Liberty

Liberty (1929) is an 18-minute slapstick short from Hal Roach Studios, available to watch online on iFILM. Director Leo McCarey built the entire film around a single wardrobe mishap: escaped convicts Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy swap each other's trousers in a getaway car and spend the rest of the picture desperately trying to fix it.

Every spot they find to change pants comes with an unwanted audience. The film's climax pushes the premise to its extreme — a bare steel skyscraper frame, no walls, just open air and the two of them scrambling across the girders. Short, sharp, and genuinely vertiginous in its final minutes. Stream Liberty (1929) online on iFILM.