SteinMo
What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.
Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Mathilde the Guild
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"Sons of Liberty" is an American English-language short film from 1939, the first year of World War II, so this one is already over 75 years old and the patriotic sentiment is easy to find in these 20 minutes. The director is Michael Curtiz, mostly known today for "Casablanca" and his writer is Crane Wilbur. People with a great interest in old American movies will find several familiar names, like Claude Rains ("Casablanca"), Oscar winners Sondergaard and Crisp and there are more people in here who you will find on the Walk of Fame or the lists of Oscar nominees. Pretty impressive for such a brief movie. It is in Technicolor, but the version I saw looked almost black-and-white still. As for the plot, this is about the life of Haym Salomon during the American Revolution. I may be slightly biased here as this era in history never really interested me that much, but the plot in here also did not manage to sparkle my interest. Apparently, the Academy thought differently as they gave this one an Oscar, which is why I would not say it is unwatchable. However, I personally found it underwhelming and don't recommend checking it out.
JohnHowardReid
I'm going to make myself unpopular and side with the previous reviewer of 5 July 2014. In fact, I'd go further and say it's a surprise to find Warner's top director, Michael Curtiz working on a movie of such limited potential. Despite the fact that it was photographed in pleasing Technicolor, production values are extremely limited. There are few, if any, photographic flourishes. In fact the camera seems to have been bolted to the floor. I'll admit that many Warner short subjects were made on the cheap, but they moved fast and were generally most agreeable. This one doesn't move at all. Unlike Curtiz's usual camera flourishes, this one seems to employ a camera that is not only bolted to the floor but incapable even of the slightest movement, right or left. Or maybe it's simply that the sets are so small, there's nowhere for the camera to go? The atmosphere is claustrophobic rather than intriguing and the tone of the movie is patronizing rather than stimulating. Claude Rains is woefully miscast. Available on DVD as an extra with Curtiz's superbly fast-moving, big budget western actioner, "Dodge City"!
Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . such as lead actor Claude Rains as Revolutionary War financier Haym Saloman and director Michael Curtiz, because Tinsel Town wished to show that American Jews not only were inventing the American Dream through what the then predominantly Jewish-run movie studios were throwing up on the Big Screen, but they also were responsible for financing the establishment of America itself, which surely would have capitulated to the Tory Fat Cats loyal to London, without the influx of cash raised by Mr. Saloman. The Baby Boomer generation became aware of Mr. Saloman's story when he was on the postage stamps in 1975. The "Greatest Generation" of WWII knew his history from this SONS OF LIBERTY short. However, today's Millenials have no idea that America was bought and paid for by Jewish funds, or that many of the donors (including Mr. Saloman himself, as shown in SONS OF LIBERTY's closing scene) died in poverty due to their war-time financial sacrifices. As always, the "Christian" Fat Cats had the last laugh, all the way to the formerly-Jewish run banks!
Neil Doyle
CLAUDE RAINS gives an earnest performance as a rabbi Haym Salomon who finances Washington's troops during this historical short subject that appears on the Errol Flynn Signature Collection in collaboration with DODGE CITY.GALE SONDERGAARD is his faithful wife who stands by while he courageously leads the rebels against The Crown in the fight for freedom. All the usual slogans denouncing tyranny and oppression are here, but the short is directed in firm style by the capable Michael Curtiz, who keeps things moving briskly throughout the twenty minutes of running time.Seen briefly are JAMES STEPHENSON, DONALD CRISP, HENRY O'NEILL and, if you look closely, that's JOHN SUTTON as the horseback rider with a message for Rains. Photographed in Technicolor by Sol Polito, it's a fine example of the sort of shorts Warner Bros. made during the '30s and '40s to accompany feature films.