"Liberty" was one of Laurel and Hardy's last silent films, and clearly one of their best. Only two years into their long screen partnership, this talented duo had mastered silent comedy art by 1929, and, with this film, rendered a beautifully constructed, excellently paced, skillfully photographed short, packed throughout with incident and wit. Much credit should go to director Leo McCarey (who would later helm classics like "Duck Soup" and "Going My Way") and cameraman George Stevens (who would later direct "Woman of the Year", "Shane", and "Giant"). Part of the brilliance of this film is in the presentation of it's climax, atop an unfinished skyscraper. Yes, Laurel and Hardy were really scrambling around 10 stories over the streets of Culver City, California; but they were doing so on a wooden mock-up assembled on the roof of an already existing structure.
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tayandbay27 December 2004
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didi-522 May 2009This is the film from Laurel and Hardy's silent days where they escape from prison, end up wearing each other's trousers, and finally are in danger stranded on steel girders high above ground. This sequence is a particular delight and unusual for the pair as it is more in Buster Keaton or Harold Lloyd territory; here we see Stan and Ollie trying to get back to safety in a variety of amusing ways.
A very funny film which needs no dialogue and a minimum of title cards, 'Liberty' is probably their best effort before they went into sound. Sight gags, a range of funny situations, and perfect playing from the leads put this into a high class of comedy. Hugely enjoyable. -
Steffi_P25 May 2011Laurel and Hardy didn't go in for acrobatics much. Unlike the athletic antics of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, their comedy was based more around mannerisms, reactions and silly situations. Liberty however sees them out of their depth in Harold Lloyd/Safety Last! territory, stuck high above the city in the shell of a half-built skyscraper. The pants mix-up and skyscraper escapade that make up the bulk of Liberty were originally shot for the earlier short "We Faw Down", but was cut from that film for reasons of length. Judging the material too good to throw away, the studio commissioned this new story to showcase it.
The setting for Liberty may be inspired by Harold Lloyd, but the style of comedy is purely Laurel and Hardy's own. They were the perfect double act. Neither of them could have done too well on his own but together they are worth more than the sum of their parts. Stan's clownish clumsiness brings out the best on Oli, Hardy being so good at indignity and injured pomposity. Meanwhile Oli's continual berating of Stan brings out Laurel's nervous, put-upon displays. A lot of the humour in Liberty derives from the mismatch between the duo's ineptitude and the precarious place they find themselves in. Despite the building site location there aren't really many props or other characters for them to interact with, and you really get to see how much mileage there is in their surprised reactions and ungainly movements.
Liberty was directed by Leo McCarey, a very fine slapstick director who would soon be graduating onto full-length features. Often the most important thing he does is simply allow the players time and space to perform, and Liberty features some unusually long, static takes to allow Stan and Oli to do their thing. However he does know exactly when and how to change the shot, such as the quick close-up of the crab followed by Hardy's stunned reaction. And one very effective thing about Liberty is that the editing does get quicker the longer they are up on the skyscraper. The looming cityscape becomes ever more visible and those straight-down shots of the ground become increasingly frequent. It gives us a real feeling of danger and sets up some genuine tension. Just as in Safety Last! six years earlier, the constant will-they-won't-they situation simply makes Liberty all the more intensely funny. -
Laurel and Hardy escape from jail and end up wearing each other's trousers. The hilarious sequence of failed attempts to change back was intended for their previous film "We Faw Down" but was removed when that film proved too long. They finally manage to change trousers, first with Stan then Ollie having a live crab within the seat of the pants, and end up on a high building in real Harold Lloyd territory. Perhaps not as well paced as the best of Lloyd but still extremely funny. Up among the best of their silent two reelers.
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adrianwingate16 May 2007I know that they are an acquired taste. You either love them or hate them. Thankfully the Lord blessed me with the sense of humour that falls into the former not the later.
I LOVE Laurel and Hardy.
I do not think there will ever be a funnier duo in my lifetime. My father showed me them when I was a kid. I've loved them ever since.
Liberty is, in my opinion, the funniest ever Laurel and Hardy film made. It certainly isn't the most well known. There maybe a lot of people that don't like the golden age of the silent film. This film has it all (except sound!!!) If you get the chance to watch it grab the opportunity with both hands. The funniest sequence is when they are on the building site and a crab falls down one of their trousers.
If you enjoy this half as much as I did then you'll end up in hospital with stomach cramps from laughing too much.
They don't make them like this anymore (more the pity) Enjoy -
bkoganbing24 November 2016Laurel and Hardy were at their creative best during the filming of this short Liberty one of their last silent features. Of course they had a lot of help with both Hal Roach producing and the direction done by Hollywood immortal Leo McCarey.
What I was a marveling at was that it was done with a bare minimum of subtitles. In this 18 minute running time I'm not sure that more than seven were used. It was all done with the situations and the body language of the team.
