The Big Pond
Cast & Crew
Hobart Henley
Maurice Chevalier
Claudette Colbert
George Barbier
Marion Ballou
Andrée Corday
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Pierre Mirande, son of an impoverished French family, makes a living by acting as guide to Mrs. Billings and her daughter, Barbara, tourists in Venice. Although Barbara falls in love with him, her suitor, Ronnie, and her father see him as a fortune-hunting foreigner, and accordingly offer him a job in Mr. Billings' chewing gum factory in New York. Forced to live in a dingy boardinghouse, Pierre is given the toughest work in the plant, but Barbara assures him that bluff and fast thinking are necessities in American business. With his humorous songs, he captivates his landlady, Toinette, and the maid, Jennie, but falls asleep on the night he is expected to attend Barbara's party. Wrongfully accused of spilling rum on some chewing gum samples, Pierre is discharged; he is later reinstated and promoted when he sells the idea of rum-flavored chewing gum with his own advertising lyrics. Insulted, Barbara plans to marry Ronnie, but Pierre kidnaps her aboard a speedboat.
Director
Hobart Henley
Cast
Maurice Chevalier
Claudette Colbert
George Barbier
Marion Ballou
Andrée Corday
Frank Lyon
Nat Pendleton
Elaine Koch
Crew
Monta Bell
Lew Brown
B. G. Desylva
Sammy Fain
George Folsey
Garrett Fort
John W. Green
Bertram Harrison
Ray Henderson
Emma Hill
Irving Kahal
Al Lewis
Pierre Norman
Robert Presnell
Al Sherman
Preston Sturges
Ernest F. Zatorsky
Film Details
Technical Specs
Award Nominations
Best Actor
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
A French-language version of The Big Pond, La grande mare, was filmed simultaneously with the English version. Maurice Chevalier sings "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" and "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" in both versions. Chevalier received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his collective work on this film and The Love Parade (see below).
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1930
Released in United States 1974
Released in United States 1930
Released in United States 1974 (Shown at FILMEX: Los Angeles International Film Exposition (The Preston Sturges Movie Marathon) March 28 - April 9, 1974)
