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The Big Pond

  • 1930
  • Passed
  • 1h 12m
IMDb RATING
5.7/10
296
YOUR RATING
Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
ComedyMusicRomance

A tour guide in Venice romances a visiting American tourist whose father owns a chewing-gum factory back in the U.S. She sets out to convince her skeptical father to bring the tour guide to ... Read allA tour guide in Venice romances a visiting American tourist whose father owns a chewing-gum factory back in the U.S. She sets out to convince her skeptical father to bring the tour guide to America and give him a job in the plant.A tour guide in Venice romances a visiting American tourist whose father owns a chewing-gum factory back in the U.S. She sets out to convince her skeptical father to bring the tour guide to America and give him a job in the plant.

  • Director
    • Hobart Henley
  • Writers
    • A.E. Thomas
    • George Middleton
    • Garrett Fort
  • Stars
    • Maurice Chevalier
    • Claudette Colbert
    • Frank Lyon
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    5.7/10
    296
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Hobart Henley
    • Writers
      • A.E. Thomas
      • George Middleton
      • Garrett Fort
    • Stars
      • Maurice Chevalier
      • Claudette Colbert
      • Frank Lyon
    • 11User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 1 nomination total

    Photos9

    Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
    Claudette Colbert, Maurice Chevalier, and George Barbier in The Big Pond (1930)
    The Big Pond (1930)
    Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
    Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
    Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
    Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)
    Claudette Colbert and Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond (1930)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Maurice Chevalier
    Maurice Chevalier
    • Pierre
    Claudette Colbert
    Claudette Colbert
    • Barbara Billings
    Frank Lyon
    Frank Lyon
    • Ronnie
    George Barbier
    George Barbier
    • Mr. Billings
    Marion Ballou
    Marion Ballou
    • Mrs. Billings
    Nat Pendleton
    Nat Pendleton
    • Pat O'Day
    Andrée Corday
    • Toinette
    Elaine Koch
    • Jennie
    • Director
      • Hobart Henley
    • Writers
      • A.E. Thomas
      • George Middleton
      • Garrett Fort
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Debut of actress Marion Ballou.
    • Quotes

      Ronnie: Speaking of making love...

      Pierre Mirande: Was I speaking of it?

      Ronnie: I mean, you Frenchmen are supposed to know a lot about love-making. Perhaps you could tip me off to something. I'm not getting the breaks that I should get.

      Pierre Mirande: Oh, you are not?

      Ronnie: No. I'm a good-looking fellow, don't you think?

      Pierre Mirande: Yes, true.

      Ronnie: I pull my line on 'em. Get everything all set. It's all perfectly setup. And then I get the fruit.

      Pierre Mirande: You get the fruit?

      Ronnie: The raspberry! The horse laugh!

      Pierre Mirande: What horse laughs?

      Ronnie: I mean... oh, nevermind! What I wanna know is what you do when you go out with a girl.

      Pierre Mirande: Tell me what you do now.

      Ronnie: Well, I sort of put my arm around her, say 'how 'bout a little kiss, baby?' Maybe I don't even ask for it. And I usually say, 'you're hot stuff, me for you. How 'bout goin' places and doin' things?'

      Pierre Mirande: Yeah? And, uh, and then?

      Ronnie: Then they usually give you the air!

      Pierre Mirande: Huh. And you call that making love? Huh! Poor American girls...

    • Connections
      Alternate-language version of La grande mare (1930)
    • Soundtracks
      You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
      Music by Sammy Fain and Pierre Norman

      Lyrics by Irving Kahal

      Sung by Maurice Chevalier

    User reviews11

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    3/10
    Maurice Chevalier sans the Lubitsch Touch
    "The Big Pond" is the only film thus far that I've seen not directed by Ernst Lubitsch to star Maurice Chevalier, excepting the Lubitsch-esque "Love Me Tonight" (1932) and his supporting roles later in life, such as his cringingly pedophilic "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" in "Gigi" (1958). Although he was nominated for an Academy Award for both his performance here and in Lubitsch's "The Love Parade" (1929), the gulf between these two performances and films in terms of appeal and quality seems as large as the Atlantic Ocean, from which this film derives its title.

    In this one, Chevalier plays a French tour guide in Venice, I guess, who plans to marry an American (a pre-stardom Claudette Colbert), whose father owns a chewing-gum factory in the states. To make good, Chevalier works his way up her father's factory by inventing liquor-flavored gum (without the alcohol, of course, as this was made during Prohibition) and by writing lyrics to advertise it. To the shock of Colbert's character, but to nobody who has ever worked for a living, Chevalier doesn't have as much time for romancing her with all of this newfound hard work. The resolution to this conflict is predictable enough, of course, although it involves abduction.

    Lubitsch was a master filmmaker, who collaborated with his screenwriters, acted out every part himself for the actors, mapped out elements such as camera placement and blocking ahead of time, and he was one of the most respected cutters in the business. Mary Pickford even turned to him to fix her film "Sparrows" (1926). This level of care and craft is evident in "The Love Parade," which was a musical ahead of its time in that many movies for a few years after it were of subpar quality, even technically. "The Big Pond" is one such subsequent production. Its average shot length of 12.4 seconds is a rather typical slow pace for an early musical ("The Love Parade" is no quicker), but the edits tend to be awkward--cutting away from characters as they're still delivering lines or even from Chevalier during his first song. Character blocking also clearly wasn't planned thoroughly, with the camera doing quite a bit of panning just to try to keep most of the actors within frame and often not successfully. And all of the claustrophobic interiors and dialogue-heavy action make for a stagy look.

    Although it has a couple repetitive songs performed by Chevalier, they're mere show-stopping interludes, as opposed to the integrated numbers that were the main attraction in "The Love Parade" and that elaborated and commented upon the story. Plus, Chevalier doesn't break the fourth wall to wink at the camera and address the audience, to serenade us, as he does in Lubitsch's films. Instead, he and the other actors, notably the one playing the father, tend to gesticulate wildly. Lubitsch also would've likely done something more interesting with the love triangle here--making it something of a sophisticated sex comedy--and he may've included another woman to tempt Chevalier away instead of the throwaway plot of the child he befriends here. Unfortunately, however, Chevalier and his character may've been working hard for this one, but it doesn't seem that anyone else was.
    helpful•0
    0
    • Cineanalyst
    • Oct 1, 2018

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 3, 1930 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Languages
      • English
      • French
    • Also known as
      • Devlet Kuşu
    • Filming locations
      • Paramount Studios, Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 12 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.20 : 1

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