7.1/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 7.1/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Switzerland the Beautiful remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you're looking for a plot, you'll be bored stiff within five minutes. But, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys watching old, slightly scratchy footage of alpine meadows and wants to learn why the Red Cross logo looks the way it does, it’s a perfectly fine way to kill a rainy afternoon.
Who will hate it? Anyone expecting a thrill ride. People who need a central protagonist to anchor the experience. Folks who find educational narrators from the mid-20th century a bit sleepy.
Who will love it? People who collect old travelogues or just want to zone out to images of wildflowers and rushing streams. It’s oddly calming, in a 'my grandfather is showing me his vacation slides' kind of way.
The movie doesn't really have a 'performance' to speak of, unless you count the narrator’s unwavering commitment to sounding informative. Ruth FitzPatrick is mentioned, but the real star is the scenery, which honestly holds up better than most actors do.
There’s this moment where they zoom in on the painted window frames of an alpine chalet. It lingers there for quite a while. I found myself staring at the floral patterns, wondering how long it took to paint them. It’s that kind of movie—you stop thinking about the film and start thinking about the furniture.
It’s not as chaotic as A Temperamental Wife, obviously. It doesn't have the tension of Gambling, either. It just exists. It’s a very polite, very well-behaved film that doesn't ask much of you.
Sometimes, the voice-over gets a little too cozy with its own descriptions. It tries to make a meadow sound like a life-changing event. I chuckled a bit. It’s sincere, though. You can tell they really liked these mountains.
Anyway, I probably wouldn't watch it twice. But I also didn't turn it off. Sometimes, that's enough. 🏔️

IMDb 6.5
1919
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