We report here the preparation and properties of La1-xAgyMnO3+delta thin epitaxial films. The original two-step preparation procedure was developed. At first, La1-xMnO3+delta were grown epitaxially by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on the single-crystal substrates (001) and (110) SrTiO3, (001) LaAlO3, (111) and (001) ZrO2(Y2O3). Treatment by the vapor of the metallic silver in the oxygen atmosphere (at 1 bar and 20 bar) was the second step resulting in the selective absorption of silver by La1-xMnO3+delta phase. The value of y depended on the process conditions and revealed different kinetics of the silver absorption for (001) and (110) orientation of La1-xMnO3+delta films. The films prepared were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersion X-ray analysis, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electrical resistivity and magnetoresistance measurements in a four-probe configuration. We have found that metal-insulator transition temperature (T-p) in the series La1-xAgxMnO3+delta possessed a maximum of 380 K at x=0.15. Thus, T-p of La1-xAgMnO3+delta films was significantly higher than ever reported in the literature for the La1-xAgxMnO3+delta ceramics. La1-xAgxMnO3+delta films demonstrated the important role of the ferromagnetic fluctuations above Curie temperature T, resulting in the sign change of the resistivity curve temperature slope dR/dT and a significant shift of T-p well above T-c. The maximum of the magnetoresistance on the temperature scale was close to dR/dT maximum. The intrinsic magnetoresistance values as high as 22% at 310 K and 50% at 280 K were measured in the magnetic field of 1 T in the series of La1-xAgyMnO3+delta epitaxial films. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.