My essay on the Laurel & Hardy film Block-Heads (1938)

[Secret Executioner]

Some time ago, I mentionned in the What have you been watching lately? thread that I was re-watching Laurel & Hardy movies because I had to submit a paper for school on an American movie. (yeah, I'm attending cinema classes et the university )

I ultimately wrote a paper on the hilarious 1938 film Block-Heads but I never shared it on here like I was supposed to.

Until today.

I must warn you it's pretty long and it contains some spoilers.

Introduction:

Block-Heads is a 1938 comedy film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. In this film, the duo portray World War I veterans – named Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy – and while Oliver Hardy went on with his life after the war – we learn very quickly that he has been married and the movie is actually set on his first anniversary, Stan Laurel remained in the trench he was to guard as he was told to. Eventually, Laurel finally gets out 20 years after the end of the war and returns to America. Hardy goes visit him at a National Soldiers Home and decides to invite him for lunch – an invitation which is to be the beginning of a series of events putting everything in Oliver Hardy’s life at stake: his marriage, his property and even his life. Also essential to the picture are the jealous Mr. Gilbert and his beautiful wife – the neighbors of the Hardys – who will play a key role in the story as Mrs. Gilbert will try to help Laurel and Hardy fix the apartment after it was wrecked by an explosion only to have her dress drenched in punch.

The narrative is very classical: we can see causality, define characters that don’t change over the course of the film, closure and the movie is seen from an objective perspective. However, except for the closure and a linear narrative the movie doesn’t follow the “rules” of the Hollywood Paradigm: there isn’t one single protagonist but rather 2, the goal isn’t very clear and the film doesn’t end with the formation of a heterosexual couple.

My argument on this movie will be that Oliver Hardy’s masculinity is crushed and very limited compared with and/or because of other characters.

1) Oliver Hardy’s marriage

The first sight of the current life of Oliver Hardy we have in the film is his household. And the image is striking: we see Mr. Hardy wearing an apron and serving his seated wife while talking in a soft manner and using many nicknames a woman would usually give to her husband (“dear”, “sugar”...) while the wife remains silent and very cold. The role reversal in the couple is reinforced when we find out that Mrs. Hardy has a job of her own (nothing is said concerning Oliver’s current situation but it seems he is a houseman). She also gives him pocket money and he must ask if he’s allowed to go out and gets mad at him for being out longer than he was to be – like a little child. The couple owns a car that seems to be actually hers as Oliver also must ask if he can use it.

The mentions of his wife made by Oliver Hardy however draw a different picture. According to him, Mrs. Hardy is “one of the finest little women that ever lived” and apparently a great cook. The references to food lead to a gag as Stan Laurel seems – when he is at Hardy’s – mainly interested in getting the food mentioned earlier. Hardy seems however to be aware of his wife’s hot temper as he tells his neighbor Mrs. Gilbert that the idea of Mrs. Hardy catching the two in a pretty embarrassing situation – Mrs. Gilbert required a dress change but all the clothing available was Hardy’s pajamas – makes him “shiver”.

As Oliver brings Stan Laurel home with him, the wife has a very virulent reaction to Oliver constantly bringing his friends she obviously doesn’t like at all and departs. The following sequence shows us an argument where both Mr. and Mrs. Hardy speak at the same time until Mrs. Hardy yells “shut up” and leaves Mr. Hardy talking in vain – most of it is set in a small room as we follow Stan Laurel who tries to find them before he enters the room towards the end of the argument, reinforcing the idea he’s setting himself in Hardy’s marriage and causing trouble. The argument restarts as we see the wife packing up and Oliver comes to her and tries to reason her but the couple once again get into an argument, their voices forming a mess nothing can be understand of while Stan Laurel keeps following but also talks along with the two. There’s another argument later in the picture that follows a pattern similar to what was previously seen though Mrs. Hardy is much more virulent and this time, Oliver has to stop talking a couple of times as Mrs. Hardy returns after finding her car destroyed and discovers the havoc in her home after an explosion occurred in the kitchen – all the damage resulting from Stan Laurel’s actions. This argument however is rather seen on Laurel’s side as there are lengthy close-ups on Stan Laurel as he talks about how ridiculous the whole thing is while the Hardys are arguing and obviously can’t hear him.

