Block Heads

Plot

The film opens in the trenches of World War I where 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. Stock scenes of fighting are then seen followed by the caption 'Armistice'. Twenty years pass, and Stan is still guarding the post, as shown by the huge pile of bean cans he has accumulated, and the path he has worn pacing back and forth on guard. He is found by accident (after firing on a plane he sees approaching) and is brought home, feted as a hero. Ollie, who has been married for a year to the formidable Mrs. Hardy (Minna Gombell), sees him in a newspaper and visits him in the veterans' 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. Ollie, angrily: "Why didn't you tell me you had two legs?" Stan: "Well, you didn't ask me." They reach Ollie's automobile, which he says belongs to his wife and is 'practically new', but it is boxed in by a dump truck. Stan climbs into the cab to move it and inadvertently operates the dump mechanism, burying the car in sand and leaving only Ollie's head exposed. It is then completely wrecked when Ollie demonstrates the automatic garage door at his home and allows Stan to drive the car in to test it.

There is then a lengthy scene of the pair attempting to climb thirteen flights of stairs to Ollie's apartment because they think the elevator is out of order. They are resting near the top when a top hat-wearing man with a cane (James Finlayson) insults Ollie, leading him to challenge him to a fight outside. They return down the stairs, picking up spectators along the way. After settling the disagreement, the pair finally reach the top of the stairs, where they run into a brattish kid (Tommy Bond) with a football. Ollie kicks his ball down the stairwell, where it hits the face of a man speaking on a telephone at reception. The kid's burly father emerges and orders Ollie back down the stairs to fetch it. After a 'tit-for-tat' fight with the father, the ball is kicked down the stairwell again and hits the man in the face a second time. When they finally reach the apartment, Ollie's wife wants Stan to leave immediately, as she is disgusted with the bums he brings home. When food is demanded she walks out, leaving Ollie to prepare a meal for Stan, but the pair only succeed in blowing up the kitchen.

Across the hall, Ollie's attractive neighbor, Mrs. Gilbert (Patricia Ellis), offers to help clear up the mess. She is then soaked by a bowl of punch (the only item left unscathed from the kitchen explosion) and the only dry clothing Ollie can find is a pair of his enormous pajamas. Mrs. Hardy then returns, because her car is wrecked, and Ollie tries to conceal Mrs. Gilbert by covering her with a cloth to make her resemble a chair. After Stan unwittingly sits on her, Ollie hides her inside a trunk. All this time, Mrs. Hardy has been quarreling with Ollie, and finally leaves. Big-game hunter Mr. Gilbert (Billy Gilbert) then arrives and the wife reveals herself after he boasts about his extra-marital conquests. He then chases Stan and Ollie back down the stairs, blasting at them with a shotgun, missing the duo, but hitting everything else. A large number of philandering husbands jump out of windows with trousers off.

Cast

Production