The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Lots of funny bits comprise this Laurel and Hardy feature, many of which could conceivably have been reworked into individual shorts. The story finds Stan discovered while still manning his sentry post from the first World War, but twenty years later! Subsequently, Ollie looks him up at the Old Soldiers Home and from there it's one disaster after another. I've always differentiated Laurel and Hardy from other comedy teams like Abbott and Costello in the sense that they do things funny rather than simply doing funny things. Although there are a fair share of funny things happening in this flick as well, with able assists from the likes of Billy Gilbert, James Finlayson and even former Our Gang bully, Tommy Bond. Stan's smoking pipe bit always manages to crack me up and the topper this time has him brushing the ashes out of his hand when he's done smoking. Minna Gombel is on hand as Ollie's less than understanding wife, but on the other hand, what's to understand? Rounding out the main cast is Patricia Ellis as Mrs. Gilbert, who's quite pretty while doling out her own share of laughs with the covered chair gimmick. A very funny treat for fans of the comedy duo that would please just about anyone.

BLOCK-HEADS (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1938), directed by John G. Blystone, is not a comedy short featuring The Three Stooges, but a feature length comedy starring another comedy team simply known by many as Laurel and Hardy. Produced by the Hal Roach Studios, released by MGM, BLOCK-HEADS, resembling a comedy short extended to 57 minutes, is a perfect example how a minor story with enough gag material (whether lifted from other comedies or those starring Stan and Ollie) becomes a laugh-filled comedy classic. Before the story proceeds, it gives out warning that, "The events and characters depicted in this photo-play are fictitious. Any similarity to actors portrayed, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not our fault." Signed Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.The story starts off in France during the Great War (World War I) in 1917. Private Stan Laurel is ordered by his commanding officer (William Royle) to remain in the trenches, guarding the post, until relieved from duty, while others in his regiment, including his best pal, Oliver, go off to war. After the Armistice of 1918, soldiers return home and resume with their lives. Move forward to 1938. Stanley still stands guard at the post, with a mountain of bean cans close by. After shooting at a passing airplane, a French pilot (Jean Del Val) lands to tell this soldier that the war has been over for twenty years. Now home from the front, Stanley makes the headline news, "America honors forgotten dough-boy." As Oliver, now living at the exclusive Elite Arms Apartments, is about to go and prepare his one year anniversary celebration with his wife (Minna Gombell), he notices the headline on the front page of a newspaper, "America honors forgotten dough-boy." As he sees the photo with the story, he quips, "I can't imagine anybody being that dumb. (delayed reaction) Oh, yes I can!" Remembering his old pal, Oliver comes to the National Soldiers Home where Stanley is staying. Ollie then invites Stanley to return home with him for a steak dinner and meet the wife. Easier said than done.Considering the Laurel and Hardy comedies dating back to the late twenties, their movies are never consistent. In almost all of them, they use their own names, indicating a continuing film series, which it's not. It's just a series of movies with new stories using same actors bearing their same names. Laurel and Hardy can be henpecked husbands in one film, or single men the next. One of them can be married, the other a single pal, such as the case in BLOCK-HEADS. Regardless, their basic characters are always the same with derby hats being their official trademarks. Then there's Ollie at one point telling Stanley, "Now here's another fine mess you've gotten me into." With BLOCK-HEADS consisting of many fine messes, Stan's memorable quote here happens to be, "You know how dumb I used to be? Well, I'm better now." Not quite. Invitation to dinner sequence happens to be one mishap after another, thanks to Stanley and scripting material written by none other than former silent comedian, Harry Langdon, with the assistance by James Parrott, Charles Rogers, Felix Adler and Arnold Belgard.Others members in the cast of Hal Roach stock players include Oliver's next door neighbor, Billy Gilbert as Mr. Gilbert, an avid hunter with a rifle returning home after two months in Borneo to his attractive wife, Mrs. Gilbert (Patricia Ellis) and suspicious nature; Tommy Bond ("Butch" from the "Our Gang" comedies) as a brat playing football in the apartment building; Harry Woods as the boy's tough father; Patsy Moran (Lulu, Oliver's ex-girlfriend); and James Finlayson, a regular in many Laurel and Hardy comedies, seen briefly as an angry tenant whose misunderstanding with Oliver has Stanley alerting the tenants, "There's going to be a fight!" Aside from fine production values and classic underscoring, BLOCK-HEADS is fast-pace and high on laughs. The film itself is a sheer reminder as to how great Laurel and Hardy are as a comedy team. There will never be another likes of them again.Initially distributed in the 1980s onto home video, either in black and white or colorized format, BLOCK-HEADS, available on DVD (on a double bill with another Laurel and Hardy classic, WAY OUT WEST), had its cable television broadcasts consisting of the Comedy Channel (1980s), American Movie Classics (1994-96) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: appropriately April 1, 2005). Does Stanley finally get to have his juicy steak dinner with Ollie. Stay tuned and fine out. (***)

