Die Klotzköpfe (1938)
15KDie Klotzköpfe: Directed by John G. Blystone. With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Patricia Ellis, Minna Gombell. Stan, who has remained faithfully at his World War I post for twenty years, finally comes home where his best friend, Ollie, takes him in, thus allowing him to discover the many conveniences of the modern world.
“BLOCK-HEADS is set up with an idea which must have seemed totally ridiculous in 1938 but when you stop to consider that Japanese soldiers were being found on remote Pacific islands 30 years after the second world war ended the idea stops being ridiculous and becomes shockingly propheticu003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is possibly the last of the great Lu0026amp;H movies ( FLYING DUECES being the only other contender ) , after this the comedy duo started appearing in studio features that didnu0026#39;t seem to show much respect to their genius , made them slightly off centre and stretched stories out for almost 90 minutes when a 60 page script would have worked much better u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis means that BLOCK-HEADS suffers from the mild irritation of so many other Stan and Ollie star vehicles – Itu0026#39;s rather episodic . But seeing as itu0026#39;s so funny what have we got to complain about ? Listen out for Stanu0026#39;s tagline u0026quot; Is there gonna be a fight ? u0026quot; which is repeated several times and the surreal sequence of closing the blinds on the stairway . Strange when people discuss the films of these two comedy gods they always think of slapstick but forget they were also masters of surrealist visualism too . The funniest moment is probably the final scene in Ollieu0026#39;s apartment involving the married couple from next door u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI still think THE LAUREL AND MURDER HARDY CASE is the best of their vehicles but BLOCK-HEADS deserves its own mention as being one of the very last superb Stan and Ollie comedies”
