Harold Lloyd was one of the silent masters of comedy during the early days of film and while his Safety Last is his most famous movie he did make several excellent ones. His last silent movie from 1928 Speedy has just been released on Blu-ray from Criterion.
Much like most of Lloyd’s films, the movie mixes slapstick sight gags with some amazing stunt work. Lloyd plays his usual Glasses character, a go-getting optimistic everyman that always wore glasses.
In Speedy he starts out as a soda jerk but he keeps losing his job. He also loves the New York Yankees and his girlfriend (Ann Christy) who he takes to Coney Island. After a couple of different jobs he ends up trying to help save Christy’s grandfather’s horse drawn cart business.
Babe Ruth made a cameo appearance in the movie as himself. Lloyd is driving a taxi at the time and tries to get Ruth to the game on time.
This is a really funny movie and the final chase is highly entertaining and dangerous looking. The one crash was unplanned but they used it in the movie anyway. Lloyd always seems to get lost behind Chaplin and Keaton but his work was just as good and it’s nice to see Criterion releasing restored versions of his movies.
