SPEEDY (1928)

Sweet score

Luna

Dummy

Title: Speedy
Year: 1928
Director: Ted Wilde
Format: Blu-ray 
Label: The Criterion Collection

Notes: Apparently this was Harold Lloyd's last silent feature and it plays out much like the few other films of his I've seen - a gentle feelgood comedy with good sight gags and lots of amusing and wordy intertitles. The plot about keeping a horse-drawn tramline out of the clutches of a ruthless businessman is no great shakes but it's a good vehicle (sorry) for plenty of humour.

Many of the familiar features of silent comedy appear in SPEEDY: boy and girl struggling to get on in life, a helpful animal co-star and a huge chase at the climax. Less familiar - at least to me - was the celebrity cameo from baseball's Babe Ruth. It's probably fortunate he didn't have to record dialogue in this medium!

The first scenes with Lloyd's titular character involve him keeping his cafe colleagues informed about the ball game score with innovative use of snacks. Funny in it's own right and also still relevant - I think back to my own furtive actions in keeping track of the cricket score when in the office in 2016!

Finally, it was interesting to see Luna Park and compare how it was used in Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's CONEY ISLAND from 1917. His short is funnier but the cinematic depiction of the amusement park is better here.