Vive la liberté

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Liberty' has replaced 'Two Tars' as the best and funniest Laurel and Hardy short film up to this point of their output, one of their best from their overall early work and very nearly one of my personal favourites of theirs. Their filmography, apart from a few bumps along the way, was getting better and better and 'Liberty' exemplifies this.

It is for me the first of their efforts to not have anything to criticise.

'Liberty' is non-stop funniness all the way, its best parts in primarily the first half being hilarious. There is insane craziness that doesn't get too silly, a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit emerges here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually feels fresh and it doesn't get repetitive.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Liberty' we are far from robbed of that.

'Liberty' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. The supporting players are solid.

All in all, wonderful and a Laurel and Hardy essential. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Laurel and Hardy are on the run from the law in this very funny short that evolves around putting their pants on. With the police on their heels they are constantly interrupted in their attempts to get into civvies that takes them from the back of a taxi to the top of an unfinished LA skyscraper, stumbling and bumbling all the way.

For those unfamiliar with silent L&H this is a superb introduction to a team who excelled in both the sound and silent eras. Silence holds no barrier to the boys as they innocently convey luridness and let their slapstick speak for itself. Once up on the girders, comedy or not, moments of heart stopping gags take it to another level. One of their last and best silents.

I know that they are an acquired taste. You either love them or hate them. Thankfully the Lord blessed me with the sense of humour that falls into the former not the later.

I LOVE Laurel and Hardy.

I do not think there will ever be a funnier duo in my lifetime. My father showed me them when I was a kid. I've loved them ever since.

Liberty is, in my opinion, the funniest ever Laurel and Hardy film made. It certainly isn't the most well known. There maybe a lot of people that don't like the golden age of the silent film. This film has it all (except sound!!!) If you get the chance to watch it grab the opportunity with both hands. The funniest sequence is when they are on the building site and a crab falls down one of their trousers.

If you enjoy this half as much as I did then you'll end up in hospital with stomach cramps from laughing too much.

They don't make them like this anymore (more the pity) Enjoy

Laurel and Hardy didn't go in for acrobatics much. Unlike the athletic antics of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, their comedy was based more around mannerisms, reactions and silly situations. Liberty however sees them out of their depth in Harold Lloyd/Safety Last! territory, stuck high above the city in the shell of a half-built skyscraper. The pants mix-up and skyscraper escapade that make up the bulk of Liberty were originally shot for the earlier short "We Faw Down", but was cut from that film for reasons of length. Judging the material too good to throw away, the studio commissioned this new story to showcase it.

The setting for Liberty may be inspired by Harold Lloyd, but the style of comedy is purely Laurel and Hardy's own. They were the perfect double act. Neither of them could have done too well on his own but together they are worth more than the sum of their parts. Stan's clownish clumsiness brings out the best on Oli, Hardy being so good at indignity and injured pomposity. Meanwhile Oli's continual berating of Stan brings out Laurel's nervous, put-upon displays. A lot of the humour in Liberty derives from the mismatch between the duo's ineptitude and the precarious place they find themselves in. Despite the building site location there aren't really many props or other characters for them to interact with, and you really get to see how much mileage there is in their surprised reactions and ungainly movements.

Liberty was directed by Leo McCarey, a very fine slapstick director who would soon be graduating onto full-length features. Often the most important thing he does is simply allow the players time and space to perform, and Liberty features some unusually long, static takes to allow Stan and Oli to do their thing. However he does know exactly when and how to change the shot, such as the quick close-up of the crab followed by Hardy's stunned reaction. And one very effective thing about Liberty is that the editing does get quicker the longer they are up on the skyscraper. The looming cityscape becomes ever more visible and those straight-down shots of the ground become increasingly frequent. It gives us a real feeling of danger and sets up some genuine tension. Just as in Safety Last! six years earlier, the constant will-they-won't-they situation simply makes Liberty all the more intensely funny.

Laurel and Hardy were at their creative best during the filming of this short Liberty one of their last silent features. Of course they had a lot of help with both Hal Roach producing and the direction done by Hollywood immortal Leo McCarey.

What I was a marveling at was that it was done with a bare minimum of subtitles. In this 18 minute running time I'm not sure that more than seven were used. It was all done with the situations and the body language of the team.

Also this was one simple gag situation taken to ridiculous lengths. Stan and Ollie area a pair of escaped convicts who actually make a good escape, but in their change from prison clothes to civilian attire they get each other's pants. The whole film is their search for a place to just change to each other's pants.

Laurel and Hardy regular James Finlayson is a music store proprietor, Tom Kennedy is his usual dumb as a post character in this case a prison guard. And Hollywood immortal Jean Harlow is seen getting out of a taxi cab. Her beauty is unmistakable.

The last half of this has them out on a construction site doing some high aerial work and poaching in Harold Lloyd's territory. Liberty is one of their best silent short subjects.