Best Actor 1930: Maurice Chevalier in The Big Pond

Maurice Chevalier received one of his two nomination for portraying Pierre Mirande in The Big Pond.

The Big Pond, since it has Chevalier in it, is obviously a musical romantic comedy who falls in love with a wealthy American tourist played by Claudette Colbert.

Maurice Chevalier was not some sort of incredible actor of incredible range. He basically played the same character in his youth with only slight alterations. One thing is for sure though they tended to be romantic Frenchmen who did not mind breaking into song from time to time. 

Chevalier without a doubt has a charm but the fact that he is more of a performer than an actor makes it so the success of his performances really comes from his material, really if Chevalier lacks the good material than his performance will be lacking.

This is unfortuantely the case here, this film is a particularly non special romantic comedy, that really lacks anything of note. None of the songs, are really of note, the whole story is not special, and the script lacks wit, thus leaving Chevalier to carry to much on his shoulders which unfortunately goes beyond abilities a bit much.

Chevalier certainly sings with his usual charm, but it never goes beyond just slightly charming. His chemistry with Claudette Colbert is much the same way. There is just not really much of anything that sticks out as a classic moment for Chevalier. He is not bad here, but he most certainly is much better when he has a better film behind him.