People are voting emotionally.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Blistering performances.

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.

Stan and Ollie turn up in Switzerland, of all places. Stan thinks that they will be able to sell mouse traps to the Swiss because there are more mice there than anywhere else in the world. The owner of a cheese factory offers to buy their stock, but pays with counterfeit money. Thinking they are rich, Stan and Ollie celebrate with a slap-up meal at a local hotel. Then comes the crunch - they are unable to pay the bill.The hotel owner sets them to work as dishwashers. In no time at all, most of the crockery is broken.Also at the hotel is an American composer, trying to write a new musical. His wife shows up and, in an effort to make her husband notice her, pretends to flirt with Ollie...One of the weaker Laurel and Hardy features, this still manages to be a lot of fun. Stan and Ollie have some great scenes together, such as their drilling holes in the cheese factory's wooden floor, playing a tune by popping soap bubbles coming out of an organ, and Ollie serenading the Della Lind character.Switzerland as depicted here is peopled by blonde girls in pigtails, and yodelling men in leather shorts with feathers stuck in their hats, but who cares? 'Bonnie Scotland' was hardly an accurate depiction of that country either.Funniest moment - a close run between Stan's attempts to get a barrel of brandy from a St.Bernard's neck, or his and Ollie moving a piano across a rope bridge, where they encounter a gorilla ( don't ask ).Did I hear someone say dated? Well, Stan and Ollie never needed to swear or fart to get laughs, did they, unlike today's 'comics'.Altogether, a pleasant viewing experience.

SWISS MISS often shows the problems Laurel and Hardy had at the Hal Roach studios when they stopped making their short films and were forced into making only features.It is rather sad that they became victims of their own success;their series of silent and sound shorts are generally acknowledged to be consistently the most famous,loved,best-made and revived series in movie history,even above such comic greats as Chaplin,Keaton and Lloyd.The symptoms of this unparallelled triumph was that their boss Hal Roach was increasingly forced to put the boys into features as well as short comedies,in the name of economy.As a result,producer Roach was forced to exert more control over such more expensive productions,which led to increasing tensions in his professional(and personal)relationship with Stan Laurel. Laurel,of course,was the main creative force behind the camera of the L & H partnership,and Roach rarely interfered artistically when producing their short films.Sadly in the features,Roach took it upon himself to supervise the content on a larger basis,much to Stan's chagrin.While it is true that Roach still left Laurel a substantial amount of creative freedom in most of these features,the two still quarrelled about scripts on occasion.BABES IN TOYLAND,made four years previous,was one example.Roach apparently wrote a script which Laurel rejected;Stan's eventual story was filmed,much to his boss's anger,and relations between the two were said to be somewhat damaged thereafter.It is remarkable in many ways that Roach didn't sack Laurel on the spot there and then after such apparent insurgence.We can be thankful than Stan and Babe Hardy remained at Roach for another six years,where they still produced some genuine classics(WAY OUT WEST the best regarded),but it was always obvious L & H were more comfortable in the shorter film mould.They still made some classic features(SONS OF THE DESERT and the above;with BLOCKHEADS and OUR RELATIONS not too far behind),but SWISS MISS is decidedly average compared to most of their Roach features.Their best features were those in which the story was just about Laurel and Hardy and their adventures,not needing frequent straight,humourless romantic sub-plots or pauses for musical numbers.It is infested with many of the above faults between the L & H routines in this film,which drag it down considerably and lead to much tedium.SWISS MISS often doesn't have the proper feel of a Roach L & H vehicle either,with an untypical and rather uninspired supporting cast,consisting of mainland European performers as befits the foreign setting.It is nice to see the inimitable British comedy actor Eric Blore present,but he hardly gets a chance to interact with the boys,and his role unfortunately consists of unfunny platitudes.The only really familiar face on view is Anita Garvin,returning to the L & H world after a gap of seven years.Her scene with the boys is quite amusing,but is all too brief.The best remembered sequences,involving a St.Bernard dog with a tot of brandy,and delivering a piano over a swing-bridge,only to be confronted by a gorilla,are enough to save the film from total mediocrity,but for various reasons,Roach involved himself in the production rather too much for Stan's comfort,editing key scenes out,like a bomb put into the piano(which would have added more power to the piano delivery scene)and a musical number featuring cheese shop owner Charles Judels,in which only a few lyrics remain intact in the released version.As it is,SWISS MISS also befits from an elaborate production for Roach standards,and although not necessarily as poor as their post-1940 features,it is still heavily flawed and one of their weaker features at Roach.

being a fan of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy for as long as i can remember. i have seen all of their films from Lucky Dog up to the dire Atoll K and this is in my top five favourite Laurel and Hardy films of all time.Stan and Ollie play mouse trap salesman who get riped off by a cheese salesman and must pay off their debt by working at a local hotel. there are many funny moments in this film including the fire scene (once you see this film you will know what i mean) but there are a lot of boring songs that spoil the comedy of Stan and Ollie but apart from that a classic piece of vintage comedy.watch this and enjoy!