[Secret Executioner]

2) Comparison with the Gilberts, the Hardy’s neighbors

When the Hardys offer a role reversal, their neighbors the Gilberts are a very normal couple – normal in terms of social conventions. Indeed, we first see Mrs. Gilbert who appears as a fragile, soft character and who is very nice to Mr. Hardy – in contrast with the very authoritative figure of Mrs. Hardy. Her husband appears shortly afterwards at an awkward moment as he catches Mr. Hardy helping her to pick up the magazines she dropped – their reaction, especially Hardy’s, mixes surprises and discomfort, as if Mrs. Gilbert had been caught cheating on her husband with Hardy, and the feeling is furthered by the mistakes made by Hardy and their posture – they are kneeling (low) while he’s standing above them and he’s looking down at them as if he had caught them in a bed. The mid-angle shots used to show the character through most of the scene showcase his obviously displeasure with what he’s witnessing and immediately tells us he is a very jealous character – something reinforced by his very first line in which he calls Hardy a “snake”.

We later find out that while his wife seems not to have a job, Mr. Gilbert is a famed hunter who travels a lot and his apartment is an immense display of trophies and weapons. He also gets invited to parties but his wife isn’t and doesn’t seem bothered being unable to come.

Mr. Gilbert is also central in the ending of the movie: Laurel and Hardy hide Mrs. Gilbert in a trunk to sneak her out of their apartment after her dress was soaked with punch and all the clothing they could get her was Hardy’s pajamas. And when they finally escaped the returning Mrs. Hardy – who can’t leave since the car is destroyed – they are faced with Mr. Gilbert who was returning home. The whole scene has the camera switching between the 3 men around the trunk and the woman hidden inside. When Laurel accidentally mentions the presence of a woman in the trunk, Mr. Gilbert first bursts into laughter and blabbers about knowing places where one can find great women – implying he’s cheating on his wife – but has a wholly different reaction as his wife stands out of the trunk in anger: he actually doesn’t care that his wife heard every word of the previous conversation but is far more concerned with his assumption that Hardy was sleeping with his wife, chasing him and Laurel with his gun and shooting at them. The movie ends with the duo running in the distance chased by the “cuckold” husband still yelling and shooting at them.

[Secret Executioner]

3) The fight scenes: Hardy against other men

As Laurel and Hardy are returning to Hardy’s place, they have to climb up to the 13th floor by foot since the elevator is out of order. Arrived by the 10th floor, they decide to take a rest and sit on the stairs. At that point, a distinguished unnamed gentleman – played by the duo’s classic foe James Finlayson who played in 33 Laurel & Hardy films (according to his Wikipedia page) – comes down the stairs. He hits the duo with his cane and tells them to move away as they are blocking the stairs.

His tone angers Hardy and the two decide to settle their difference by having a fight outside. The fight is very short as the two keep playing off each other until Hardy pushes the other man into the watching crowd who push the gentleman back and he hit Hardy in the face with his brief case, ending the fight as Hardy falls down to the ground.

The way this gentleman first appears is made to suggest he is of a higher social rank than Hardy:

Not only is his costume – with a flower in his button hole, a nice tie, a top hat and he is holding white gloves in his right hand – much more elaborate than the very middle-class costume and bowler hat of Hardy, but he also appears above them – going down the stairs – and he looks down at them while Laurel and Hardy have to look up at him. It’s interesting to note also that this unnamed character never touches Hardy with his bare hands but only hits him with his cane – in the stairs and during the fight sequence – or with his brief case – though unwillingly.

Along with social differences, this scene also illustrates Hardy’s crushed masculinity by showing him losing a fight to a man who is smaller and much thinner than him. Hardy also seems to try and avoid conflict by offering the character 2 chances to apologize for being insulting – indicating that he was just demanding the fight out of anger. After the fight has ended, Hardy says it could have been done at the 10th floor – suggesting that he is aware his masculinity was hit?

Later, a young boy playing football in the corridor of the 13th floor kicks his football in Hardy’s face. Though he kicks the football down the stairs, Hardy is seen as being rather weak again as the father shows up and Hardy is clearly unable to stand up against him. Hardy eventually gets kicked in the bottom like a little boy by the father for hitting the boy – though Laurel actually did it – but Stan Laurel ultimately settles everything by knocking out the father.

Conclusion:

We can see through the various characters and events occurring in the movie that Block-Heads actually showcases a weak male faced with stronger figures – mostly male but also a female figure. And while he could find an ally in the person of Stan Laurel, it turns out that this eventual ally is actually making things much worse because of his clumsiness or his cheer stupidity.

There you go friends. I know it's a bit long but hey, it was a school paper you know. Hope you'll enjoy this anyway.