Battle of the Century (1927)
Director: Clyde Bruckman
Writer: H.M. Walker (titles)
19min | Short, Comedy | 31 December 1927 (USA)
Runtime: 11 min (restored) | 19 min (original)
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Aspect Ratio: 1.33 : 1
Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Jack Adams
Fight manager (Hardy) takes out an insurance policy on his puny pugilist (Laurel) and then proceeds to try to arrange for an accident so that he can collect. When a pie delivery man (Hall) slips on a banana peel, meant for the fighter, a classic pie throwing scene results.
Lou Costello makes one of his earliest screen appearances as an extra in the boxing match sequence. He is visible standing close to the ring, although due to a continuity error, he appears to leap from second row to ringside between shots.
Recently, the long-lost entire first reel of the film (including the boxing match business) was discovered. The pie fight sequence only survives in a somewhat condensed version, as prepared for inclusion in the Robert Youngson documentary The Golden Age of Comedy (1957). For years, only the condensed pie fight sequence survived. Blackhawk Films released this sequence at one time. There was one video restoration that used portions of the script, combined with still photographs, to give an idea of what the first reel was like. However, the complete first reel has been re-discovered and restored to new prints of the film.
In 2015, the long-lost second reel was discovered, including the build up to and the entire pie fight scene. The first reel was discovered in the 1970s, but only parts of the film from the second reel had been preserved. Now both reels will be available again in their entirety.
An entire day's production from the Los Angeles Pie Company - some 3,000 pies - was used in the famous pie fight.
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