Liberty
About Liberty
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy break out of prison with a policeman and a shotgun behind them. In a getaway car they change into street clothes and put on each other's trousers. They spend the rest of the short looking for a place to swap back: an alley, behind crates, and behind a seafood shop, where a crab gets into Stan's pants. Oliver knocks over a phonograph outside a music store. A cop chases them onto a building site. An elevator leaves them on the girders of an unfinished high-rise. They trade the trousers there, fight the crab, and nearly fall. On the way down, the elevator crushes a policeman.
Cast & crew
More about Liberty
Leo McCarey directed and wrote it with H. M. Walker. Hal Roach produced. George Stevens photographed it. Richard C. Currier edited it. Silent Era also lists William H. Terhune as an editor, and lists Morrie Lightfoot as property master. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it on January 26, 1929. It runs 20 minutes. No one speaks. A synchronized orchestral score and effects were added. Principal photography was October 1–17, 1928. Lloyd French directed retakes on October 26, and James Horne directed retakes from November 13 to 19. The alley is at 3896 Main Street, Culver City. The high work was done on a set built on the roof of the Western Costume building on South Broadway, 150 feet up, with three extra stories added for the camera. Jean Harlow appears as a woman in a cab. James Finlayson plays the music-store owner. Sam Lufkin drives the getaway car.
Themes
Making
The skyscraper was not a matte. Roach built the girders on top of the Western Costume building and added three stories. Hardy's fall through the platform ended in the net hung underneath.
Look
George Stevens shot the alley on Main Street in Culver City and the girder scenes on the Western Costume roof, 150 feet above South Broadway.
Music
No spoken lines. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it with a synchronized orchestral score and sound effects.
Preservation
Complete prints survive, with the synchronized track. A copy is on Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- There is no dialogue. The track is music and effects.
- During the girder scenes Laurel froze. Hardy jumped onto a wooden platform just out of frame to show him it was safe, went through the boards, and fell about 20 feet into a safety net.
- The crab moves from Stan's trousers to Oliver's when they finally swap.
- Tom Kennedy plays a construction worker. Jack Hill plays a policeman.
- The production number at Roach was L-16.
Scenes
- A crab climbs into Stan's trousers behind the seafood shop and stays with them all the way to the girders.
- They change pants on the steel, 150 feet up, and the elevator below flattens a policeman.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Liberty (1929).webm)
