Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. At the Alpen Hotel, Switzerland, they expect operatic composer Victor Albert (Walter Woolf King), who has rented all rooms to compose his Tyrolean masterpiece, he arrives yodelling. Meanwhile Stan and Ollie are trying unsuccessfully to sell mouse traps, and to get rid of his worthless Bovanian francs, the Cheese Factory Proprietor (Charles Judels) buys the whole business. So the boys celebrate with a big dinner at the hotel restaurant, and when they realise they have been swindled, they must work in the kitchen until they have paid the debt, and extra days are added for breaking dishes. Soon to arrive at the Hotel is Victor's wife, successful singer Anna Hoeful Albert (Della Lind) who gets all the credit, Victor only gets a P.S., so he obviously wants her to go back to Vienna. Then we see Stan trying to trick a St. Bernard dog to give him his brandy keg, and when Ollie returns to get him to help carry Victor's piano to the tree house, his drunkenness doesn't help. So the boys try to push the piano (a reprise of The Music Box) along a rope bridge, but it is not just Stan's drunken state causing trouble, but a loose gorilla coming along, but falls when the bridge snaps. Anna is trying to get Victor jealous and noticing her by dressing as a peasant girl, and getting both Ollie and the hotel Chef (Adia Kuznetzoff) to fall in love with her. Victor is trying to concentrate more on his music, and with piano gone at one point he uses an organ filled with soapy water, with bubbles coming out and popping some of the notes. At night, the boys invite her to join them at the Alpenfest for merry making, she agrees, and even after she has left the window, they remember to serenade her, with Ollie singing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" (which I recognised from an Orange mobile phone advert) accompanied only by Stan's sousaphone, and they get soaked by the Chef. The next day, everyone is singing "I Can't Get Over the Alps", and the boys arrive by horse and caravan wearing huge moustaches, and introducing Anna as 'Romany Rose', Victor obviously recognises her. In the end, Victor finds his love for Anna once again, the boys see them reunited too, and as they leave the hotel, they are forced to run away from the gorilla, returned in bandages and crutches, but manages to hit them both on the head with a crutch, running down the road. Also starring Eric Blore as Edward, Adviser to Victor Albert and Franz Hug as Flag thrower. Filled with wonderful slapstick and all classic comedy you could want from a black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Good!
Review of Swiss Miss
