Hope once said, "he doesn't pay taxes, he just calls up the Treasury and asks how much they need."

Like many rich people and some not so rich Bing was collecting his toys in this film and he had one pistol in a matched set of dueling pistols that once belonged to John Paul Jones. Bing wants to get the set and donate them to the Naval Academy. Problem is that the other one belongs to Kitty Carlisle who is an exiled Russian princess living in Monte Carlo with her retinue which consists of Roland Young, Alison Skipworth and Reginald Owen. Essentially these people live off her selling her possessions and they're getting fewer and fewer.

So Bing goes off to Monte Carlo meets Carlisle and the fun begins. A standard criticism I have of Crosby's films is that Paramount shot them on the cheap, especially his musical numbers. It would have been great if Paramount had actually shot the thing in Monte Carlo, but to be fair, no studio in Hollywood would have gone those lengths in 1934. Twenty years later Paramount did go to Monte Carlo for a movie and the result was To Catch A Thief. Here Is My Hear would have been as special as that film had they done that and with color to boot.

This was also the first film Crosby did with William Frawley who appeared in several of his films. Frawley was one of film land's great misanthropic alcoholics and by all accounts not a nice man to know. Crosby and a lot of Hollywood gave up on him, until Desi Arnaz saved him from oblivion and gave him a fresh career as Fred Mertz.

Kitty Carlisle said that Crosby was a difficult man to know for her. He came to the studio, did his business and left. If he had his druthers, Bing would have been out on the golf course. But she enjoyed the two films she did with him. When I saw Here Is My Heart it was playing with Murder At the Vanities and she had not much good to say about her leading man Carl Brisson in that one.

One ironic tragedy. The film centered around Crosby trying to acquire antique dueling pistols. Crosby's crooning rival Russ Columbo was killed by an antique dueling pistol that summer around the time Here Is My Heart would have been in the theaters. A year before Columbo had visited Bing on the set of We're Not Dressing where Crosby's co- star was Carole Lombard who was linked to Columbo at the time.

Here Is My Heart was well worth saving. I guess we should all be grateful to Kathryn Crosby for doing her spring cleaning.

Good Crosby Vehicle

[boblipton · 6/10 · 16 December 2021]

Successful singer Bing Crosby is in Monte Carlo on his yacht. He's trying to purchase one of the pistols given by Catherine the Great to John Paul Jones so he can donate it to the US Naval Academy. Russian princess Kitty Carlisle isn't interested in selling. Crosby winds up serving her and her entourage -- Roland Young, Reginald Owen, and Alison Skipworth -- dinner, so they insist on his being their regular waiter. Crosby falls in love with her immediately, and they're broke. The usual complications ensue. Crosby is is very comfortable in his playing, Young is fine, Owen is adequate, Miss Skipworth is wasted, and Miss Carlisle.... well, she's pretty.

There's a pretty good bunch of songs, including the premiere of "Love Is Just Around The Corner" for Crosby to perform. Miss Carlisle sings a Russian song. Supporting performers include William Frawley, Cecilia Parker, Akim Tamiroff and Arthur Housman. It's a pleasant vehicle for Crosby.

The Princess and the Crooner

[lugonian · 7/10 · 4 April 2015]

HERE IS MY HEART (Paramount, 1934), directed by Frank Tuttle, stars Bing Crosby in a fairy-tale type romance not so much in the Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald flavor of LOVE ME TONIGHT (Paramount, 1932), but something re-platted from Alfred Sevoir's stage production, "The Grand Duchess and the Waiter," and the 1926 silent Paramount comedy featuring Adolphe Menjou and Florence Vidor. As with many silent movies, most were remade or recycled with sound. For this sound edition, the grand duchess is now a princess and the waiter not only sings but offers a flare for comedy as well.

