Another L&H viewing for us as we work our way through the L&H collection we have.
Blockheads, released in 1939 was supplied to us on 3 x 400ft spools. This particular print is a blackhawk print and the titles appear a different style to the norm. There is also an odd title board which is the first screenshot, I've not seen this at the start of a L&H comedy before.
For those who have been living on Mars, here is the plot to this mini feature.

In the trenches of World War I, Ollie, Stan and the rest of their army company are ready to go 'over the top', but Stan is ordered to stay behind to guard the trench. Scenes of fighting are then followed by the caption 'Armistice'. Twenty years pass, and Stan is still guarding the post. He is found by accident (after firing on a plane he sees approaching) and goes home, feted as a hero. Ollie, who has been married for a year to the formidable Mrs. Hardy sees him in a newspaper and visits him in the Soldiers' Home. He finds Stan in a wheelchair, having apparently lost a leg, and invites him home. However, Stan is in fact just resting in another veteran's wheelchair and Ollie only finds out he still has both legs after pushing him around in the chair and then carrying him. They reach Ollie's automobile, which he says belongs to his wife and is 'practically new', but Stan quickly manages to completely wreck it.
The two start to climb thirteen flights of stairs to Ollie's apartment, because the elevator is out of order. A man (James Finlayson) insults Ollie, leading to a lengthy argument. Then they run into a kid with a football, which results in Ollie kicking his ball down the stairwell, leading to another argument with the kid's father. When Ollie and Stan finally reach the apartment, Ollie's wife disapproves of him bringing home yet another bum, so Ollie has to prepare a meal for Stan, but the pair only succeed in blowing up the kitchen. Ollie's attractive neighbour, Mrs. Gilbert, offers to help clear up the mess, but herself gets soaked and ends up in a pair of Ollie's enormous pyjamas. Mrs. Hardy then returns, so Ollie and Stan have to hide her. When Mrs. Hardy finally leaves, Mrs. Gilbert's husband (Billy Gilbert) arrives and when he sees his wife there, he chases Stan and Ollie down the stairs, firing a shotgun. A large number of men jump out of windows.

The print is good with a decent contrast, although not as sharp as the walton prints we have, however, the last 400reel of this print is slightly darker than the the first two, it more of an annoyance at the point of change for me as this one is edited onto two 600ft spools, I would call it "darker" rather than dark as it is perfectly fine after a few pass at the change, you soon get use to it. The image is sharp and the sound is very good. The reason we kept it was simply because it only cost us around £20 at the time which was dirt cheap even back then.

I did find a few interesting points about this film, so here they are with the help of wiki,[/b]
This film was announced as being the last Laurel & Hardy film and it was the last Hal Roach production for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Block-Heads was the last film directed by John G. Blystone who died shortly afterwards.
The original ending in the script had Billy Gilbert seated comfortably in his study, with Stan and Ollie's heads mounted on his trophy wall (Ollie glances at Stan and says, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"). Hal Roach vetoed the idea as "too gruesome", but writer Felix Adler later used the gag at the end of The Three Stooges' 1941 short I'll Never Heil Again.
The battle scenes at the beginning of the film are recycled footage shot for the 1925 silent film The Big Parade by King Vidor.

Another classic Tom, they are all superb from the boys even the bad ones!! Mark

Quote: Tom Photiou wrote in post #1

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released in 1939

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Quote: Tom Photiou wrote in post #1

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There is also an odd title board which is the first screenshot, I've not seen this at the start of a L&H comedy before.

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