Speedy [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Ted Wilde Ted Wilde

Overview

This was comedian Harold Lloyd's last silent film, and one of his most charming. Lloyd's character here is called Harold "Speedy" Swift, an upbeat young man whose fatal attraction for baseball always causes him to lose his jobs. After his latest firing, he impulsively spends a day at Coney Island with his sweetheart, Jane Dillon (Ann Christy). Ann's grandfather, Pop Dillon (Bert Woodruff), meanwhile, has a dilemma -- he runs the last horse-drawn trolley in New York City, and the railway magnates desperately want his route. Since Pop won't sell it to them, they plan to get it by underhanded means. Pop must make his rounds at least once every 24 hours, so the magnates hire thugs to stop him. Speedy hears about this plan and, being gainfully unemployed, takes over the route to protect the old man. But the magnates then steal the trolley, and the climax of the film involves Speedy's dash to find the trolley and get it back to its route before the 24 hours are up. He makes it just in time and then forces the magnates to buy the route for a cool 100,000 dollars. This picture was shot on location in a Manhattan that now looks almost quaint for all its concrete and steel. Baseball legend Babe Ruth had a cameo role, playing himself as a very harassed fare when Speedy is working as a cabbie. Their wild ride ends at the old Yankee Stadium. Other historically interesting sites include Coney Island's Luna Park, and Columbus Circle and Wall Street as they were in 1928. In the film's climax, the trolley has a spectacular crash at the Brooklyn Bridge -- this accident was not planned, but was left in the film anyhow. At the time of this picture's release, Lloyd was a top box-office draw, a bigger moneymaker than Charlie Chaplin (whose releases during the '20s was infrequent) and Buster Keaton (whose quirky comedy wouldn't be fully appreciated for several decades). While Lloyd made some fairly amusing sound films, he never again matched the quality of his silent work.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/08/2015
UPC:	0715515162012
Original Release:	1928
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[silent]
Language:	English
Time:	1:26:00
Sales rank:	12,662

Special Features

New audio commentary featuring Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at New York's film Forum, and Turner Classic Movies director of program production Scott McGee In the Footsteps of "Speedy," a new short documentary by Goldstein about the films' New York shoot Selections of rare archival footage of baseball legend Babe Ruth, who has a cameo in the film, presented by David Filipi, director of film and video at the Wexner Center for the Arts New video essay featuring stills of deleted scenes from the film and narrated by Goldstein Selection of actor Harold Lloyd's home movies, narrated by his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd Bumping into Broadway, a 1919 Lloyd two-reeler, newly restored and with a 2004 score by Robert Israel

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Harold Lloyd	Harold "Speedy" Swift
Ann Christy	Jane Dillon
Bert Woodruff	Pop Dillon
Brooks Benedict	Steven
Babe Ruth	Himself
Bobby Dunn	Tough
Byron Douglas	W.S. Wilton
Dan Wolheim	Motorcycle Cop
Ernie S. Adams	Baseball Fan
Herbert Evans	Store Manager
King Tutankhamen	A Dog
James Bradbury	Chauffeur
Josephine Crowell	Lady in a Car
Jimmie Dime	Tough
Walter Hiers	The Cook
Jack Hill	Man
Hank Knight	Bit
Gus Leonard	Veteran
Sam Lufkin	Man
Jesse Greer	Composer

Technical Credits

John Gray

Lex Neal

Howard Emmett Rogers

John Grey

Ted Wilde	Director
John Gray	Screenwriter
Lex Neal	Screenwriter
Howard Emmett Rogers	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Harold Lloyd	Producer
John Grey	Screenwriter