Our story begins in Switzerland at the Alpen Hotel, where the staff was eagerly awaiting the arrival of world renown singer and operetta composer Victor Albert. Edward, adviser to Albert, personally oversaw preparations. Also arriving in town that day were Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, two inept mousetrap salesmen. It was Stan's idea to come to Switzerland to sell mousetraps because it's where cheese comes from. Well, they get into a slap fight with their first customers, then decide to try selling mousetraps to the local cheese factory. They give a demonstration and the proprietor is pleased. He buys their whole business for 5,000 Bovarian Francs. Stan and Ollie decide to live it up at the Alpen Hotel café. They are obnoxiously rude to the chef because he has no apple pie. When Ollie attempted to pay with the 5,000 Bovarian Francs, he learns they are no good. Anywhere. Bovaria doesn't even exist. So now the boys were forced to work for the bitter chef. They were put to work washing dishes and for every dish they broke, they had to work an extra day. From the looks of things, they were going to be here a very, very long time.<br /><br />Victor Albert arrives at the hotel and composes a lovely new song about crickets. That's when his wife and fellow world renown singer, Anna Albert, arrived. The critics seemed to favor her over Victor, so there was friction between them; Stan and Ollie were put to work plucking chickens, and as soon as Stan noticed a St. Bernard with a barrel of rum around his neck, he became so desperate for a drink that he threw the feathers into the air to improvise snow and pretended to be in pain. He succeeded, and got drunk; After breaking more dishes and adding more days to their already endless sentence, Stan and Ollie are instructed by Victor Albert to move his piano. He was unable to concentrate on his operetta at the hotel and wanted to relocate to a tree house in the Alps. Now we all know what happened the last time Stan and Ollie tried moving a piano, and there is a brief reenactment; After moving the piano into the mountains, they now had to brave a rope bridge over a seemingly bottomless gorge. Stan was still drunk. As they made their way across the rickety bridge, Stan claimed to have seen a gorilla. It wasn't a dizzy spell. It was real! As if that weren't bad enough, the rope bridge gave out. Stan and Ollie managed to jump back onto the ledge and were safe, the gorilla disappeared and the piano fell deep into the Alps, crashed onto the rocky surface and died a swift, tragic death.<br /><br />Anna seemed to take a shine to Ollie. Stan gave him advice on falling in love and told Ollie to serenade her. So with a tuba outside Anna's window that night, Ollie does just that. The next day, the boys go to see Anna as per her invitation, but first have to elude the angry chef. They succeed and make it to Anna's, only to find she and her husband, Victor, were still very much in love. So, Stan and Ollie prepare to depart, broken hearted. That's when a bandaged gorilla on crutches appears for a showdown...<br /><br />Swiss Miss, another brilliant musical/comedy with Laurel and Hardy. Right along the lines of Pardon Us (1931), Babes in Toyland (1934), The Bohemian Girl (1936). Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, the world's funniest comedy duo, outdid themselves again as always. Also in the cast: Walter Woolf King as Victor Albert, Della Lind as Anna Albert, Eric Blore as Edward, Adia Kuznetzoff as the surly chef, and Charles Judels is the Cheese Factory Proprietor. Judels also voiced the horrid Stromboli and that crook Coachman in Disney's Pinocchio. Sadly Laurel, Hardy, King, Lind, Blore and Judels have all passed away. During the scene with the dancers, watch for Stan Laurel's daughter Lois! So anyway, if you are a Laurel and Hardy fan like I am, then I recommend Swiss Miss! It's not a movie about cocoa so don't let the title throw you. See it today, if you can possibly find it. Wonderful music. Wonderful songs. Not a strong plot, but the songs and terrific comedy certainly make up for it.<br /><br />-