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Liberty

  • 19291929
  • PassedPassed
  • 20m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
ComedyShortFamily
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.... Read allWith 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?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?
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
1.8K
YOUR RATING
    • Leo McCarey
    • Leo McCarey
    • H.M. Walker(titles)
  • Stars
    • Stan Laurel
    • Oliver Hardy
    • Tom Kennedy
    • Leo McCarey
    • Leo McCarey
    • H.M. Walker(titles)
  • Stars
    • Stan Laurel
    • Oliver Hardy
    • Tom Kennedy
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 19User reviews
    • 8Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos38

    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Liberty (1929)
    Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Liberty (1929)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Stan Laurel
    Stan Laurel
    • Stan
    Oliver Hardy
    Oliver Hardy
    • Ollie
    Tom Kennedy
    Tom Kennedy
    • Prison Guard
    Sam Lufkin
    Sam Lufkin
    • Getaway Driver
    James Finlayson
    James Finlayson
    • Store Keeper
    Jack Hill
    • Officer
    Harry Bernard
    Harry Bernard
    • Worker at Sea Food Dealer
    Jean Harlow
    Jean Harlow
    • Woman in Cab
    • (as Harlean Carpenter)
    Ed Brandenburg
    • Cab Driver
      • Leo McCarey
      • Leo McCarey
      • H.M. Walker(titles)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In an attempt to assure Stan Laurel that the safety platforms erected around the girder set were safe, Oliver Hardy leapt down from the wooden girders onto one. Unfortunately, they weren't safe. Hardy crashed right through the safety platform, fortunately falling only 20 feet into a safety net erected as a backup.
    • Goofs
      The rope attached to the girder is at first looped around it but in the next shot it's just draped over it.
    • Alternate versions
      The original print of this film is probably lost. The available version is a Film Classics reissue with credits replaced (and with one name misspelled). The quality of the images changes throughout the entire film because most of it is lifted from a Robert Youngson compilation.
    • Connections
      Edited into Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's (1965)

    User reviews19

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    And laughter for all
    Laurel 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.
    helpful•1
    0
    • StevePulaski
    • Aug 22, 2014

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 26, 1929 (United States)
      • United States
      • Official Site
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Hal Roach Studios
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 20 minutes
      • Black and White
      • Silent

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