Customer Reviews

Speedy (Harold Lloyd Comedy Classics) [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Harold LLoyd's very last silent film is known to be a Hollywood Great. But, the film is out of print [I don't know why] and extremely hard to find and purchase. Just recently, I taped this film on television when it came on one Sunday night. I taped it along with the other silent film ''Regeneration'' which was made in 1915. This film is a great comedy featuring Harold LLoyd as a young man who is about to save the very last trolley in New York City. One of the best scenes in the film is at the amusement park in New York, where an enormous crab gets accidentally picked up in Speedy's pocket, and I won't ruin the rest for you!! See it, and try to catch it on Ch. 70, which is Turner Classic Movies..

The plot to Speedy involves the love struck baseball obsessed Boy (I don't think his name gets mentioned). His girlfriend's father owns a horse drawn streetcar business, which is quickly being replaced by mechanized streetcars. A semi-criminal gang with a rival streetcar service want the city-license for the street car line. They try to buy it but the Boy convinces the father to hold out for more money. (The streetcar is his only steady income, so selling it is equivalent to cashing in his pension.) In order to keep his license the girl's father must run the streetcar service daily. So in order to get the license the gang is trying to disrupt streetcar service long enough for it to lapse. This give plenty of opportunity for physical comedy as Lloyd chases streetcars and horses and cars through New York.

I remember this movie in terms of shorter chunks rather than as a whole. Before trouble strikes the Boy and Girl go on a date in Coney Island. For me seeing the scenery was almost as interesting as the comedy. I was trying to figure out what the old fashioned carnival rides were doing. There is also a clever dog star in this film. It tails the couple through the amusement park and follows them home, alternately causing comedic trouble and saving the day Lassie style. The highlight of the film is a battle between civil war veterans and street thugs. It sounds rough, but this is a comedy and we don't see anyone beaten to a bloody pulp. Mostly lots of old men attack in mass and the dog helps them out by biting younger thugs bottoms.

This is a fun movie. If you are a fan of Harold Lloyd then you will probably like it. I was surprised to see it out of print. It comes on TCM about 4 time a year, so your best option is to tape it off there and hope for a DVD.

In this film, Harold is an avid baseball fan who becomes a taxi driver and picks up Babe Ruth (as himself) as a passenger. Harold and his girlfriend help her grandfather save his horsedrawn trolley car, the last in New York City. The scenes of Harold and his girl in the Coney Island of 1928 are a treat, and as always in a Lloyd movie, there are scenes in which the viewer finds that what's actually happening isn't at all what it seemed at first! A great comedy--Lloyd is always fun to watch.

(Note: I have this as part of the "Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection" DVD package. I reviewed it here because this was the only place I could do on an individual movie basis.)

For a number of people, "Speedy" is their favorite Harold Lloyd film, especially if they are from New York City. I can understand that, as it's a funny movie and has great shots of what it looked like in NYC in 1927. (The film was released in 1928). It also is famous for having a 5-minute guest appearance by Babe Ruth.

My vote still goes to "The Freshman," as Lloyd's best but that's all subjective. This is a solid entry and if nothing, else it's a great showcase to see what The Big Apple looked like 80 years ago.

This gets off to good start, too, unlike a number of silent comedies. Harold's ice- cream parlor antics, as a soda jerk, are a lot of fun to watch. I loved the way he signaled his co-workers on how his beloved home team, the Yankees, were doing inning-by-inning. After Harold loses that job, he winds up driving a cab and then, at the end trying to help his girlfriend's father. The elderly man drives the last horse-trolley in the city and is being threatened by someone who wants to buy him out, and Harold comes to the rescue with a dramatic race to beat the clock in the final hectic 15 minutes of the film.

While he was driving the cab, he gets the famous Ruth as one of his customers and he's so excited he almost cracks up the cab and Ruth goes crazy in the back seat. It's a funny scene. If you can reads, you'll be shocked at some of Ruth's words!

Also tied in with the film is a nice, long scene with Lloyd and his girl (Ann Christy) having a wild day at Coney Island. That, too, was fun and interesting to see. In all, a fun movie and a great chance to see Lloyd finish up his great silent career, before films changed to "talkies."

I have been on quite a silent movie kick for the last year, and must say that I was so happy to finally stumble upon Harold Lloyd. I was not at all impressed with Buster Keaton and certainly not with Charlie Chaplin; they just aren't funny at all. Chaplin, in particular, does the same tired old gags over and over, making me wonder how he ever became so famous.

This film won't have your side hurting from laughter, but its much less tiring or corny than Chaplin. And the scenes of roaring 20s New York City are marvelous! From the opening shot of the Manhattan skyline from near the Brooklyn Bridge, to the scenes in the Bronx of Yankee Stadium, to the extensive look at Cony Island, and with steady peeks into everyday life in the city some 80 years ago, these images are truly priceless. Add to that Lloyd's frantic brand of humor and a special appearance by none other than Babe Ruth himself, and it makes you wonder why this movie isn't better known and accepted as a great American classic.

The VHS image is quite sharp for a film of this age, and the music is audible and seems appropriate to the era. I would much prefer to buy this on DVD, however...