John Litel stars as Patrick Henry in this Warner Brothers Technicolor Short. It's a stodgy affair, with snippets of Henry's inflammatory speeches scattered here and there as folks in 18th-Century costumes spend most of their time posing, waiting for Litel to break loose and announce "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
The Warner Technicolor shorts were intended as prestige pieces, meant to show off the expensive three-strip process in an edifying manner. One of the strengths of the Technicolor process was its flexibility, and the entire film seems to have been given a beige wash, suggesting parchment, or old, oxidized paper. The print that plays on Turner Classic Movies is a little fuzzy, but quite watchable.