Give Me Liberty

Give Me Liberty was the first of three short subjects in which character actor John Litel played the fiery Virginia bred founding father. This one is a competently made film which gives the essence of the real Patrick Henry.

One of the other reviewers mentioned that he thought Litel was old fashionedly flamboyant as Henry. But in point of fact that's what he was in real life. He was indeed the kind of spell binding orator whose words did move men. Henry was one of the leaders of the Virginia bar as well as a Delegate in the Virginia House of Burgesses, his summations to the jury were legendary.

That aroused a lot of jealousy among his contemporaries. Thomas Jefferson whose forte was writing not speaking, trained as a lawyer as a young man. I recall reading Dumas Malone's multi-volume Jefferson biography where Jefferson wrote in his diary about how hard he worked on researching precedents and that all Patrick Henry did was bamboozle juries with bull. Nothing's changed in over 230 years as far as lawyers in this country. Jefferson gave up law practice and it was Patrick Henry's stock in trade.

He was a mercurial man Henry, you never knew which side of an issue he'd wind up on. He was at various stages after the Revolution, a Federalist and an anti-Federalist whatever the mood struck him.

Don't look for consistency with Henry, but this film will give you a good idea what he was like in his glory days of the Revolutionary War.

Give Me Liberty (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Oscar-winning short from Warner gets extra credit for featuring a great performance by John Litel as well as being shot in Technicolor. The movie has Litel playing Patrick Henry, the man who would eventually rise up before Virginia legislators and demand that they join the American Revolution by giving the classic "Give Me Liberty" speech. I must admit that I found the direction to be too laid back and at times my mind actually wondered away from what the story was actually about but with Litel's performance it's impossible not to at least be entertained. Litel would play this character in three short films with this being the first and he perfectly nails the character. The fiery energy he brings to the film will have you wanting to stand up and cheer and especially during the final speech. The other big benefit was that the film was shot in Technicolor and while the film doesn't look as good as future films it's still an early part of history.

It's going to be harder to take the Academy Award-winning "Give Me Liberty" seriously in the 21st century, since the characters declare that they don't want to live under slavery, even though many of them owned slaves. Patrick Henry's GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH sounds good until you learn that he tried to stop slaves from joining the British army (since the British promised the slaves freedom). Sure enough, the only black person in the movie is George Washington's servant who always obeys his master.

If the short has any upside, it's the focus on democracy.* I guess that nowadays we're used to learning about the Founding Fathers from Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton" (I haven't seen it but I've heard a lot about it). Obviously, there was a lot more to the US's early history than what the Founding Fathers did. I guess that the movie's worth seeing, even though we're going to interpret it differently than how it got intended.

*Occasional, people will try to talk about what's legal as a form of appeal to authority, but don't forget that the anti-monarchy, pro-democracy pronouncements from Washington, Jefferson, etc, were illegal.

..........little gems from Hollywood's store rooms the forgotten .

IT NEVER CEASES to amaze us how so much great cinematic art seems to be locked away, forgotten or just plain discarded. Rather than being a part of the mainstream output of features, the short subjects field, although intended to be a sort of bonus and throw in for the studios' product, have in their own right left us with a wealth of on screen gems of their own.

WE DRAW YOUR attention to this case in point, GIVE ME LIBERTY (Warner Brothers/Vitaphone, 1936. With its viewing, we are treated to a sort of mini-masterpiece that easily succeeds on several levels. It is an historical novelette; which tells in depth a story which we are all familiar from our own American Revolution. The title is derived from Virginia Patriot, Patrick Henry's most famous quotation; being the first half of: "Give me Liberty or Give me Death !"

THE PRODUCTION TEAM goes into great lengths in making such historical moments as the meeting held while the Virginia House of Burgesses debated its continued relationship with the Crown. Director, B. Reeves Eason, gives us living scenes that may well be the celluloid counterpart to the finest oil painting representations around. In doing so, the production team and he were able to deliver 1936 Academy Award for Best Short Subject (Color).

BUT THERE IS one point that we must emphasize is the underrated, though nonetheless, fine acting that is displayed (in this short in particular). And it is the virtuoso performance of John Litel (as Patrick Henry) that has the center stage spotlight.

AS IS COMMON knowledge, every film buff knows of the work of Mr. Litel. He is an ever present force in so many features, giving credence to whatever is the role of the day. This makes him undeniably forever numbered among those players classified as "supporting" or "character" actors.

WELL, THE PERFORMANCE by Mr. John Litel, here in GIVE ME LIBERTY, provides we, the viewers, with solid evidence of the outstanding talents possessed by so many in the movies, who rarely get opportunity to display same.

STRICTLY AS A suggestion from the standpoint of a non-professional, maybe some Hollywood bright boy could come up with puting a whole collection of these Historical Shorts together; making them available for tools of educational supplementation. They generally hold up very well and, being basically "Period Pieces", there is no danger of any fashions displayed going out of style.

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.