Fjols til fjells

This movie is one of my all-time favourites. A joy to watch, mainly because of the inimitable Mr. Leif Juster in the lead. Unni Bernhoft is rather unconvincing and utterly charming as the young girl, or should we say boy, and Frank Robert does a great job (or rather two great jobs) as the ornithologist and the blasé actor. Add great one-liners, beautiful Norwegian mountain landscapes, great atmosphere, an utterly improbable story and amateurish editing, and voilà: A classic.

They say norwegians are born with skiis on their feet. this film is a nice comic addition to the good old norwegian black and white comedy genre. its about the rich and the poor, the beauty and the beast, spittin images and mistaken identities in a high speed comedy of proportions. a must see for every foreign student trying to learn norwegian language and the norwegian heart and sole(-d)

"Fjolls til fjells" is a boring Norwegian farce, that (strangely) is insanely popular over here. The setting is a hotel, and the movie is about all the intrigues between the characters. This proves to be very boring and we`ve seen it a hundred times before, and Leif Juster just isn`t funny as the chief of the hotel. Avoid it but small children might enjoy it. Just be sure to let your children watch this on their own, so you could go out to see a good film. The Danish version of this film is called "Solstik" and is actually a better movie, which is mostly because of the better actors. I give "Fjolls til fjells" a 2/10

Leif Juster is the manager of a ski resort. He has just ordered a snowmobile for the guests. The extravagance rouses the ire of the owner of the chain. He sends his daughter, Unni Bernhoft, to investigates, which she does by putting on a bellhop's uniform, which seems to fool everyone but the audience. Meanwhile, Frank Robert has checked in as two characters: one is a repressed ornithologist who carries a stuffed owl around; the other is a free-living star of stage and screen. Naturally, everyone thinks they are the same character, which causes the usual comic misunderstanding.

Juster is a fine comic, with his big nose and gangly build, but his demeanor and temper proclaim him a stage comic, and some good camera work and editing don't disguise the work this is a stage farce. It's also paced a trifle slow and goes on a bit too long for someone used to the lightning farce sequences of Friz Freleng and Michael Frayn.

"Fools In The Mountains" (1957) is an excruciating example of what Roger Ebert famously called The Idiot Plot - the kind of plot that would be resolved in 5 seconds if everyone involved was not a clinical idiot. The entire film is built on the shaky foundation of dumb misunderstandings. It is a major disappointment coming form Norway's first female director, Edith Carlmar, after her two very good noirs, "Death Is A Caress" (1949) and "Young Woman Missing" (1953). Maybe comedy just wasn't her forte. On the positive side, Unni Bernhoft is cute, and there is some pleasing snowy scenery. *1/2 out of 4.