Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat (1915) User Reviews

Heeza's Pretty Quiet!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 9 September 2007]

Boy, it's odd to watch a film with no sound, even a 10-minute cartoon. There is no music, no sound effects or anything. The only thing of interest is the poetry on the "title cards."

About every 30 seconds we get an explanation of what is going on or is about to happen and that is presented in a four-line poem. All of them were fun to read. For example: "The crowd begins to yell and shout; the batters lose their nerves, For Heeza Liar strikes them out, with most astounding curves."

This is my first look at "Heeza Liar," and in this story he comes to the rescue of a baseball team and becomes the star pitcher and hitter. The story develops slowly.

This cartoon was an added bonus on disc one of the Popeye The Sailor Man 19433-1938 Volume One DVD.

Some folks say that this brief cartoon has provided the template . . .

[oscaralbert · 5/10 · 23 July 2019]

. . . for recent Detroit Tigers pitching staff personnel decisions, but exactly how True are such generalizations? Any downriver denizen would have to admit that there are some eerie similarities here between Art and Real Life. The title character of COLONEL HEEZA LIAR AT THE BAT is drawn as an aging, out-of-shape geezer, well past his athletic prime; a Sociopath running his limousine over cops and random civilians alike; and a cheater punching out umpires. During the 21st Century, the hapless tabby cats of Motown have paid tens of millions of fan base dollars for geriatric clowns including "D. Willis" and "J. Zimmerman." These over-rated malingerers have made Detroit (home of the infamous "Edsel" model) an international laughing stock, seldom winning a single game (in fact, Mr. Z. has a goose egg in his "W" column as this season draws to a close!) while belly-aching (about the "heebie-jeebies" in their blood!) all the way to the bank. However, COLONEL HEEZA is not TOTALLY prescient, failing to anticipate such developments as Today's ban on cigars in Fair Territory and the American League's Designated Hitter Rule. So, as "Three-Finger Brown" might say, COLONEL HEEZA only deserves half a thumb up.

Wow...the series sure got better.

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 3 May 2011]

"Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat" was made in 1915--long before music and color were used in films. So, yes, it is quiet--but so are ALL movies from this period unless someone in recent years has added sound. I mention this because CC's review complains about the lack of sound (which is true) but this needs to be put in context.

Bray Studios made a long string of Colonel Heeza Liar films during the 1910s. However, I've only been able to locate two of them. It's actually pretty amazing how different the two films are, as "Colonel Heeza Liar on the Jump" (1917) is an exceptionally good film, whereas "Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat" is amazingly dull. Perhaps during the two years between these films the studio improved their films considerably. The animation isn't as good, the pace is glacially slow and the film is burdened with a poem! It's just not particularly enjoyable or interesting today. Perhaps it wasn't that bad for 1915--especially since there were very few animated films at that time.

Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat was a pretty amusing cartoon for the time it was made

[tavm · 7/10 · 29 August 2014]

After long putting this on Watch Later on YouTube, I finally watched this Colonel Heeza Liar cartoon. He's on his way to a baseball game where he pitches and bats. When he pitches, his throws are curving in a way that only happens in cartoons. Before he bats, he argues with a couple of players and knocks them far away to unbelievable distances. Then when he hits a ball, it lands in a flying pelican's mouth! I'll stop there and just say while I found the gags funny, the pacing was pretty slow which was surprising to me since I always thought silents were the most speedy of films. Still, this was quite enjoyable to watch so on that note, I say give Colonel Heeza Liar at the Bat a watch.