In a film extraction apparatus, a flexible stripper blade tongue is held in a relaxed condition with the tongue extending downwardly of the blade by a natural curvature in the tongue near the tongue's juncture with the remainder of the blade. Inducing stress in the blade to create a slight degree of curvature of the tongue forces the tongue into a longitudinally straight and stiffened condition allowing the tongue to be driven through the cartridge mouth. Relaxation of the stress on the blade returns the tongue into its normal, downwardly-extending condition with the end of the tongue resting on the outer layer of the film irrespective of the roll diameter. Presence of the stripper blade upper surface across the gap between the cartridge mouth and a following film channel serves to guide the film into the film channel during the film extraction procedure.