The Big Pond

I apparently liked this one more than most people, and I thought it was a thoroughly charming romantic comedy. I see that Preston Sturges was a writer on this one and his touch shows. Chevalier plays Pierre, a guide of rather noble background whose family lost their money in the first World War. Barbara (Claudette Colbert), the rather spoiled daughter of the wealthy Billings family, falls for Pierre during the family's European vacation. When her father first finds out that Barbara wants to marry this man, he explodes. But then he reconsiders. He figures his best option is to take Barbara's side, take Pierre back to America with them, put him to work in the family business - they make chewing gum , and show Barbara that he could never fit in.

So this boils down to your basic fish out of water story, but Pierre is a very sincere and charming Gallic guppy. In America he wins over everyone from his rooming house landlady who also happens to be French to his gruff coworker (Nat Pendleton) who was instructed to "give Pierre the business" by Mr. Billings but lightens up after he just can't help liking the guy.

However, Pierre's blessings - his quick wit and likability - are also a curse. His reluctant father-in-law to be soon finds Pierre quite the idea man and pretty soon Pierre has worked himself up from hard physical labor to a nice job and a nice office to match. This has him spending much time at work, neglecting Barbara, and even turning his love song to Barbara into a chewing gum jingle much to Barbara's dislike. Will things work out for Pierre and Barbara? Watch and find out.

Chevalier is pretty much the whole show in this one since it really is Pierre's story - Claudette Colbert is not given that much to do. Maybe that's a good thing since she is playing a very spoiled girl that must think the money with which she parties is heaven sent since she is so opposed to the men in her life working long hours and upsetting her social calendar. But this is a comedy, so her excesses and shortcomings are not explored here. The song "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" gets reprised to the point of excess, but still it manages to not wear out its welcome.

"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!

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.

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.

THE BIG POND (Paramount, 1930), directed by Hobart Henley, is a familiar story that has the makings of a very fine "rich girl loving common man" plot had it been made a few years into the decade when the cycle of screwball comedies was at its peak. Starring the energetic Frenchman Maurice Chevalier, THE BIG POND pairs him for the first time opposite another French native gone Hollywood, Claudette Colbert. Colbert's role as the daughter of a self-made millionaire appears to have been a dress rehearsal for her, for that she was to play a similar role in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (Columbia, 1934), and winning an Academy Award for her performance. While this is far from being worthy of an Academy Award for Colbert, it is Chevalier who was nominated, along with his earlier work in THE LOVE PARADE (1929). Although worthy for the nomination for THE LOVE PARADE, THE BIG POND offers nothing new nor challenging for Chevalier's acting talent except for his popularity at the time. Based on the stage play by George Middleton and A.E. Thomas, the title of THE BIG POND is categorized as a ocean between the home of the central character (Venice) and the place he hopes to make his home with his new found bride (America).

"Springtime in Venice" is the opening title as the scenario fades into the locale in Italy where the vacationing Barbara Billings (Claudette Colbert), the American daughter of an impoverished family whose father owns Billings Pepsin Chewing Gum, has met and fallen in love with her guide, Pierre Mirande (Maurice Chevalier). Although Pierre meets with the approval of her mother, Emily (Marion Ballou), this relationship doesn't rest well with both her father, Henry (George Barbier), who takes him for a fortune hunter after her money, and her fiancé, Ronnie (Frank Lyons), who happens to be her father's associate. In order to please Barbara and discourage Pierre, Henry decides to offer Pierre a position at his chewing gum factory upon their return home in the states, and won't approve of their marriage until he proves himself successful. While there, Pierre is given the business, with Ronnie, now the rejected suitor, finding him a place to live in a shabby boarding house, which is run by a French landlady, while Henry makes sure things do not come easy for Pierre during his employment at the plant. Pierre, whose ambition is to earn $20,000 a year, works so hard that by the end of the day be becomes overly exhausted, causing him to miss attending Barbara's social function as he spends the entire night sleeping in bed while dressed up in his evening clothes. While Henry feels his plan is working, especially since that Barbara being stood up has caused her to change her mind about marrying Pierre, he soon finds that the joke will be on him.

The small list of supporting players consists of Nat Pendleton as Pat O'Day; Andree Corday as Toinette; and Elaine Koch as Jennie. Koch, a child of about 10, whose performance comes as a cross between other child actresses, Mitzi Green and Sybil Jason, makes her movie debut as well as her final screen appearance. She plays an orphan who works at the boarding house who, like many others, becomes very fond of Pierre. She has one heartwarming scene where she sings the overly tired Pierre to sleep. Whatever became of her?

The musical soundtrack for THE BIG POND includes: "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me," (by Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain/French lyrics by Pierre Norman); "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" (reprised by Chevalier, harmonized by Colbert); "Living in the Sunlight, Loving in the Moonlight" (by Al Lewis and Al Sherman; "You Brought a New Kind of 'Gum' to Me" and "This Is My Lucky Day" by Lew Brown, B.G. DeSylva and Ray Henderson. If the song "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" sounds familiar, its introduction by Chevalier is overshadowed by the Four Marx Brothers, who immortalized it in one of their best comedies, MONKEY BUSINESS (1931) which features a highlight scene where they are each seen imitating Chevalier by separately reciting and/or singing the opening lyrics, "If the nightingales could sing like you ..." The song became popular for Chevalier, in spite of his four reprises and over exposure in its underscoring, that after a while, grows tiresome.

While the premise for THE BIG POND is good, it suffers today, as with most early talkies, due to slow pacing and lack of musical underscoring under the dialog or in between scenes. With future comedy director Preston Sturges credited as one of the scriptwriters, one would expect some funny one-liners or witty dialog, but it the final print, it has little to offer except Chevalier, who manages to liven things up a bit, especially when singing to the associates during a business meeting of "Loving in the Moonlight" while holding or wearing his trademark straw hat.

Rarely shown on television, availability to THE BIG POND on video cassette has been located through a private collector. Audio is fine but picture quality is poor mainly to its occasional fade in and fade out darkness. Though not as better known as some of his earlier works, THE BIG POND is among Chevalier's other list of forgotten film titles during his Paramount years (1929-1933), including INNOCENTS OF Paris (1929), PLAYBOY OF Paris (1930), A BEDTIME STORY and THE WAY TO LOVE (both 1933). THE SMILING LIEUTENANT (1931), which reunited him with Colbert for the second and last time, has become a rediscovered gem and an improvement over THE BIG POND, thanks to director Ernst Lubitsch. While THE BIG POND may not be the best film for both of them, there's no harm done in watching Chevalier and Colbert early in their careers. (**)