The story revolves around a 28-year-old John Paul Jones (Bing Crosby), songwriter and former radio singer who, after inheriting a million dollar fortune, makes a list of things to do, fulfilling his lifelong fantasies. Checked off is one where he rescues a damsel in distress, a damsel who happens to be Claire Hastings (Marian Mansfield), one of the guests upon his yacht, the S. S. Bon Homme Richard. His next check off on his "bucket list" is fishing right in the center of the Atlantic Ocean. Later that evening, J. Paul receives a telegram from his friend, James Smith (William Frawley), a reporter from the Paris Chronicle, notifying him that he's located the owner of the second pistol once owned by the American Revolutionary hero, John Paul Jones (whose name is, according to J. Paul, "a coincidence, not descendant"), the pistol he hopes to buy and add with the one he currently owns to present to the U. S. Naval Academy. Heading for Monte Carlo to make arrangements with the gun owner, J. Paul, after registering at the luxurious Hotel D'Athene, encounters an attractive but snobbish woman (Kitty Carlisle) in the elevator. He is later told by Smith that the woman in the elevator happens to be the Princess Alexandra, owner of the second pistol who refuses to sell the item to anyone who's not royalty. Because of J. Paul's background, he is told the princess refuses to sell it to him at any price. After a drunken waiter (Arthur Housman) loses consciousness while delivering a tray of food to the Princess's room, J. Paul, mistaken for the waiter, assumes the role so to be closer to the princess and her upperty family consisting of the Countess Ristova (Alison Skipworth), Prince Nicholas (Roland Young) Prince Vova Vladimir (Reginald Owen) and their talking parrot. J. Paul even goes to the extreme measures with every breath he takes by buying the hotel for himself. Learning the princess to be extremely bored with life, J. Paul also finds the royal family not what they seem to be Others featured in the cast are: Cecilia Parker (Suzette); Akim Tamiroff (The Hotel Manager); Charles Wilson (The Yacht Captain); and Charles Arnt (Higgins).

The musical soundtrack composed by Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin and Lewis Gensler include: "June in January" (sung by Bing Crosby); "Love is Just Around the Corner" (sung by Crosby and Marian Mansfield); "June in January" (reprise by Crosby while listening to his own recording); "Italian Opera Song" (sung by Kitty Carlisle); "With Every Breath I Take" (sung by Crosby); "With Every Breath I Take" (Crosby and Carlisle); "Love is Just Around the Corner," "With Every Breath I Take" and "June in January." Of the few songs written for the screen, "June in January" gets the most and best treatment here. As much as the title, HERE IS MY HEART might have some indication of this being a medical story involving heart transplants, or a romantic comedy set on Valentine's Day, it's a wonder whether or not such a song bearing its movie title might have been considered as another song interlude that was scrapped. Considering the movie title sounding more like a song tune than having any connection with the plot is somewhat typical for its time as movie titles go.

Unseen and unavailable for decades, HERE IS MY HEART has become the least known of all the Bing Crosby/Paramount musicals from the 1930s. Sometime in the 1980s during a pledge drive from WNET, Channel 13's New York City based public television station, it was Kitty Carlisle, Crosby's co-star from this and SHE LOVES ME NOT (Paramount, 1934), who mentioned in an interview that her second film with Crosby, HERE IS MY HEART "isn't around anymore." Though it wasn't fully expressed whether the movie was officially lost with no surviving prints available or not, HERE IS MY HEART has fortunately survived and available in full glory on DVD in 2000 as part of the "Bing Crosby Collection", with MISSISSIPPI (1935) on its flip side of the disc. Though Crosby seemed to have better on-screen chemistry with Mary Carlisle than he did with the sophisticated Kitty, HERE IS MY HEART, at 76 minutes, is a worthy rediscovery and one to check off your list of Bing Crosby movie titles to see. (***1/2)

A great vehicle for Bing Crosby

[paul-547 · 7/10 · 28 May 2006]

I agree wholeheartedly with Cygnus58 regarding Kitty Carlisle. She was beautiful though. This movie is definitely a vehicle for the incredible talent of Bing Crosby. Crosby was certainly in his prime in 1934. A pre-swing singer for sure, who I believe was eclipsed by singers like Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes and others, after the advent of Benny Goodman and Swing Music in 1936.

I never got Crosby until I saw this piece. Now I get it. His post-swing Dixieland type singing and his duets with the Andrew Sisters never cut it with me. But he is a fabulous entertainer and singer in this film. If you never liked the older Bing, you'll love him in this film.

Early Crosby film boosted by top comedy supporting cast

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 19 December 2022]

This film is a good look at a young Bing Crosby. He was then 30 and was in his 20th film since his start in 1930. His J. Paul Jones is an established crooner of radio and records, and he's cruising in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, where he soon lands a small fish. He checks off one more item on his list that he had made when 11 years old. The list is "Things I'll do after I've made a million bucks." Well, one of those was, "Fish in middle of Atlantic." So after the captain and others of his crew determine they are smack dab in the middle, they let Jones know and he drops a line into the water and retrieves the small fish. This was all to the delight of his passengers.

Onboard are some guests whom Jones "rescued" from the gambling tables of Monte Carlo. One of his attractive guests, Claire, is drawn to him and he to her. She fulfilled one other item on his list - to rescue a damsel in distress. Another item on his list regards the pistols that Catherine the Great of Russia gave to the famous John Paul Jones. By now, the audience realizes that Jones is a real relative of the legendary American naval hero - who was a great uncle or something, because the real Jones never married or had any children. The opening scene shows the name of the Jones yacht, the "Bon Homme Richard" out of Yorktown, Virginia. So, Jones already owns one of the pistols and is in pursuit of the other, after which he plans, on his list, to present them to the U. S. Naval Academy. Now he gets a radio message from a news hound he knows, James "Jimmy" Smith. The other pistol is reputed to be in Monte Carlo, in the possession of a former Russian princess.

