May 29th  
The Battle of the Century**          
(Park Hill Hotel Ballroom, Southend-on-Sea)            

(US 1927. 20m. bw. silent; A trainer tries to claim insurance on his inept boxing client, but instead they trigger a custard pie riot.
The missing snippets are stitched together in a (mostly) complete restoration of one of Laurel and Hardy's most notable silent films, with its custard pie climax that inspired many imitators (witness The Great Race and Bugsy Malone) now given proper context with the remaining reels - an invaluable find.; w: H.M. Walker; d: Clyde Bruckman, Leo McCarey; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Noah Young, Eugene Pallette, Charlie Hall, Anita Garvin, Lou Costello (as a young extra).)

Preceded by:
Them Thar Hills***
(US 1934. 20m. bw; Stan and Ollie go to the country to help cure Ollie's bad foot, but they travel to an area formerly held by bootleggers who dispose of some of the loot in the nearby well.; w: Stan Laurel; d: Charles Rogers; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch, Charlie Hall, Billy Gilbert.)

Scrappy in The Merry Mutineers*
(US 1936. Columbia. 7m.; Technicolor merry melodie of two boys' model boats with famous film stars of the period for crew - Charles Laughton, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, etc. Quirky as ever and enjoyable.; p: Charles Mintz.)

Tit for Tat**
(US 1934. 20m. bw; Stan and Ollie open a new electrical store, only to find an old adversary in the shop next door. Sequel to Them Thar Hills.; w: Stan Laurel; d: Charles Rogers; s: OLiver Hardy, Stan laurel, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch.)

+ screened as "Laurel and Hardy: Let Battle Commence" by the Saps at Sea tent for the Southend Film Festival, before a bumper audience

THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY. The much sought after lost footage of Eugene Pallette as an insurance salesman, from whom Ollie decides to try in injure Stan in order to claim the money, is still missing but remains in stills (above), whilst Mr. Pallette still briefly appears in the famous pie fight climax.