The Big Pond

For his fourth film in America with Paramount, Maurice Chevalier was given Claudette Colbert as his leading lady, a woman who was also born in France. He's once again a Gallic charmer, this time using his charms as a tour guide in Venice.

When Claudette is over in Europe with parents George Barbier and Marion Ballou, she falls head over heels for Chevalier. He's so unlike the men she's known in America, especially the dullard that works for dear old dad and wants to marry her, Frank Lyons.

But Barbier ain't real happy with the prospect of Chevalier as a son-in-law as he considers Chevalier a fortune hunter. But we bring back to the USA and put him to work learning dad's business. Barbier is the chewing gum king of America. And I thought that honor belonged to the Wrigley family.

Maurice starts right at the bottom in the factory and foreman Nat Pendleton is told not to ease up on him by any means. But when Chevalier accidentally spills some bootleg rum on a vat of chewing gum and creates a new flavor, he's proclaimed a genius.

Chevalier was nominated for Best Actor for this role and for The Love Parade, but he lost to George Arliss for Disraeli. I don't think The Big Pond is anywhere near as good as The Love Parade, but it has its moments.

Maurice got two hit songs from the score of The Big Pond, You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me and Living In The Sunlight Loving In the Moonlight. The former you may remember served as the title of a film that starred Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward and the song was sung over the opening credits by Frank Sinatra. But it gained even more lasting success only a year later in the Marx Brothers comedy Monkey Business when Harpo 'sang' the song with a Victrola and Chevalier's 78 RPM record strapped to his back as the brothers were disembarking a ship.

Claudette sparkles as the leading lady and she shows more than a trace of the comic talent that would burst four years later in It Happened One Night. And George Barbier who is a favorite character actor of mine plays another exasperated father concerned for his daughter, a part he would patent over his career.

I wonder though, did the Wrigley family ever think marketing rum flavored gum at Cubs games?

Any Marx Brothers fan will become instantly enamoured with this as it begins with: If a nightingale could sing like you.... One of the funniest scenes in one of their funniest pictures. Apart from that, this is nothing like a Marx Brothers film. What this is, is a sweet, delightful and charming little romantic comedy so jettison your twenty-first century cynicism along with your expectations for anything deep and meaningful and enjoy this hour and a bit of cheerfulness.

Don't worry - this is not like those nauseating early Lubitsch musicals where everything's either in rhyme or even worse, in song - no, this is a proper, normal picture with proper dialogue. Whether its believable or credible dialogue is another question - but it really doesn't matter. When you watch this, you're pulled into a soft and fluffy alternative reality where life is simple and everyone, even your enemies are all sweet and lovely. It's not one of the best examples of a 1929/1930 early talkie but it's definitely not one of the worst. Veteran silent director Hobart Henley, who never really took to the talkies nevertheless creates an experience which is simply lovely to look at and relax in. And along with Maurice Chevalier's constant cheerfulness, he keeps the mood upbeat and happy throughout.

It might be as light as a feather ...from a very small bird ...on a planet with no gravity but that's fine - it's not meant to be a drama. In this same year, Claudette Colbert was in a very intelligent and well-rounded drama called MANSLAUGHTER but this is just fun. It's a good example of pre-Depression (the original play certainly was) entertainment and Maurice Chevalier is actually fantastic at this type of thing ...even though he's always smiling. With most people, if they were constantly grinning at you'd probably want to slap them but somehow he not only gets away with doing this but actually makes you smile as well.

Claudette Colbert, now on talkie number four shows how much her acting style has developed since the incredibly awful HOLE IN THE WALL made just a year earlier. Besides the fact that she was one of the most beautiful actresses ever, if you watch her in this, she's already got that natural delivery, that likeable and believable personality and that authenticity which resonates with a modern audience even today....and as I've said, absolutely gorgeous.

"The Big Pond" is a rather archaic sort of movie...even compared to many other films from 1930. The sound is the major problem. Although it has a few musical numbers, the sound quality is pretty shabby on the copy I saw on YouTube. Could there be a better copy? Sure...but the film's problems aren't all because of the sound. The film itself seems as if the filmmakers weren't sure how to use the sound they had...and compared to the other musicals of the time it just seems flat and unappealing...which is amazing because Maurice Chevalier's films he made just after this were terrific.

The film begins with the Billings family in Europe on vacation. There, Barbara (Cluadette Colbert) falls in love with Pierre (Maurice Chevalier). The problem is that she comes from a rich family and Pierre is without a job. Her father agrees to bring Pierre to America and gives him a job in his chewing gum factory. While it might seem that the guy likes Pierre, he plans on giving Pierre a hard time--to work him so hard that he'll quit and the wedding plans will fall apart. However, Pierre manages to make good and become an important part of the family...and practically loses Barbara as a result.

Apart from having a chance to hear the same song made famous in the Marx Brothers film "Monkey Business" (where Groucho, Chico and Harpo try to use Chevalier's passport to disembark from the ship...and by singing "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" (from "The Big Pond"), there isn't a lot to distinguish the film. Chevalier is good in spite of everything and Colbert is, essentially, there but not particularly distinguished.

FYI--In the film, someone tells Pierre that a decent salary to obtain to enable you to get married is $20,000 a year. Back in 1930, the average salary was only about $1900 a year!

Maurice Chevalier charms America and gets the bosses daughter in this early sound rom-com featuring a few of his songs along with his straw boater. Not as polished a film as his other early work with Lubitsch and Mamoulin, Chevalier still conveys his irresistible charm battling primitive early sound while exhibiting his exuberantly lush accent.

Chewing gum magnet's daughter Barbara Billings has fallen heavy for her Venice guide Pierre Mirande but the xenophobic old man sees him as a gigolo looking for an angle to get at his empire. Billings is an abusive blow hard but his daughter has him wrapped around his finger so he devises with Barbara's American suitor a plan to take him to America and make life miserable for him. The indefatigable Pierre however wins over all those around him as well as come up with a gum that sends profits through the roof that in addition assists the prohibition campaign.

Chevalier carries the picture while Claudette Colbert as Barbara offers up a touch more coquette than standard innocent abroad while old man Billings manically played by George Barbier is a bombastic chauvinistic bore given to shoving his wife.

Hobart Henley's direction underwhelms while some comic dialogue ("Don't talk when I'm interrupting you.") is offered up by Preston Sturges but it remains Maurice's picture and his unchained joie di vivre that gives Across the Pond the buoyant life it has.

I just viewed "The Big Pond" on DVD, having purchased it through a private collector. Although the film is stagy (especially the over-acting of George Barbier), I found it quite enjoyable. Having just seen (for the 20th time) the Marx Brothers "Monkey Business", I wanted to see the Chavalier film that introduced the song, "You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me" to movie audiences. You get a healthy dose of the song throughout this film, but it's such a great song, I was happy to hear its various reprises, vocal and instrumental. Another excellent Chevalier song from this film, "Living In The Sunlight, Loving In The Moonlight" brought back memories of Tiny Tim's rendition of this song on his "God Bless Tiny Tim" album. I found Chevalier to be at his best in this film, and highly recommend it to anyone that can track down a copy!