Liberty **** (1929, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Tom Kennedy) – Classic Movie Review 7526

Writer-director Leo McCarey’s 1929 20-minute two-reeler black and white short film Liberty stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as escaped convicts from warden Tom Kennedy’s prison, having trouble with their stripey prison clothes during their getaway.

The trouble is that they wind up wearing each other’s pants. A woman screams when they nip down an alleyway to swap trousers. Chased by a policeman, they end up 20 storeys high above the street on the girders of a construction site still trying to exchange pants without falling to the ground. And Stan ends up with a crab in his privates.

The inventive and hilarious Liberty contains some really funny slapstick stuff, and then some clever, high-flying comedy on the girders of a skyscraper. It shows Laurel and Hardy on their best manic form.

Liberty was released in both silent and limited sound versions. In the sound version, it is basically a silent film but with added music and sound effects.

Jean Harlow [billed under her real name as Harlean Carpenter] has a walk-on part as a woman entering a cab. Also in the cast are James Finlayson, Harry Bernard, Ed Brandenberg, Sam Lufkin, Jack Raymond and Jack Hill.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7526

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