Review of Block-Heads (1938) by Brian R — 01 Mar 2011

Rather incredibly, Ollie is happily married in this film, at least until he brings his old army pal Stan home with him (Stan has spent the last twenty years guarding his post in the trenches - no-one told him the war had ended).

Mrs H isn't keen, which is a bit unfair - Stan is more alien than idiot, and a likeable alien at that, keeping a glass of water and ice in his pockets, using his hand as a pipe, and pulling down the shadows of window blinds.

The dialogue is brilliant, but the true genius of L&H lies in their delivery, and the non-verbal little bits of comic business that were their stock-in-trade. My favourite scene involves a football being kicked down 13 flights of stairs and hitting a man with the most extraordinary hair in the face (twice).

If, like me, you're a connoisseur of films where grown men kick each other up the 'Arris then this is possibly the Citizen Kane of such a genre. James "Double-take" Finlayson and Patricia Ellis give good solid support but Billy Gilbert threatens to steal the show as the hunter returned from Africa.

God knows what nationality he's supposed to be, but he's riotously over-the-top. In a good way.