Battle of the Century (1927) dir. Clyde Bruckman

The comic duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had a successful transition when talkies took over, enough so that they aren’t particularly associated with the silent era. This is one of hundreds of shorts produced under the auspices of Hal Roach who in addition to Laurel and Hardy was responsible for bringing many of the adventures of Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals) to the screen. It’s also directed by Clyde Bruckman, the longtime gag man for Buster Keaton and subject of this absolutely wonderful article by Matthew Dessem sadly in danger at the disappearing archives of The Dissolve. Bruckman was the first person to direct the duo on screen as a team, and in this fourth go-round with comedians their personas have been well established.

Bruckman proves himself an adept director as well as comic writer. He gives more intimidating frames to Laurel’s opponent while making the meeker comedian even more diminutive in wide shots, a move familiar to fans of Raging Bull. But he’s a gag man through and through and coupled with Laurel and Hardy’s vaudeville pedigree this makes for a lot of banana peels on the ground. The promised Battle that emerges is the much-celebrated pie fight the envelopes an entire city block. The start of the film seems in retrospect like a Simpsons-esque misdirect designed only to get us to its ultimate prolonged setpiece. It builds masterfully, never tipping that this is our destination until whipped cream chaos breaks out.

“Battle” underlines the challenge of preservation facing even high-profile films like this one. Most films in the early quarter of the 20th century were treated as disposable attractions rather than works of art, and “The Battle of the Century” requires explanatory intertitles and a couple production stills to fill in the gap where a scene has gone permanently missing.