Swiss Miss is easily one of Stan and Ollie's worst films of the 30s. Much of the comedy is fairly stale and is often recycled from earlier movies. The boys play mousetrap salesmen who travel to Switzerland figuring that's where all the mouse will be. The boys are hoodwinked by an unscrupulous cheese shop salesman (they're a dodgy lot, those cheese shop salesmen) into selling their entire outfit for a counterfeit note which they then try to spend on a slap-up meal in the local hotel. Needless to say, when the forged note is discovered the boys are put to work in the kitchen.
The film's plot revolves around a great maestro cloistering himself away from the world at the Tyrolean hotel in which the boys are paying off their debt in order to write his musical masterpieces – which is unfortunately the cue for a couple of operetta-style musical numbers to pad out the running time. His wife tracks him down however and, when Maestro sends her away, deliberately refuses to pay for her slap-up meal so that she can stay. I've got to say that I wouldn't send her away if she was following me to remote mountain hideaways. Anyway, this part of the story is typically rubbish and best fast-forwarded past.
Laurel & Hardy's routines raise only fitful laughs. Stan looks old in this picture, and Ollie, always a big man, is truly obese here. Apart from the boy's final picture together (made in 1951), I can't recall him ever looking so large. Anyway, there's still the occasional moment that raises a laugh – but they're woefully few and far between. In fact the final shot is probably the best of the entire film.
The film's plot revolves around a great maestro cloistering himself away from the world at the Tyrolean hotel in which the boys are paying off their debt in order to write his musical masterpieces – which is unfortunately the cue for a couple of operetta-style musical numbers to pad out the running time. His wife tracks him down however and, when Maestro sends her away, deliberately refuses to pay for her slap-up meal so that she can stay. I've got to say that I wouldn't send her away if she was following me to remote mountain hideaways. Anyway, this part of the story is typically rubbish and best fast-forwarded past.
Laurel & Hardy's routines raise only fitful laughs. Stan looks old in this picture, and Ollie, always a big man, is truly obese here. Apart from the boy's final picture together (made in 1951), I can't recall him ever looking so large. Anyway, there's still the occasional moment that raises a laugh – but they're woefully few and far between. In fact the final shot is probably the best of the entire film.