***1/2 out of **** One of Laurel and Hardy's funniest comedies. It begins in 1918 during WWI, where Stan and Ollie are in the trenches with their army mates and the whole entourage goes over the wall to do battle, leaving Stanley with orders to remain alone in the trench and guard the fort. The next thing you know, twenty years go by and it's 1938, but nobody has told poor Stan the war's ended, so he's still marching back and forth in the same old trench! Eventually, Stan gets rescued and is taken to an Old Soldier's Home where he is visited by his old pal Ollie. Ollie decides to bring him home to his place to meet the wife and have a nice home cooked meal with a nice juicy steak, topped off with a delicious seven layer chocolate cake, with typical mishaps along the way! BLOCK-HEADS is a fast-moving joy that clocks in at under an hour's running time. The laughs are pretty steadily spread throughout, and there are a lot of them. My favorite scenes occur mostly during the first three quarters of the film, especially at the Soldier's Home where Ollie reunites with Stan, who just happens to be reading a newspaper while sitting in a wheelchair with one leg tucked under -- Ollie thinks Stan lost his leg in the war and proceeds to carry him in his arms around the grounds! Hilarious!! The end of the film loses just a touch of steam, which is the only reason I hesitantly pause in giving this a full four stars. But all fans of Laurel and Hardy must seek this Comedy out, and new first-timers would do well to use this movie (and SONS OF THE DESERT) as their introduction to Stan and Ollie. ***1/2 out of ****

The first half of BLOCK-HEADS contains the most amusing skits in the feature that runs just a little short of one hour and seems like a series of farcical sketches that become a little too hectic toward the last twenty minutes. But fans of LAUREL & HARDY probably won't really mind since it's good slapstick fun.The most amusing idea has STAN LAUREL still keeping watch in the trenches during World War I and shooting at a German plane until the pilot (who lands safely nearby) explains to him that the war has been over since 1918. When Stan is reunited with his friend OLIVER HARDY at a veteran's home, he's sitting in an unoccupied wheelchair and Oliver thinks he's a vet with a missing leg. It's one of the funniest sections of the film, that has Oliver carrying him, getting dumped on by a dumpster, and taking all sorts of pratfalls as the routine winds on.Later, at Hardy's home, the slapstick gets even wilder but not necessarily funnier. Too many staged arguments with his wife (MINNA GOMBELL) lead to the sort of shouting matches that can become tiresome after awhile. But through it all, STAN LAUREL has some good comic moments as friend Oliver gets in trouble with the lady next door and her jealous husband (BILLY GILBERT).The gags are fast and furious in typical slapstick tradition and it's a fast-moving comedy that should satisfy fans of the duo. Gilbert is a joy to watch as the jealous hubby, easily stealing scenes with his caricature of the man across the hall from Hardy.Summing up: Delightful mixture of gags and slapstick situations in the Hal Roach tradition.