"The Battle of the Century" sure is a big title for a film, especially for a short movie like this because it only runs for under 20 minutes in the original and for over 10 in the currently most distributed version. Or way over 20 in fact with less frames per second. This is a Laurel & Hardy short from their silent days (so please watch it without music!), from 1927 to be precise, so it is already over 90 years old and of course in black-and-white too. The name of writer H. M. Walker is pretty famous, but the bigger, yet much younger, name from the writing duo here is Hal Roach, who became not only an Oscar winner later on, but also a centenarian. Here he was in his 30s still and so were the two directors, on the one hand Leo McCarey and on the other Clyde Bruckman, who is also somebody that fans of really old films have probably come across on other occasions. This is not one of Stan and Ollie's most known works, which may or may not have to do with the fact that it is partially lost, especially the scene with the insurance salesman right after the boxing fight at the beginning where we are thrown into the middle of the action really quickly. But they keep finding stuff here and there and not a lot is missing anymore from this picture. I think the outcome is really nowhere near the duo's best efforts and I usually like the two much more than I did here. It also feels that there is less focus on them than in other works starring the perhaps most successful and remembered duo in (comedy) film history. I mean during the pie fight they are just two of many, even if they kinda started it and return towards the end as well. There's the aforementioned boxing sequence here that has Laurel with his tiny body and non-existent muscles go against a guy twice his size, even if the actual boxing sequences are not too frequent and it is more about everything around it like intertitles making joke of Ollie's hat and he reads it. Not sure how he did that. There is also more of a fight between Laurel and the completely biased referee after Laurel lands a lucky punch early on that really hands it to his actual opponent.
Anyway, then there is the pie fighting sequence too, approximately one, namely the last, third of the film, fairly lengthy that has everybody get their share. Well, honestly the editing did not feel right and how some pies suddenly land inside buildings made no sense at all. They hit people in the face way too often. But it really isn't too funny and pie throwing sequences in my opinion and when it comes to my humor have not aged that well. The one moment when the woman sits down on one, literally has a cream pie under her skirt, is mildly funny near the very end, but that's it. So what do we learn from this little film? That boxing was really big back then, probably bigger than today and that even for icons like Laurel and Hardy, not everyone can be a winner. And I am not referring to the outcome of the boxing fight. I guess some expected Laurel to win it and he was not far away from triumph. I give this short a thumbs-down. Not recommended, but before I end, I also wanna emphasize that this is a fairly anti-authoritarian little film. Look at how the simple worker knows right away who had the banana. Look at how the cop didn't and was clueless enough to hits Laurel instead of Hardy. Quite the reaction anyway. Today he would lose his job. So the police officer is depicted as, gently-speaking, the less intelligent there from the two. I was also ready to say that several other characters from better parts of the society with authority got pies to their faces like the mayor or a wealthy lady who has her own carriage(?) driver and that the cop did not, but this is only true until almost the very last shot. But what was funnier than the cop also getting pie was really the duo denying the existence of a pie fight when pie is all over their clothes and the street was a pie battlefield. So there are interesting aspects to this film, but overall I stand here with my original rating of 2/5 and that this is a film you can skip and won't be missing too much quality. I do not agree with the honor this film received from the National Film Preservation Board.
Anyway, then there is the pie fighting sequence too, approximately one, namely the last, third of the film, fairly lengthy that has everybody get their share. Well, honestly the editing did not feel right and how some pies suddenly land inside buildings made no sense at all. They hit people in the face way too often. But it really isn't too funny and pie throwing sequences in my opinion and when it comes to my humor have not aged that well. The one moment when the woman sits down on one, literally has a cream pie under her skirt, is mildly funny near the very end, but that's it. So what do we learn from this little film? That boxing was really big back then, probably bigger than today and that even for icons like Laurel and Hardy, not everyone can be a winner. And I am not referring to the outcome of the boxing fight. I guess some expected Laurel to win it and he was not far away from triumph. I give this short a thumbs-down. Not recommended, but before I end, I also wanna emphasize that this is a fairly anti-authoritarian little film. Look at how the simple worker knows right away who had the banana. Look at how the cop didn't and was clueless enough to hits Laurel instead of Hardy. Quite the reaction anyway. Today he would lose his job. So the police officer is depicted as, gently-speaking, the less intelligent there from the two. I was also ready to say that several other characters from better parts of the society with authority got pies to their faces like the mayor or a wealthy lady who has her own carriage(?) driver and that the cop did not, but this is only true until almost the very last shot. But what was funnier than the cop also getting pie was really the duo denying the existence of a pie fight when pie is all over their clothes and the street was a pie battlefield. So there are interesting aspects to this film, but overall I stand here with my original rating of 2/5 and that this is a film you can skip and won't be missing too much quality. I do not agree with the honor this film received from the National Film Preservation Board.