Liberty - (1929)

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Gary Johnson
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Liberty - (1929)

Postby Gary Johnson » Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:04 pm

This is one of L&H's finest silents but there have always been a few points about this film that jumps out at me. For one thing, isn't it strange how McCarey treats the opening jailbreak sequence in such a straight manner? The opening shot could of came straight from Chaplin's "The Adventurer" with the Boys in prison stripes running from a shotgun blasting prison guard but the moment they jump inside the awaiting getaway car the entire mood changes. The two men in the getaway vehicle are not comic members of the Roach stock company like Fin or Charlie Hall but straight out of central casting and they act as loyal henchmen to the Boys. It's as if Stan & Ollie are the head of their own mob and their gang is doing their bidding. One of the gang members gives them their old clothes and as they change in the moving car there is no comic bits of fumbling with each others clothes and getting entangled with each other as they dress. Instead it is all played in a rather earnest and serious manner. Which makes the first gag all the funniest as the Boys jump out of the moving car and pretend to be admiring a car as the motorcycle cop continues to chase their gang. The brains of the mob have succeeded in another successful escape from the cops. What nefarious deeds will they now enact in?
And then they walk from behind the car and we see that they are wearing each others pants and hats. And suddenly they are no longer members of any notorious mob. They are hapless Stan & Ollie. It's a very clever opening.

The pants-switching gags that follow are all funny and embarrassing at the same time (with a lot of deviant sexual implications implied) but the main thrust of this short is to get the Boys up on top of that construction site and mine some Harold Lloyd gags. Once up there some very telling relationship moments appear between the two pals. As Stan shakes with fright on the beams Ollie takes his hand and attempts to steer him to safety. When they are both clinging to a beam with Stan dangling under it Ollie uses superhuman strength to pull his buddy up to his position but when he realizes that it is in deference to his own safety he immediately pushes Stan back. Now is it just me or did George Stevens get more milage out of the camera set-ups than in the Lloyd shorts? As the Boys slowly move around the edges of the uncompleted building we get many angles and shots of the growing LA downtown skyline. "Safety Last" employed a tracking camera to follow Harold up his ascent and we see more of the downtown scene as he climbs higher but in his shorts there were less buildings at the time and seems less impressive now.

One last thought is that this short screamed for sound. Not that we are missing any witty banter from the Boys as they scrambled for safety up above but for the fact that they did awfully funny screaming and yelling. Nothing makes me laugh more than hearing Laurel & Hardy cry and holler for help. Other than that it's a perfect short.

Gary J.

Tommie Hicks
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Re: Liberty - (1929)

Postby Tommie Hicks » Thu Jan 07, 2010 4:56 pm

Blackhawks source material for this short was decomposing when they made their negative. You can see it in a Fin double take shot. The Tarbox print had some unique scenes in it, so this film is not complete (like 2ND 100 YEARS and THAT'S MY WIFE).

Bruce Calvert
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Re: Liberty - (1929)

Postby Bruce Calvert » Fri Jan 08, 2010 10:10 pm

Image

Bob Birchard

Re: Liberty - (1929)

Postby Bob Birchard » Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:59 am

Tommie Hicks wrote:Blackhawks source material for this short was decomposing when they made their negative. You can see it in a Fin double take shot. The Tarbox print had some unique scenes in it, so this film is not complete (like 2ND 100 YEARS and THAT'S MY WIFE).


However, the Blackhawk print is far more complete than the 35mm finegrain that is/was controlled by Richard Feiner. I've checked the Blackhawk print against the cutting continuity of the film and every shot in the continuity is represented in the Blackhawk print, except for one. The action described does appear in a single shot rather than in two separate shots--suggesting therre was a minor re-cut (perhaps because of film damage) after the continuity was made.


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