The Vitaphone Corporation
Warner Bros. Pictures
Not part of a collection.
Give Me Liberty
The Most Inspiring and Important Short In Recent Years
Patrick Henry's rousing speech before the Virginia legislature argues for colonial independence.
- Original title
- Give Me Liberty
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- —
CinemaSerf
Jun 28, 2025 · via TMDB
Despite an half-decent effort from John Litel as he takes to a church in Virginia as Patrick Henry to espouse liberty from British colonial rule, the rest of this is all a rather lacklustre and overly theatrical costume drama with some serious over-acting. The presence of neatly suited and booted characters like “Moses” isn’t deemed relevant as these privileged white folks pontificate about liberty and freedom whilst just about every manual function in their lives is carried out by slaves. It’s that hypocrisy that becomes a little harder to stomach as this sets about illustrating, albeit inadvertently, that for the vast majority of women and for just about everyone of colour in Virginia, and elsewhere, all this would result in is a change from wigged and proud gents in London to equally wigged and proud gents closer to home. Had they just stuck to allowing Litel to deliver a complete version of Henry’s rousing and impassioned speech as if it were a monologue, then it might have worked. They didn’t, and what we have here is a borderline and nauseatingly simplistic critique on the glories of the as yet unformed USA versus the supposed and exaggerated tyrannies of the Old World. I found this to be annoying, sorry!
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
John Litel
Patrick Henry
Nedda Harrigan
Doxie Henry
Carlyle Moore Jr.
Capt. Milton
Robert Warwick
George Washington
George Irving
Thomas Jefferson
Boyd Irwin
British Commissioner
Myrtle Stedman
Martha Washington
Ted Osborne
Randolph Peyton
Jesse Graves
Washington's Servant Moses (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas
His Excellency Permitting Henry's Arrest (uncredited)
Jack Mower
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Paul Panzer
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William Worthington
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