Also this was one simple gag situation taken to ridiculous lengths. Stan and Ollie area a pair of escaped convicts who actually make a good escape, but in their change from prison clothes to civilian attire they get each other's pants. The whole film is their search for a place to just change to each other's pants.
Laurel and Hardy regular James Finlayson is a music store proprietor, Tom Kennedy is his usual dumb as a post character in this case a prison guard. And Hollywood immortal Jean Harlow is seen getting out of a taxi cab. Her beauty is unmistakable.
The last half of this has them out on a construction site doing some high aerial work and poaching in Harold Lloyd's territory. Liberty is one of their best silent short subjects. -
This is one of Laurel and Hardy's last silent shorts, as later that year they'd begin making sound films starting with the aptly named UNACCUSTOMED AS WE ARE.
During their career as a team, Laurel and Hardy made several film in which they played prisoners, such as in THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS, THE HOOSE-GOW and PARDON US, so it isn't unusual to once again see the boys in this setting. What makes this unusual is where they go once they escape. Much of the movie is spent on top of a building under construction as the two idiots get themselves trapped there. In many ways, this might have seemed a more natural place for Harold Lloyd, as he was well known for his building climbing stunt work, such as in his very famous film, SAFETY LAST--plus Lloyd simply did this sort of work better. Still, despite being in unusual territory, the film is pretty good, though not among their very best work. Believe it or not, although they climb on a building and almost fall off several times, this one seems a bit short on laughs.
By the way, although Leo McCarey directed quite a few of their films and George Stevens filmed several, this time the two future star directors worked together. -
weezeralfalfa25 September 2018This Laurel and Hardy 2 reel silent comedy-thriller has to be one of their funniest and scariest shorts.. Kids, especially, should love it. We can usefully divide it into 3 parts....... The FIRST PART has them running down a road in their prison garb, chased by a guard. They succeed in losing the guard and getting into their appointed get away car, which takes them to town. On the way, they change into their civvies. Only problem is ,they put on each other's pants (Given their very different waist sizes, this should not be possible for Hardy to do!!) . Laurel has to hold his pants up. When they emerge from the car, they still haven't got their pants exchanged. So, they try to hide various places along the main street where they can change their pants. But, every time they are about to do so, something happens to expose them or scare them away. in PART 2, they have the same pants problem, but with the additional problem of a crab that falls into Laurel's pants, undetected, as the try to change pants behind the fish market. Thus, Laurel is jumping around sporadically, and Hardy doesn't understand why....... In PART 3, which takes up the majority of time(10 min.,), they hide in an elevator for construction personnel for a high rise, to try to change their pants. But, they accidentally push the button that makes the elevator rise. Then, they balance precariously on various naked girders. With 2 people, this is potentially more interesting than with just one, as in the case of Harold Lloyd, in "Never Weaken"(1921), who did essentially the same thing, but a few minutes shorter. The present performance came across to me as a few minutes too long.
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Sunday July 16, 12:30pm The Castro, San Francisco
This Hal Roach, Laurel and Hardy short is built around one gag, Stan and Ollie escape prison, with help, and accidentally end up wearing each other's pants! They try in vain to switch back, but are constantly interrupted under the most embarrassing of possible circumstances. At one point Stan ends up with a live crab in his, resulting in frequent unscheduled uncontrollable fits. They demolish a phonograph and a large stack of records outside a music store, and somehow find themselves on top of an unfinished skyscraper before they finally set things straight. A very young Jean Harlow makes a brief appearance, getting in a cab. -
tavm5 August 2011Back in the '90s, I managed to buy a VHS tape of this Laurel & Hardy thrill comedy directed by the soon-to-be-legendary Leo McCarey. I laughed plenty at it then as I just did now when seeing it again on Hulu as linked from IMDb. In this one, Stan & Ollie are escaped convicts who find themselves in the wrong pants but they keep getting interrupted whenever they try to change. Not only that, but a crab managed to get into one of the clothes and they somehow end up high a construction gilder...Yes, the boys actually are up there suffering for their art and our enjoyment not unlike former fellow Hal Roach employee Harold Lloyd in Safety Last! Very funny from beginning to end especially whenever Stan or Ollie feel the pinch from that crustacean or they keep having near slip-ups. So on that note, Liberty is well worth seeing. P.S. A woman who's startled when Stan & Ollie emerge, half-dressed, from a taxi is played by Jean Harlow before her stardom. P.S. On YouTube, this is put in the middle of their last short, We Faw Down, as most of their scenes here were originally part of that one but were cut for time constraints. Update-9/24/11: This was the last of the three L & H shorts, with the others being Big Business and The Battle of the Century respectively, that I rewatched at an outdoor screening at the Baton Rouge Gallery with nice contemporary musical stylings by The Incense Merchants providing live accompaniment. At least one female audience member laughed as loud as I did. She must be an appreciative L & H fan like yours truly.
