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Give Me Liberty

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6.3/10 • 11

1936-12-190h 22m

DramaHistory

The Most Inspiring and Important Short In Recent Years

Patrick Henry's rousing speech before the Virginia legislature argues for colonial independence.

Directors
B. Reeves Eason
Editors
Louis Hesse

Top Billed Cast

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  1. John Litel

    John Litel

    Patrick Henry

  2. Nedda Harrigan

    Nedda Harrigan

    Doxie Henry

  3. Carlyle Moore Jr.

    Carlyle Moore Jr.

    Capt. Milton

  4. Robert Warwick

    Robert Warwick

    George Washington

  5. George Irving

    George Irving

    Thomas Jefferson

  6. Boyd Irwin

    Boyd Irwin

    British Commissioner

  7. Gordon Hart

    Gordon Hart

    Anti-Rebel Delegate Speaker

  8. Myrtle Stedman

    Myrtle Stedman

    Martha Washington

  9. Ted Osborne

    Ted Osborne

    Randolph Peyton

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Jun 28, 2025

5/10

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!

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
famous speechamerican revolutionusa historyfounding fathersshort film