Laurel & Hardy: The Battle Of The Century, 1927. AI Enhanced. BW. Sharper & Clearer. Upscaled To HD

[@bob23301]

Utterly stunning bit of work, a am gobsmacked at the quality.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you! That's a pretty gobsmacking comment too! :D More L&H are pencilled in for future work. I can't say when though.

[@rossinilove]

Absolutely stellar quality! I was blown away by the quality.

[@ronaldstrange8981]

Magical, Thank you so much. Silent or not, anything Stan and Ollie do is okay for me. England, March, 2024.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you! 😁

[@BobSarber]

Thank you for posting this! It may interest some to know that the clerk behind the counter at 15:04 is Wilkie Mahoney, who went on to gain notoriety as a comedy writer, first at Captain Billy's Whiz Bang magazine and then for A-list radio stars, including Bob Hope. Wilkie wrote the first joke Milton Berle ever paid for and, as the chief gag writer at MGM in the early 40s, worked directly with a young comedy star named Red Skelton. As a child, I knew him prior to his death in 1976.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Wow! Brilliant background info. Thanks for sharing :)

[@brucethomas5123]

The joke he wrote for Milton was the first joke he paid for and at the same time the last joke he paid for

[@BobSarber]

@@brucethomas5123 "When Milton Berle was getting on the train for Hollywood, someone asked: 'Is Berle going to take a compartment?' ... And Wilkie Mahoney groaned: 'He will-if he can put it in his valise!'" - Walter Winchell

[@marcdelente2456]

Un chef d oeuvre de laurel et Hardy de leurs périodes du muets. Ce court métrage est le plus phénoménal film de tartes a la crèmes de toutes l histoire du cinéma et jamai égalé. Anecdote sur ce film lors de ça réalisation en 1927 . Pendant le tournage du film Hall Roach avait pris des congés. Quand il rentra juste après le tournage les tartes a la crèmes avaient complètement dévasté l espace d une partie des studios le film avait dépassé largement le budjet et Stan en avait rajouté beaucoups plus que prévu. Ce tournage a fait fairent gagnés aux boulangers et tinturiers pour les costumes. Ce jour là Hall Roach faillit faire une syncope il s en suivi une sévère dispute avec Stan qu' il congédia immédiatement. Mais le film fut un telle succè qu' il ce ravisa et fit revenir Stan au plus vite l augmenta et Hardy fut soulagé Ollie sans Stan vous ne pouvez l imaginé. Souvent Stan et Roach en parlait en souriant . Une chose importante le film n est pas complet une bobine ces perdu pour cela aujourd'hui le film est présenté par des photos et des intertitres pour la bonne compréhension du film. A voir et à revoir.

[@raffriff42]

'Film critic Leonard Maltin compared _The Great Race_ (1965) pie fight to _The Battle of the Century_ and determined that Laurel and Hardy's pacing was far superior, that the more modern film suffered from an "incomplete understanding of slapstick" ' (Wikipedia) -- couldn't agree more!!

[@hollimurray8856]

Brilliant it's came up lovely 😊 just goes to show you don't need colour or sound to enjoy a good film. This is one of my favourites 😊

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you. Great to here you enjoyed it. Look out for more soon. :)

[@vicmartinoofficial331]

Excellent work done here on this excellent classic silent film comedy by Laurel & Hardy. this film looks better than ever thanks to the efforts of people like the people or person that took the time to enhance this wonderful film.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you Vic. It's just me chipping away. Great to hear you enjoyed it. Another one on the way. :D

[@anthonyfrew1571]

Beautiful print - in all its black and white glory

[@AJBall-zz4ci]

Awesome. You can clearly see a young Lou Costello now too.

[@Whatt787]

Yeah, on my 65 inch TV, I can see Lou Costello at ringside many times

[@thepsg]

The film looks beautiful and of course, is as funny as ever!

[@eltonsutcliffe1060]

❤ thanks high definition

[@pmdk1953]

A fine result. Could you enhance another Laurel & Hardy comedy, BACON GRABBERS? I t looks awful today.

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

I'm not planning on any more anytime soon but I'll keep it in mind.

[@quaid667]

That is one of my favs.

[@tfraymond]

Beautiful quality

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you, it took some work to get there but worth it in the end. :)

[@williamjones7163]

Oh No! Not the pie! FINALLY! A use for AI that is not creepy!

[@Whatt787]

That's Lou Costello at 3:03, sitting front left

[@Whatt787]

Also Lou costello at 3:55 front center

[@limelight8018]

Excellent resto job but that pie man guy charley hall is the one that always starts the trouble

[@Whatt787]

Much easier to see 21 yr old Lou Costello at ringside in many scenes, well done

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

Thank you! :D

[@anthonyfrew1571]

I had no idea Lou Costello was involved in this - Bud and Lou - very different from Stan and Oille - I also enjoy their comedies

[@anthonyfrew1571]

the daddy of all cream pie fights - if you are going to do one -it may as well be the best

[@bigwillietheb]

I would like to see this but with all women

[@eltonsutcliffe1060]

Dorothy coburn ❤❤❤❤

[@pegbars]

You would get better results by starting with a high-definition scan of the film. Upscaling a low-res source is never a good idea. When a film print exists, that is always the preferred source media.

[@essanaypaul6253]

I agree, this does NOT look good. I see video enhancement & jagged lines in every shot. Stan's outline is sharp but his face is soft.

[@LordHeath1972]

@@essanaypaul6253 FINALLY! Somebody who has said exactly what I was thinking. Totally agreed.

[@HarryGrayOtis]

Where does the soundtrack originate from? When was it added?

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

The soundtrack is a bit of a mess. It was put together from various pieces of other versions of the film found on KZbin.

[@Yt-Viewer0]

This is great no doubt, but at the end of the day its enhanced by AI, and you can tell it was.

[@Whatt787]

Also 4:58 to 5:08 Lou Costello lower front right

[@BlueLineGroovy]

Is this the full version?

[@livinghistoryaienhanced]

There is no full version. This is as close as it gets. The missing scenes represented by photos from those scenes.

[@jamesbobo]

@@livinghistoryaienhanced For decades, there has been a search for a complete film print and none have been found. And even if one is found, what condition would it be in? On the other hand, a nearly complete print was found on 1927's Metropolis and while it's in bad shape, it's better than nothing. So who knows?

[@netram28]

The other replies are mistaken. This is indeed the complete film. Parts of it were missing for decades after the original negative was loaned out and trimmed up for a film compilation. But a collector who purchased a privately owned print of the film without even knowing it was the long sought-after complete version finally realized what he had and got it re-released just a few years ago. Characters like the insurance salesman, the Irish washer-woman, the studio photographer and the cop at the end are all part of this restored version.

[@essanaypaul6253]

These replies are correct, the scene with the boys buying insurance is missing, it was originally at the end of reel 1. Some speculate it was on a separate negative for color tinting and is lost; while others speculate the end of reel 1 deteriorated.

[@kevinhoffman8112]

​@@netram28this is not the complete version of the film. There is a scene in the middle involving an insurance salesman which has gone missing for years.

[@retrolopez8321]

Colorized please?

[@RetroBulgaria]

Why? Even know, without its a bullshit! Or you are from those shitty western guys that like current bullshit?

[@bigwillietheb]

way too many men in this & not enough women

[@RetroBulgaria]

Why is so shitty processed amd "colorized"?