Rent Speedy (1928)
4.0 of 5 from 61 ratings
1h 25min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- "Speedy" was the last silent feature to star Harold Lloyd - and one of his very best. The slapstick legend reprises his "Glasses Character', this time as a good-natured but scatterbrained New Yorker who can't keep a job. He finally finds his true calling when he becomes determined to help save the city's last horse-drawn streetcar, which is operated by his sweetheart's crusty grandfather. From its joyous visit to Coney Island to its incredible Babe Ruth cameo to its hair-raising climactic stunts on the city's streets, Speedy is an out-of-control love letter to New York that will have you grinning from ear to ear.
- Actors:
- Harold Lloyd, Ann Christy, Bert Woodruff, Brooks Benedict, Babe Ruth, Ernie Adams, James Bradbury Jr., Edna Mae Cooper, Josephine Crowell, Andy De Villa, James Dime, King Tut the Dog, Bryon Douglas, Bobby Dunn, Herbert Evans, Lou Gehrig, Dick Gilbert, Walter Hiers, Jack Hill, Wallace Howe
- Directors:
- Ted Wilde
- Producers:
- Kevin Brownlow, David Gill, Jeffrey Vance, Harold Lloyd
- Writers:
- John Grey, Lex Neal, Howard Emmett Rogers, Albert DeMond, Paul Girard Smith, Al Boasberg, J.A. Howe
- Genres:
- Children & Family, Classics, Comedy
- Collections:
- Award Winners, Oscar Nominations Competition 2025
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 18/04/2016
- Run Time:
- 86 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Stereo, Silent
- Subtitles:
- None
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Musical score by composer Carl Davis from 1992, synchronized and restored under his supervision and presented in uncompressed stereo
- 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 film's New York shoot
- Selection 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
- An essay by critic Phillip Lopate
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Reviews (1) of Speedy
Silent Comedy. - Speedy review by Steve
Thrilling, high-speed silent comedy set on the streets of New York, with Harold Lloyd playing his usual impetuous go-getter. Really this is three sketches linked by location as the star visits Coney Island with his girl, the Yankee stadium with Babe Ruth, and saves the last horse drawn tram in Manhattan from a big business takeover.
Woody Allen says one day people will only watch his own films as record of how New York used to look. And there is something of that here with Ted Wilde’s complex shoot capturing the city just before the stock market crash. And as well as the acrobatics, there is social realism.
However it still excels as an action comedy, with the chases and exciting stunts. The logistics of staging most of this in Manhattan must have been a huge challenge. The gags are imaginative and Lloyd gives a classic performance in his final silent film.
It was later released with a soundtrack and four short dialogue scenes, which still exists. But that was a gimmick; this was conceived as a silent with Harold about to go into sound at about his peak. It was the end of an era for Hollywood, just as it is for the horse drawn trams of New York.
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