The Battle of the Century (1927) - film review

Stan is a reluctant boxer, but Ollie, his manager, has high hopes.  Ollie’s hopes are of course misplaced, as Stan is demolished with ease in his first fight.  The next day, a man who saw the disastrous contest sells Ollie an insurance policy on Stan.  Eager to make money from the policy, Ollie arranges a series of accidents, but these do not play out as intended.  Instead, the boys provoke a massive street battle involving custard pies.

Until recently, the only surviving footage of this two reel comedy was the five minute sequence containing the now legendary custard pie fight, the largest ever staged for a film.  This was preserved in tact thanks to its inclusion in Robert Youngson’s 1965 Laurel and Hardy documentary.  In the 1980s, the first reel of the film (including the boxing match sequence) was unearthed, but the remaining footage of the second reel is still lost. 

With its similarities to Buster Keaton’s Battling Butler (1926) and the flan-flinging films of Mack Sennett, Battle of the Century does not feel like a typical Laurel and Hardy offering.  Stan and Ollie’s relationship hasn’t quite solidified into the classic double act that we know today, but there are some tantalising tasters for what is to come.  However much Stan and Ollie abuse and exploit one another, however many pies they land in each other’s face, their friendship remains intact, the one secure thing in a hostile and uncertain universe.

© Brian Evans 2010

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