Liberty

One of Laurel and Hardy's most perfectly constructed short films — and one of the most vertigo-inducing comedies of the silent era. Escaped convicts Stan and Ollie, hastily changing clothes in a getaway car, accidentally swap trousers. Their increasingly desperate attempts to switch back keep getting interrupted, eventually leading them to the top of a skyscraper under construction, where they must navigate steel girders high above the city while trying to pull each other's pants off. The boys' genius for milking a simple situation is on full display: the trouser gag alone generates an astonishing variety of comic permutations, and the vertiginous climax — shot on a real construction site with real height — delivers genuine thrills alongside the belly laughs. Pure Laurel and Hardy perfection.