one of my absolute favorites!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

SPEEDY (1928) tells the story of Harold "Speedy" Swift (Harold Lloyd), a young man that floats from job to job while dating Jane Dillon (Ann Christy), who lives with her grandfather Pop (Bert Woodruf). Pop drives the last horse-drawn passenger carriage in New York City. Unscrupulous developers who want to use his track for a streetcar will stop at nothing to take it out from under him. Can Speedy save the day? Directed by Ted Wilde.1928 was one of the last great years in silent film. The art form had reached a technical high point thanks to such films as FW Murnau's masterpieces THE LAST LAUGH and SUNRISE, William Wellman's WINGS, and King Vidor's THE BIG PARADE, which featured sophisticated cinematography and expressive acting. Many other films benefited from these innovations, and SPEEDY is one of them. Befitting its title, it features taut editing and vivid, fluid cinematography, using many tracking shots and shots from the front or the rear of a moving vehicle. We also get a wealth of wonderful location shots that show 1920s New York City in all its glory. No cheap looking back lot sets here; everything is REAL. And it makes a huge difference. Most importantly, though, it's a hilarious movie with moments of tenderness and quite a bit of suspense. We get an outing with Babe Ruth in a speeding taxi to Yankee Stadium, and a hilarious mêlée between Civil War veterans and the unscrupulous developers, as well as genuinely exciting chases and rides to the rescue. The film makes a nice detour from the plot to show Speedy and Jane's eventful outing at Coney Island. It doesn't matter that it's not really part of the plot – it works because it establishes the characters and it's full of funny moments, like the painted fence, a persistent dog, and Lloyd's comical efforts to avoid getting his suit dirty that are nearly foiled at every turn. This movie is very, very funny, but it also has a lot of warmth too – like the scene between Speedy and Jane in the moving fan, sitting among the furniture and imagining their married life together, as well as Speedy's devotion to Jane and her grandfather.Lloyd carries the film with his trademark good-natured, can-do persona, and he doesn't overplay either – he's very restrained and realistic. He holds it all together with his somewhat bumbling yet also quite inventive character, and his relentless optimism, which appealed greatly to 20s audiences and still does today. Lloyd and Christy make a charming couple. Apparently Ann Christy only made a few more appearances, mostly in Poverty Row efforts. It's a shame she didn't have more of a career – she's very likable and effective here, an appealing heroine. Everyone in the cast does fine work in their roles. I could say more, but it's best to see it for yourself. SPEEDY hasn't gotten as much acclaim as SAFETY LAST or THE FRESHMAN, but in my opinion, as great as those two movies are, this one is even more so. A true classic. RATING: 10/10

. . . in SPEEDY, filmed just after the Sultan of Swat set the all-time record for home runs in a season lasting 154 games (which still stands after 86 years). The Babe was not only the best MLB pitching star turned hitter, but also the best MLB player turned movie star. While maybe not as hilarious as Buster Keaton, George Herman is far funnier than Fatty Arbuckle. It's as if one guy was Bob Feller, Bob Hope, and Bobby Thompson rolled into one--if Bobby had smacked 714 career home runs (instead of 263 ordinary Dingers, plus "the Shot heard 'round the world"). Harold Lloyd is referred to by some as the "third genius" of silent film stars, along with Keaton and Charles Chaplin. None of this "brilliant" trio was smart enough to figure out how to have as big careers when "talkies" came out as they had had with the mutes. This may be explained by the constant use of Intertitle cards in silent films. These full-screen captions gave folks such as Keaton, Chaplin, and Lloyd five or then seconds to think about their next "bit" before it was shot. The luxury of having this extra preparation time was gone with the wind as soon as "talkies" came along, since there was no longer a need to interrupt all the big movie moments with printed explanations for the audience to read. Flicks with sound were a big boost for the illiterate segment of the American population. Many kids dropped out of school, now that they could enjoy movies without having to read Intertitle cards. However, "talkies" were a big bust for Keaton, Chaplin, and Lloyd (though not so much for Ruth, who could do anything; he would have won the world championship for eating Nathan's Hot Dogs if it existed back then).

We are so fortunate that this film among many of Lloyds films that had not been in release for many years has recently been restored to it's original glory. This is a well done light romantic comedy which is what Lloyd not only specialized in but nearly invented as a medium.While it covers new ground, it also covers stuff Lloyd has done before with the street cars. If you have seen Girl Shy, you will realize that a lot of the street car stuff was done in that movie too though that one has a stronger story than this one.Lloyd's soda jerk chasing the young girl of his dreams in the basic plot. The wonderful covering of the old New York City area including the original Coney Island rides makes this film historic. Keep in mind, this was filmed in 1927 & released in 1928. That means when Babe Ruth makes his appearance in this movie, he is having on of his great seasons with the 27 Yankees. He is hitting 60 home runs that season. It would be over 30 years before Roger Maris broke that mark in 1961.This film does have some of Lloyds clever humor.

For Harold Lloyd's final silent film he chose to shoot most of it in New York City, no doubt using the facilities of Paramount's Astoria Studios as Paramount did release this film that Lloyd himself produced. And now with the demolition of the old Yankee Stadium, there is precious little left from that time in 1928 when Speedy was shot and released to the movie-going public.Harold is his usual shy self who just can't seem to hold down a job. He can't even go have a good time with his girl Anna Christy without all kinds of things going wrong for him. But of course in the end he does redeem himself by saving Christy's father's horse drawn trolley franchise by making the route on time in the face of overwhelming obstacles by some unscrupulous people.There was always a common thread it seems with both Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton and to a lesser degree Charlie Chaplin. They could be the worst kind of screw ups for most of the film, but from somewhere within always seemed to develop the intelligence and fortitude to defeat those bad guys in the end.Old Yankee Stadium makes its appearance here and also in the film playing himself is Babe Ruth who Lloyd when he's a taxi driver gets to take to the game. The Babe was at the height of his career when he did his cameo in Speedy. He had just hit 60 homeruns the year before and in 1928 he would slip to a mere 54 homerun season.More than Yankee Stadium were the shots of Coney Island. The fabled amusement area at the bottom end of Brooklyn is a real treasure trove of locations for Lloyd's sight gags. It's pretty run down now, but as a kid I can tell you it looked more like 1928 in the Fifties than it does nowadays. Steeplechase Park, Luna Park, a lot of the rest of it is now gone.Speedy shows Harold Lloyd the silent comic at his best and the film itself is quite a piece of nostalgia for native New Yorkers like me.