Speedy (film)

Infobox Film
name = Speedy


caption = Poster
director = Ted Wilde
producer = Harold Lloyd
writer = Albert DeMond (titles)
starring = Harold Lloyd Ann Christy Bert Woodruff Babe Ruth
music = Carl Davis (recent) Don Hulette (1974) Don Peake (1974 additional music)
cinematography = Walter Lundin
editing = Carl Himm
distributor =
released = 1928
runtime = 86 min
country = USA
language = Silent film
English intertitles
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:111304
imdb_id = 0019412 "Speedy" is a 1928 silent film that was one of the films to be nominated for the short-lived Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy. It starred famous comedian Harold Lloyd in the eponymous leading role, and it was his last silent film to be released in theatres. The film was written by Albert DeMond (titles), John Grey (story), J.A. Howe (story), Lex Neal (story), and Howard Emmett Rogers (story) with uncredited assistance from Al Boasberg and Paul Girard Smith. It was directed by Ted Wilde (the last silent film to be directed by him). It was shot on location in New York City.

The plot revolves around Harold 'Speedy' Swift's attempts to save the last horse-drawn trolley bus in New York. The film contrasts the speed of life of the contemporary city with the pace of yesteryear, represented by this non-motorised transport.

Gallery

Trivia

*"Speedy" was Harold Lloyd's real-life nickname. He had previously used it for his character in the 1925 film "The Freshman".
*During the climactic chase scene, Speedy's horse-drawn streetcar is seen crashing into an elevated railroad platform. This was a real accident during filming, the footage of which was kept and the storyline of the fim rewritten around it.
*Lloyd can be clearly seen giving the finger to his own reflection in a funhouse mirror during the Coney Island sequence. (His granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, notes this on the DVD commentary track).
*Babe Ruth makes an extended cameo appearance as himself, as Speedy's cab customer. Ruth was a fan of Lloyd, and director Wilde had directed him the previous year in the film "The Babe Comes Home".

ee also

*List of United States comedy films

External links

*
* [http://www.film-festival.org/Speedy07.php www.film-festival.org]