Laurel and Hardy: The Blockheads

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Movie
German title The blockheads
Original title Block heads
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1938
length 55 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director John G. Blystone
script James Parrott ,
Harry Langdon ,
Charley Rogers ,
Felix Adler ,
Arnold Belgard
production Hal Roach
music Marvin Hatley
camera Kind of Lloyd
cut Bert Jordan
occupation

Die Klotzköpfe , originally Block-Heads , is an American comedy film with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy .

The film ran in German cinemas under the alternative title Long Line , in Austria as Pech on the 13th floor or as a fool . For television he got the title Klotzköpfe or Tag der Trümmer .

action

Stan and Ollie take part in World War I and are separated on a combat mission. Ollie returns home after the 1918 armistice, while 20 years later Stan is still on guard in the trenches, not having seen the end of the war. It was not until 1938 that he found out from a pilot whom he was supposed to have attacked with a machine gun that the war was long over. The curious case made headlines. Ollie also learns about it from the newspaper.

Ollie is now married and celebrating his wedding anniversary. He spontaneously decides to invite Stan over to his house. He picks him up at the veterans home. Stan had sat in a wheelchair shortly before Ollie's arrival and it looks to Ollie like Stan lost a leg in the war. With a great effort, Ollie tries to carry Stan to his car. Only after many mishaps does he notice the mistake. When they arrive at Ollie's home, his garage and car are ravaged by Stan's driving test.

At home, Ollie finds out that Stan's visit has shaken his marriage to its very foundations, as his wife has nothing to do with the buddies he is constantly dragging in and leaves the apartment together, exasperated. So the two try to cook for themselves, which leaves a trail of devastation in the apartment. The helpful neighbor, Mrs. Gilbert, who rushed over, also brings complications. Their choleric husband, a passionate hunter, finally drives the two alleged adulterers out of the house with his shotgun. He chases them wildly through the streets and so frightens all actual adulterers in the city. In the final scene, they escape through the windows of their love nests.

Others

Blockheads first appeared in American cinemas on August 19, 1938. The original working title of the film was Just a Jiffy , a statement made in the film by Mrs. Gilbert.

Harry Langdon, one of the five screenwriters, was one of the great comedian stars of the silent movie era of the 1920s. In the sound film era, his fame had faded, so that he had to stay afloat with cheap short films. Thanks to his friendship with both Hardy and Laurel, he was involved here as a screenwriter. He was speculating on a comeback and played the following year on the side of Hardy in the film Zenobia , which was not a great success with the audience.

Reviews

The film was received positively by the critics and is now one of the most popular and best-regarded feature films by Laurel and Hardy.

The joint efforts of five screenwriters ... were not in vain. This 55 minute film is ... the most amazing comedy hit, the consummate construction of the genre. Laurel & Hardy surpass themselves here. The gags - at least one per minute and all excellent - follow each other at a dizzying pace. The comedy of destruction touches on both surrealist ... and verbal humor. ... This wonderful film would have to be described shot by shot in order to be able to admire all its riches sufficiently. ( Raymond Borde and Charles Perrin, quoted here from: Dick, p. 101f)

The Protestant film observer is also full of praise: This thirty-year-old film can still elicit salmon volleys from the small and large admirers of the comedian duo Laurel-Hardy despite formal deficiencies. (Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 332/1967)

German versions

  • In 1950 the International Film Union produced the first German version under the title Long Line . The script and the dialogue direction were in the hands of Werner Malbran . As usual, Walter Bluhm and Arno Paulsen took on the roles of Laurel and Hardy. Lina Carstens spoke to Mrs. Hardy and Hermann Pfeiffer the actor James Finlayson .
  • The first performance of the second German version, entitled Die Klotzköpfe, took place on July 14, 1967 in the Würzburg Corso Theater. Laurel was dubbed again by Walter Bluhm and Gerd Duwner spoke Hardy. The German version was produced by Berliner Synchron . Werner Schwier took care of the script and dialogue , the music is from Peter Schirmann. Inge Landgut (Minna Gombell), Benno Hoffmann (Billy Gilbert), Edith Schneider (Patricia Ellis) and Edgar Ott (Harry Woods) can also be heard in other roles.
  • In 1975, Beta Technik in Munich produced another German version for the series Lachen Sie mit Stan and Ollie , for which Theo Lingen gave a brief introduction and which was published under the title Klotzköpfe . Walter Bluhm spoke again for Laurel, while Hardy was now taken over by Michael Habeck . Wolfgang Schick was responsible for the script and dialogue direction . Fred Strittmatter and Quirin Amper Jr. provided new music. Other roles were spoken by Margot Leonard (Minna Gombell), Benno Hoffmann (Billy Gilbert), Rose-Marie Kirstein (Patricia Ellis) and Leo Bardischewski (James Finlayson)

Awards

Marvin Hatley was nominated for an Oscar in the category of best film music in 1939 .

literature

  • Dick, Rainer: Laurel & Hardy and the women. Foreword: Ottfried Fischer. Specialized publisher for film literature Landshut 2015, ISBN 978-3-943127-05-8
  • Dick, Rainer. Laurel and Hardy: The Greatest Comedians of All Time. Munich: Heyne, 1995. ISBN 3453090063

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Norbert Aping: Das kleine Dick-und-Doof-Buch Schüren, Marburg 2014, appendix p. 407f.