Yep - this is one of the many films made in the 1930s in which characters played displaced and refugee royalty of the former Russian Empire. I don't know if Americans or the movie public in general were that enamored with the thought of the Imperial ranks that had to flee for their lives after the Bolshevik Revolution. But they did provide fodder for interesting stories; and for more that two decades after that event, Hollywood kept the interest alive with films.

So, back they go to Monte Carlo, but just to drop Jones off. His boat and guests are to cruise over to Italy where he will meet them later. The comedy now takes off with the entourage of the Princess Alexandra. Kitty Carlisle is in just her third role of a very short career in films. She became prominent on radio and TV, and sang on Broadway; and was later a popular game show panelist. I remember watching "To Tell the Truth" frequently from the mid-1950s on, and Carlisle was one of the featured panelists for some 20 years.

But, I have to say, in this film she not only isn't anything special - she sings one short song and just voices a couple of stanzas almost as a duet with Crosby. It's not very good, and other than portraying a snobbish upper crust princess, she's not even attractive. Claire, back on the boat, was much more alluring. So, I suspect that audiences at that time also had a hard time swallowing any romantic attraction of Crosby's Jones to the princess. Even though Crosby plays his part as an almost lovesick puppy in pursuit of a princess, it's hard to buy that. But then, that in itself may be part of the comedy.

I rate this film six stars for two reasons. One is the comical situation that develops as Jones becomes a hotel waiter in his effort to get close to the pistol to acquire it. And, with that comes the other -- the comedy that is provided by the stellar supporting cast of actors. Reginald Owen as Prince Vladimir, Roland Young as Prince Nicholas, William Frawley as Jimmy Smith, and Akim Tamiroff as the hotel manager provided many of the occasions for laughter in "Here is My Heart."

Modern audiences probably wouldn't care much for this film, and its portrayal with the displaced Russian royalty doesn't really give a feel for the history or the times of the film. But, film buffs - those who enjoy all aspects of the cinema, including its early history and prolific production of movies over the decades, may be interested and enjoy it some. And, how many of us remember our history - that John Paul Jones actually got permission from the U. S. to serve in the Russian navy? Catherine the Great asked him to help the Russian fleet in the Black Sea against the Ottoman Empire.

Here are a few of the better lines from this film.

J. Paul Jones, "You're right, Jimmy. They're a couple of snobs. I think I'll stay over and tell her so." James Smith, "That's right. Stand outside her door and yodel, 'Snob!'"

Countess Rostova, mistaking Jones for the drunken waiter who passed out, "Waiter? What are you doing there? Why don't you bring in the dinner?" After an indignant look, Jones sees the princess behind the countess. The countess continues, "Well, are you stupid, or impertinent?" Jones, bowing "Stupid, madame." Countess, "And, impertinent. Hurry, please."

Jones, after he buys the hotel and audits the books, "Don't people ever pay their bills?" Hotel manager, "Oh, well, uh, the lower classes, uh sometimes. The middle class, always. But the upper classes, monsieur, never!"

James Smith, seeing Jones acting as waiter, "Boy, oh, boy, is this good. What a story. I can see it now. 'Warbling Waiter Outwits Royalty.'" Later, "Ah, 'Poisons Princess, Purloins Pistol."

A charming little musical romantic comedy - sadly, a forgotten classic.

[jonoye · 9/10 · 27 June 2001]

Not only do they not make 'em like this anymore, they can't.

Unfortunately, this delightful bit of charming musical whimsey is so far removed from our brutal, jaded modern world that the recipe is probably lost forever. But then, that's part of what makes "Here Is My Heart" so appealing. It's a slice of movie past that seems like a wonderful little lost place in time to 21st century sensibilities.

Watching it is like discovering breathing.

Bing Crosby somehow deftly owns the film, in spite of sharing the screen with such veteran scene stealers as Roland Young and Reginald Owen, who are at their best. The fact that Bing may have been at his vocal peak at the time certainly helps, as he proves why he was the number one male vocalist for two decades, flawlessly crooning "June In January" and "With Every Breath I Take". But it's the way he commands the screen with little visual bits of business that is a revelation. This type of love story was Der Bingle's stock in trade prior to his Father O'Malley days, and it's evident why he rose quickly to the list of top ten box office stars during the thirties. Trouble is, most of his films from this period are sitting in vaults somewhere, gathering dust.