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SAMTHEBESTEST10 August 2021Liberty (1929) : Brief Review -
Perhaps, the best gasping comedy after Harold Lloyd's Breathtaking 'Safety Last' (1923) with additional gags from Laurel & Hardy. Liberty started as a different film for me but after a while it became an instant recall to Lloyd Breathtaking Classic Comedy 'Safety Last'. I begun recalling scenes from that film and started thinking again that how Lloyd and Newmayer managed to get those cuts it in early 20s and then how Liberty made it different with help of Laurel & Hardy. It was obvious that this film would have different scenics because Safety Last was riding all alone on Harold Lloyd's phenomena while this film had two characters to make an extra addition. So naturally the fun doubles as well as the moments gasp. With the police hot on their trail, Stan and Ollie attempt to change clothes in their getaway car, only to find themselves struggling to balance atop the girders of an unfinished skyscraper. Will they return to ground level in one piece? I always love Ollie's expression and that sophisticated gesture like a high-society gentleman, that scene when both of them get out of the car and Ollie starts pretending to having a discussion with Stan and the cop drives away on the back without recognising them. His expressions in those 5 seconds, just 5 seconds and i was smiling at heart. Stan is cowardly funny like most of his appearance and i prefer liking him doing so. A very good sense of reality and filmmaking from Leo McCarey can be seen here. He adopts the same ideas but still makes them different in their own way. The comedy elements are less indeed but like i said those gasping moments cover-up nicely. Overall, Liberty uses cinematic Liberty without losing too much sense of ground reality hence, packs a solid punch and rest is very well handled by dearies Laurel & Hardy.
RATING - 7/10*
By - #samthebestest. -
The first halve of the movie a textbook example of Laurel & Hardy comedy and slapstick in general. It's slapstick humor at its very best and shows Laurel & Hardy at their prime, in one of their most enjoyable and hilarious silent comedy shorts.
The entire movie basically relies on one comical premise; the boys trying to switch their pants, after they notice that they wear each other pants (that's not for the first or last time by time), after a hasted but successful prison escape (I wonder what they were in for this time?). There are some hilarious moments build around this premise, that are well thought out and even better executed by the boys and a couple of other Laurel & Hardy regulars, such as James Finlayson, Jack Hill and Jean Harlow. There are some excellent timed moments, that help to make this one of the better, as well as one of the most memorable Laurel & Hardy silent comedy shorts. At one point they even manage to get a live crap in their pants, which causes some hilarious moments. Great comedy stuff.
The sequences with the boys showing their silly antics on a construction-site, on top of an unfinished skyscraper, unfortunately goes on for a bit too long and the humor gets rather stretched thin. It's not the best or most hilarious climax thinkable but it of course also still shows some great moments of comedy brilliance.
A great and hilarious, typical, textbook Laurel & Hardy silent comedy short!
8/10
http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/ -
JoeytheBrit17 May 2020Apparently released in both silent and sound versions, the print watched was silent. Laurel & Hardy borrow a leaf out of Harold Lloyd's book and teeter precariously on the steel girders of a partially built skyscraper for this 1929 short comedy. It's hair-raising stuff, and the duo milk the situation for all it's worth. Although less spectacular, the first half of the film, in which they repeatedly attempt to exchange trousers, is equally funny.
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Horst_In_Translation22 September 2015"Liberty" is an 18-minute short film from over 85 years ago with the world's most famous comedy duo before their talking days. Well.. actually they are talking, but we only read it as intertitles. Apart from them, the star is certainly writer and director Leo McCarey here. He went on to become one of Hollywood's most influential and honored filmmakers in the coming decades and won several Oscars, directed many superstars and Best Picture winning films. Also lets not forget about Hal Roach, who is known for working on the Rascals series, but also made quite a few Laurel&Hardy films. Unfortunately, this one here is not among their finest works. Early on, they get out of jail, create chaos at a record store and spend the entire second half of the film high up on a construction site. They are in big trouble with their fear of heights, that much is safe, but the poor police officer standing down there is in at least as much trouble. I felt that, especially in the second half, the film was a bit repetitive. All in all, I would not recommend it, unless you are a really big fan of the duo. Thumbs down.
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TheLittleSongbird23 August 2018Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.
Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Liberty' has replaced 'Two Tars' as the best and funniest Laurel and Hardy short film up to this point of their output, one of their best from their overall early work and very nearly one of my personal favourites of theirs. Their filmography, apart from a few bumps along the way, was getting better and better and 'Liberty' exemplifies this.
It is for me the first of their efforts to not have anything to criticise.
'Liberty' is non-stop funniness all the way, its best parts in primarily the first half being hilarious. There is insane craziness that doesn't get too silly, a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit emerges here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually feels fresh and it doesn't get repetitive.
Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Liberty' we are far from robbed of that.
'Liberty' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. The supporting players are solid.
All in all, wonderful and a Laurel and Hardy essential. 10/10 Bethany Cox -
StevePulaski22 August 2014Laurel and Hardy are prison escapees, desperately trying to change out of their convict-attire to much less noticeable street clothes. In their frantic dressing, they realize they are wearing each others pants and, in their distracted haze, are chased by a policeman into a construction site, where they flee police-sight by riding an elevator to the top of an unfinished building. Twenty stories into the air, Laurel and Hardy are now stranded on the pillars of the building, frantically trying to switch trousers while avoiding the large drop to their death.
Such is the premise for Leo McCarey's comedy short Liberty, which adheres to the silent comedy principles of "thrill-comedies," which are comedies that bear a great deal of suspenseful elements intended on making the audiences laugh one minute before gasping the next. One of the most famous examples - one I also happened to review too - was Harold Lloyd's Never Weaken, from 1921, which Liberty seems to borrow quite a bit from. However, unlike the darker undertones Never Weaken provided, Liberty is much more carefree and comedic, as well as manic.
Its manic qualities are precisely what kept Laurel and Hardy in the business for so long, with Liberty coming later in the game for their silent shorts. If not for the incredible stunts of the short, which Laurel and Hardy performed at their own risk, the music and overall writing/directing pace unleashed by McCarey and H.M. Walker (who would later direct the Marx Brothers' superb comedic masterwork Duck Soup) make Liberty enough to be immersing on terms outside its contributions to a genre so significant in the early days of film.
Starring: Stan Laurel and Olive Hardy. Directed by: Leo McCarey. -
st-shot1 November 2019Laurel and Hardy are on the run from the law in this very funny short that evolves around putting their pants on. With the police on their heels they are constantly interrupted in their attempts to get into civvies that takes them from the back of a taxi to the top of an unfinished LA skyscraper, stumbling and bumbling all the way.
For those unfamiliar with silent L&H this is a superb introduction to a team who excelled in both the sound and silent eras. Silence holds no barrier to the boys as they innocently convey luridness and let their slapstick speak for itself. Once up on the girders, comedy or not, moments of heart stopping gags take it to another level. One of their last and best silents. -
Prichards1234527 November 2015This wonderful Laurel and Hardy short opens with the boys on the run from the law. Needing to get out of their prison outfits quickly the first half of the film consists of L & H trying to switch trousers in public and continually getting caught. Even Monty Python,usually so original, did a variant of this; not a rip-off but surely a tribute. It's even shot like a silent movie and features Terry Jones trying to get changed.
But back to every child's foolish Uncles - who can forget Stan and Ollie's balancing act on the girders? Oliver has a certain crustacean embedded in his pants, and one with a decidedly mean streak! They make it look effortless, with masterful timing. Stan has a tussle with it first - while wearing Ollie's trousers - and those sudden jumps of his are amazing, succeeding in putting the wind up both Ollie and Jimmy Finlayson.
God I love these guys! -
jboothmillard26 January 2010Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. After a quick history of American liberty, from men like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, we see escaped prisoners Stan and Ollie running away from a prison guard firing his long barrelled shot gun. They are picked up by a Getaway Driver (Sam Lufkin) and change in the back seat, and the guard drops his gun in anger, which ends up firing a tree branch on his head. They manage to jump out of the car without suspicion as the police motorbike originally chasing them drives past, but then they notice they are wearing each other's pair of trousers. They try going down an alley with a screaming woman at her window, behind some descending crates, in the back of a taxi with a woman (Jean Harlow) and her husband getting in, and next to some fish crates with a crab dropping in Ollie's pair, to change. Stan wearing Ollie's pair of trousers is getting constantly snipped by the crab in his trousers, at one point it makes him push over Ollie into a chest with some cheap records on top, and the snipping continues when trying to help the Store Keeper (James Finlayson) pick them up. They eventually change their trousers standing on a construction site elevator that they activate taking them all the way to the top where there is nothing but metal beams to stand on, and the elevator goes back down before they can get down. They spot a ladder at the far end of the beams, so they balance, crawl, dangle, hold each other and shake there way across to this ladder, with the crab causing some problems for Ollie in his own pair of trousers, till he gets rid of it. The reach the ladder, and climbing downwards Stan is holding on when the ladder leans outwards with only a rope to hold on to, and he pulls it all the way to its end, and only his balance keeps him on the below planks before he leaps off. After helping him up, Ollie with a shoe and sock gone, and Stan work their way back to the elevator, grabbing a rope and sand bag which falls and nearly hits the Police Officer (Jack Hill) below. Finally they get on the elevator and go downwards, but the officer standing underneath is squashed down, and while the boys run away in panic, the officer steps out shortened and made angry by the elevator coming down. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white silent film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!