Speedy (1928)

“Harold” (Harold Lloyd) is a bit of a wastrel. He can’t hold down a job and really only cares about watching the New York Yankees play baseball and his girlfriend “Jane” (Ann Christy). After a particularly enjoyable trip to the seaside, he decides to pop the question but she’s reluctant until her granddad “Pop” (Bert Woodruff) is sorted. He runs the final horse-drawn tram in the city and despite the encroaching railroad, he has no intention of hanging up his reins. Things really start to heat up when the railway boss decides that what he cannot buy he can get by coercive means, and so now the pair have to rally round the old gent and see that he keeps his service running reliably enough before city hall shuts him down. It’s presented in a lively and entertaining fashion along episodic lines that introduce us to “Speedy” and his gal and her gutsy old pop in stages, culminating in a fun race against time, and some baddies, through the bustling streets. Babe Ruth makes quite an important contribution not just for us, but for his super fan with a bit of ding-dong dialogue and there’s plenty of slapstick antics with planks, wheels, wooden legs and horses to ensure a smile is never far away. The filming looks like it was shot on location rather than on a sound stage, and that photography and the ambient sounds of the city add quite a bit of richness to the whole quickly paced ensemble effort. I was never Lloyd’s biggest fan, but this is a fun compendium of stories that finishes up well and I did quite enjoy it.