Be sure to catch this charmer of a movie if it ever shows up on late-night TV or in a theater. It's a crime that it's not available on video!

Bing was King

[girvsjoint · 9/10 · 27 August 2020]

Someone once said that every singer who came after him either learnt, borrowed, or stole something from Bing Crosby. Here he is at his vocal peak, the man who virtually invented 'Pop' singing, in one of the many wonderful little musicals he churned out in the 1930's, all of which are a sheer pleasure to watch, several have still to make it onto DVD, we can only hope and pray they do! Here is My Heart take you back to another time, a time when life was simpler, and Hollywood was entering it's Golden Era, no messages, just enjoyment, pity it didn't stay that way!

Sophistication from the second team

[cygnus58 · 5/10 · 29 March 2002]

A musical comedy from Paramount featuring one classically trained voice and one popular singer, set in Europe, built around a romance between an impoverished princess and a rich man posing as a waiter to be near her... this sounds to me exactly like the kind of movie that Paramount would have assigned to Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald and director Ernst Lubitsch during the early thirties. I would bet my bottom dollar that this is exactly what Paramount planned to do with this musical remake of the 1926 silent comedy "The Grand Duchess and the Waiter." Unfortunately, none of them were available in 1934, so they gave it to Bing Crosby, Kitty Carlisle and director Frank Tuttle instead. In this case second best isn't good enough. Crosby holds his own reasonably well, making a surprisingly good substitute for Chevalier (or Adolphe Menjou, who played the part in the silent film); like Maurice, he has a breezy, easygoing charm, which fits his character, a common man who made good. But Carlisle is fatally miscast as the Russian princess. Jeanette MacDonald could play these snobbish aristocrats with an undertone of sympathy and humor; Carlisle can't, and she is so haughty that she becomes dislikable. She isn't a bad actress; this part just isn't meant for her. It would be hard for any movie to overcome that handicap. Maybe Lubitsch could have made something out of it, but Tuttle lacks his subtlety and his instinct for a clever gag.

The movie has virtues; the music is good, and the scene in which Bing sings "June in January" is imaginative. The supporting cast is solid, especially Roland Young and Reginald Owen as members of the royal family. The sets and the photography are attractive. I'm glad to see this movie emerge from the closet it had been hiding in for half a century, but it just isn't one of Crosby's best films.

Silly escapism

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 3 December 2018]

Here Is My Heart is another escapism romantic flick during the Great Depression intended to show poor audiences that rich people are frivolous and silly. So is the rest of this film.

Bing Crosby is a bored millionaire who falls in love with a princess, Kitty Carlisle, but due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she thinks he's a waiter. To have a little fun, Bing plays along and pretends he's a penniless servant; Kitty wants nothing to do with him. My question is, why does he want anything to do with her? Can't he recognize she's snobby and make a play for someone else? Apparently not, and if you don't like Kitty, you're not going to like this movie.

In a hilarious scene, Bing listens to a record of his own recording of "It's June in January", sings harmony with himself, and after listening to a high note, comments to the recording, "Ah, you made it!" When Bing is by himself or coming up with funny schemes with his buddy, Roland Young, the movie isn't that bad, but Kitty is just too much of a one-dimensional villainess and tends to ruin the scenes she's in. If you do end up liking this one, though, check out We're Not Dressing, which is very similar.

Wish the pulse of this movie was as fast as a heartbeat.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 4 February 2016]

Lacking in chemistry, Bing Crosby and Kitty Carlisle are an odd romantic screen team to behold. She's a selfish and spoiled (but nearly broke) princess, and he's posing as a singing waiter to get close to her. Claiming to be in love with her, He kisses her, resulting in a slap and a tongue lashing. But by this time, her previous snooty entourage are crazy about him, and it's only a matter of time before he has their permission to tame this shrew.

Only familiar with Kitty Carlisle as Mrs. Moss Hart and an occasional T.V. guest performer, I found her rather cold on screen. Crosby's personality cries for someone like Carole Lombard, Miriam Hopkins or Joan Bennett, but Carlisle lacks their oomph. Certainly here, she is extremely unlikable, a far cry from the charming older woman I would see on occasion 50 years later. Roland Young, Reginald Owen and Alison Skipworth score higher for laughs as Carlisle's elders, with Woliam Frawley amusing as Crosby's buddy. I got quickly tired of his fawning over her, and when she slapped him. I longed for him to slap her back.

Songs are pleasant enough but the pacing is slow. One funny moment has Crosby in disguise reacting to the royal talking about him while serving the snooty group most clumsily. This is the weakest of Crosby's early films, and ultimately a pretentious bore.