SPEEDY Cinema's Legacy

The great Harold Lloyd stars in the title role of this hilarious tale, the last of his silent films to be theatrically released. Lloyd plays Harold “Speedy” Swift, whose attempts to save the last horse-drawn streetcar in New York City result in hijinks aplenty. The film brilliantly contrasts the breakneck pace of progress with the more leisurely transport of the past — until everything collides together in the wonderfully hectic climax, where mechanized and horse-drawn streetcars alike race through the streets like something out of a Wild West showdown. Keep an eye out for Yankees legend Babe Ruth as a harried streetcar passenger. SPEEDY, shot partially on location in New York City, was one of the few films to be nominated for the Academy Award® for Best Director of a Comedy, for Ted Wilde in 1929. —Beth Hanna