Stunning sets and some truly hysterical moments highlight this operetta spoof which takes Laurel and Hardy back to what they had done three times before, top bill in enlarged supporting parts as the attraction that the producers knew would bring the audiences in. They are incompetent mouse trap salesmen who create more harm as they try to make a living than make a sale. As a result of their stupidity, they end up as equally incompetent handymen who create more chaos than getting things done, all with hysterical results, almost preventing operetta writer Walter Woolf King from completing his intended masterpiece.
The Swiss Alp setting is stunning, highlighted in the classic comedy scene where laurel and Hardy spoof "The Music Box" when they try to deliver a piano across a Swiss mountain range with their way blocked by the strange sudden appearance by a gorilla. Laurel befriends a St. Bernard and gets drunk off a keg of rum; an organ filled with soap suds, making its own kind of music, and they pretty much turn an entire house into Swiss cheese while trying to sell one of their mousetraps. The operetta songs are pretty upbeat, but a few gags don't seem to land as well as they could have. Fine support by Eric Blore adds charm, and the musical numbers are pretty lavish. It was one of my favorites as a kid, but really hasn't stood the test of time as well as I thought it would.
The Swiss Alp setting is stunning, highlighted in the classic comedy scene where laurel and Hardy spoof "The Music Box" when they try to deliver a piano across a Swiss mountain range with their way blocked by the strange sudden appearance by a gorilla. Laurel befriends a St. Bernard and gets drunk off a keg of rum; an organ filled with soap suds, making its own kind of music, and they pretty much turn an entire house into Swiss cheese while trying to sell one of their mousetraps. The operetta songs are pretty upbeat, but a few gags don't seem to land as well as they could have. Fine support by Eric Blore adds charm, and the musical numbers are pretty lavish. It was one of my favorites as a kid, but really hasn't stood the test of time as well as I thought it would.