Block-Heads (1938)

Picture a man who's spent twenty years guarding a trench, dutifully waiting for orders that never came, because nobody bothered to tell him the war was over. That's the setup for Block-Heads, and yes, it's completely daft. But in the hands of Laurel and Hardy, daft is frequently delightful.

Stan plays the hapless veteran still faithfully patrolling his post two decades after the Armistice, and Ollie is the old pal who stumbles across him in a veterans' home and decides, with that particular brand of Hardyish optimism that always ends in catastrophe, to reintegrate him into modern life. What follows is exactly what you'd expect: a series of escalating misunderstandings, wounded dignity, and slapstick chaos conducted with the pair's signature blend of bumbling innocence and mutual exasperation. The premise is wonderfully absurd, and to their credit, they commit to it completely.

This isn't their finest hour, and I think it's worth being honest about that. If you want to see these two at their absolute peak, I'd point you towards The Music Box or Sons of the Desert before recommending this one. Block-Heads is a late-career effort, made in 1938 when the duo were working through a slightly thinner patch, and it shows. Some gags land with that timeless, almost childlike silliness that made Laurel and Hardy so beloved. Others stretch on a beat too long, or feel like they're working a little harder than they should have to. By modern standards, a handful of the routines feel their age.

And yet. There's something genuinely warm about spending time with these two, even in a lesser film. The chemistry between them is so deeply settled, so comfortable, that even when the material lets them down you're still happy to be in the room. Stan's wide-eyed, slightly otherworldly innocence plays beautifully against Ollie's perpetual air of wounded self-importance. Hardy does more with a slow burn and a tie-twiddle than most comedians manage with a full script. That dynamic carries a lot here, probably more than the writing strictly deserves.

What strikes me most, watching something like this in 2025, is how much of the comedy is rooted in patience. There's no rapid-fire cutting, no relentless noise. The film trusts you to wait for the gag to arrive, and when the timing is right, it still works. That gentle, unhurried rhythm feels almost radical now. It won't make you howl with laughter, but it'll raise a steady smile, and there are moments of genuine cleverness tucked in among the broader stuff.

The WWI framing is worth a mention too, even if the film doesn't lean on it heavily. The idea of a man so loyal, so simple-hearted, that he just kept showing up long after everyone else went home carries a quiet pathos underneath all the silliness. It's not played for tears, and rightly so, but it gives Stan's character a certain sweetness that stops the whole thing from feeling throwaway.

Three stars. Not essential, but far from forgotten either. Even second-tier Laurel and Hardy turns out to be better company than most comedies can manage. If you've already worked through their classics and want more, this is a perfectly pleasant way to spend an hour. Just don't start here.

Rating: ★★★  | Year: 1938  | Watched: 2026-03-07

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from John G. Blystone: Our Hospitality (1923)
More with Stan Laurel: Sons of the Desert (1933) · The Music Box (1932)
More from the 1930s: Earth (1930) · Monkey Business (1931) · Sabotage (1936) · People on Sunday (1930)
More comedy: The Eagle (1925) · The General (1926) · Americana (2023) · The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
More war: Lessons of Darkness (1992) · The General (1926) · Men Without Wings (1946) · Fires Were Started (1943)