The Big Pond

A 1930 American pre-Code romantic comedy directed by Hobart Henley, starring Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert. Based on the 1928 play of the same name by George Middleton and A.E. Thomas, the film features dialogue by Preston Sturges in his first Hollywood assignment. Chevalier plays Pierre Mirande, a French tour guide in Venice who romances Barbara Billings (Colbert), a visiting American tourist whose father owns a chewing-gum factory. Her skeptical father brings Pierre to America and gives him a job in the plant to test his character. Chevalier sings "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" and "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" — songs that became signature numbers. He received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his collective work on this film and The Love Parade. The film entered the public domain due to non-renewal of its copyright.