Block-Heads is a 1938 film directed by John G. Blystone, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
The prologue finds Stan and Ollie in the trenches of World War I. When the unit is ordered to go over the top and charge, Stan is told to stay behind and guard the trench. Stan and Ollie bid each other goodbye and Ollie promises to come back.
Cut forward twenty years and Stan is still in the trench, guarding his post. He manages to shoot down a plane, whereupon the agitated pilot tells him that the war has been over for two decades. When Stan comes back to America Ollie reads about his old friend in the paper and brings him home. Cue comic hijinks that involve Ollie's tyrannical wife, Ollie's very sexy neighbor lady, and the neighbor lady's jealous husband.
Tropes:
- The Artifact: Ollie's jealous neighbor, Mr. Gilbert, is a Great White Hunter with stuffed heads on his walls. The original script had a Black Comedy ending with Stan and Ollie's heads mounted on the wall, with Ollie's head turning to Stan and saying "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" This idea was dropped for an ending where Mr. Gilbert is chasing Stan and Ollie away.
- Chased Off into the Sunset: The film ends with Stan and Ollie running off as a gun-toting Mr. Gilbert chases them.
- Creative Closing Credits: Creative Opening Credits. The credits are accompanied by sketches which match who's being credited. For director John G. Blystone's credit, there's a cartoon drawing of a guy in a director chair with megaphone. For the Film Editor credit, there's a drawing of a confused-looking man holding a film strip and a pair of scissors.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: The boys have a run-in with a bratty little kid (played by Tommy Bond, aka "Butch" in The Little Rascals). This leads to the kid's father twice kicking Ollie in the rear...for which Stan retaliates in turn by landing a punch on the guy's chin that knocks him out cold.
- Distant Prologue: A prologue, which is surprisingly gag-free, finds Stan and Ollie in the trenches in 1918. Then the film cuts to 1938 and the main story and the silliness starts.
- Double Take: Ollie glances at the newspaper story about Stan staying in the trenches for 20 years, and says "I can't imagine anyone being that stupid." Then he does a double take, snatches the paper up again, and says "Oh yes I can!".
- Finger-Snap Lighter: Sort of. Stan is somehow able to dump tobacco in his palm, make a fist, and smoke his fist like a pipe. He sticks his thumb in his mouth and puffs away, blowing smoke while Ollie gapes in astonishment. Later in the film, Stan tries to use his thumb as a finger-snap lighter and seems surprised when he can't do it.
- Forgotten Anniversary: One of the reasons why Ollie's shrewish wife is angry with him is that he has forgotten it's their first anniversary.
- Gave Up Too Soon: Stan and Ollie have to walk thirteen floors to Ollie's apartment because there's an "Out of Order" sign by the elevator. Maybe five seconds after they turn away an elevator operator removes the sign. The rest of the film has a Running Gag about Stan and Ollie continually being forced to walk up and down the stairs.
- Great White Hunter: Mr. Gilbert, the jealous husband across the hallway, is a great hunter who has stuffed animal heads all over his walls.
- Henpecked Husband: Ollie, who serves his wife breakfast while wearing an apron (in 1938 a sure sign that a man was whipped). He then has to ask permission to use the car, and for an advance on his allowance.
- Hollywood Darkness: Mrs. Gilbert is hiding inside a trunk, and somehow, there is a light inside the trunk to show her pretty face.
- Little People Are Surreal: A random gag has a little person emerging from the elevator that Ollie is trying to board. The moment is made more surreal by the little person having an obviously dubbed deep bass voice.
- Never Learned to Read: Stan looks at the "Out of Order" sign by the elevator and asks Ollie "What's it say?"
- Pacing a Trench: Stan takes his commanding officer's orders to remain in the trench for as long as possible far too literally — he stays there long after the war is over, dutifully performing his patrol every day. When he finally learns that the war ended 20 years earlier, his patrol route now has a knee-deep rut.
- The Remnant: Poor Stan, marching in his trench for twenty years, because everyone forgot him. (He survived for twenty years on his regiment's stores. There's an enormous pile of empty cans of beans behind the trench.)
- Stock Footage: The opening World War I combat montage is stock footage taken from WWI epics The Big Parade, Wings, and All Quiet on the Western Front.
- Tempting Fate: An impatient Ollie goes into the kitchen to light the stove, saying "Every time I want something done right I have to do it myself!" He then lights a match and the kitchen explodes, because Stan left the gas on.
- This Is a Work of Fiction: A card in the opening credits, signed by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, says "The characters and events depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not our fault!" This is accompanied by a cartoon drawing of a man washing his hands.
