Review of Swiss Miss

A Hal Roarch musical comedy that features Stan and Ollie initially as mousetrap salesmen in Switzerland, thanks to Stan's brainless brainstorm. Stan assumed there must be more mice in Switzerland, since they make much cheese : an idiotic assumption. In the first place, most cheeses don't attract mice, and some smelly ones repel them. Most cheeses are just another food that mice will eat. They love chocolate too, as I discovered. Thus, Stan has fallen for an old myth, perpetuated by cartoon makers. It's generally agreed that the odor of peanut butter is a strong attractant for them, as it is for our gray squirrels, who tear open trash bags to get at it. I have found that pure peanut butter, with only peanut oil, generally works best........The boys haven't sold one mousetrap after 2 weeks of trying. Perhaps the Swiss tend to keep house or barn cats, instead. Thus, when they enter a cheese factory, they bore a bunch of holes in the floor, supposedly to let the mice easily travel in and out : pure lunacy! Stan happens to bore a hole into a gas pipe below, and when he lights a match to see what he has hit, a flame shoots out, then alternately shoots out of other holes, searing Ollies rear, as he stands over them. Incredibly, after this display, the proprietor offers to buy all their traps, giving them a large denomination paper bill in francs. The boys go to the Alpine Hotel restaurant, and celebrate by ordering big meals. Ollie even chides the waiter for not having his favorite, apple pie. When time to pay the bill, Ollie whips out his bill, but the waiter laughs. Seems this currency is worthless in Switzerland, or anywhere else. Hence, they are put to work in the kitchen, especially washing dishes. For every dish they break, they have to work another day. Well, you know this will be an endless job for them!........Now, there is a composer and singer(Walter King, as Victor), staying at the hotel, hiding from his prima donna operatic wife Greta Natzler, as Anna), who has been bothering him too much lately. But, soon, she tracks him to this hotel. Victor tells her to go home. She pretends to comply, but meets the boys in the lobby. They tell their story to her, and she gets the idea of imitating them in ordering a dinner, and supposedly not being able to pay for it. Thus, she is also made to work off her debt. This provides an excuse for her to stay near her husband. However, she pretends she's romantically interested in Ollie, to make her husband jealous........ Now, Victor wants his piano moved to the treehouse, just on the other side of a very deep gorge, that is only reached by a swaying rope bridge. Guess who is elected to get the piano there? They do a good job getting the piano to the bridge, with the aid of a small dolly under the piano. However, in crossing, the dolly comes out from under the piano and Ollie slips on it, wrecking several slats, and nearly falling down the chasm. They continue onward, but a pet 'gorilla'(man in ape suit) comes out of the treehouse, and begins to cross the bridge. When the boys realize this, they shake the bridge in their panic what to do. The combination of excessive weight, and jostling, is too much for the supporting ropes on the treehouse side, and they snap, sending the 'gorilla' and piano to the bottom of the gorge, while Ollie hangs on precariously, and Stan tries to help pull him up. We will meet this 'gorilla' again in the final frames of the film, hobbling on crutches, and scaring the boys out of town.........Then, there's the gag where Stan is plucking feathers from a series of chickens. A Saint Bernard rescue dog with a small barrel of brandy tied around his neck shows up. Stan tries to get at the barrel, but the dog backs away when he tries. This goes on for too long, before Stan gets the idea of throwing the little pieces of feather in the air, so that they somewhat resemble snow, then lying down, and moaning that he is injured. This breaks the dog's resistance, and Stan gets his reward. Later, when Ollie is clinging to the broken rope bridge, this dog walks by, and Stan leaves his mission to get Ollie up, to chase this dog........There are a number of musical productions, featuring the singing of our two songbirds, plus usually a chorus of the hotel workers. Unfortunately, there is no 'keeper' song among them, except Ollie's serenading of Anne with the standard "Let Me Call You Sweetheart". Unfortunately, this is largely ruined by Stan's accompanying tuba playing. The new songs were composed by the combination of Phil Charig and Arthur Quenzer. This included such memorable tunes as "The Mousetrap Song" and "The Cricket Song"(Of course, I'm being facetious).......In conclusion, there are few highlights in either the comedy or the musical performances. The rope bridge caper was the only one that really excited me.