Speedy

Harold Lloyd's last silent feature, and a love letter to New York City shot largely on location. Lloyd plays a young man so perpetually in a hurry that everyone calls him "Speedy," who tries to save his girlfriend's grandfather's horse-drawn streetcar from a transit monopoly bent on putting it out of business. The set pieces are built around motion: a wild cab ride to Coney Island, a baseball game at the old Yankee Stadium, and a finale in which Speedy rounds up a crowd of fans to move the horse-car to its barn before a deadline. The location footage of 1920s New York is now a documentary record as much as a comedy. Lloyd produced the film through his own company and retired from silent filmmaking as sound took over. The 1928 film entered the United States public domain on January 1, 2024.