“THE GLASSES IN MANHATTAN”

By Raymond Benson

This is the third excellent release of a Harold Lloyd film by The Criterion Collection and it’s a welcome addition to sit on the shelf along with the previous two (Safety Last! and The Freshman). I mentioned in a review of one of the previous releases how wonderful it was that Criterion was re-issuing Lloyd’s catalog. Most of his work had been unavailable for many years; I grew up with Chaplin and Keaton, of course, but with Lloyd, not so much. It’s a pleasure to discover him in this way.

Speedy was Lloyd’s final silent film, released in 1928. Although he usually made his pictures in Hollywood, this time he wanted to shoot in New York City. Bruce Goldstein, director of repertory programming at New York’s Film Forum, explains in an interesting supplement, “In the Footsteps of Speedy,” that Lloyd took his leading lady Ann Christy and canine co-star King Tut on the railroad across country to make the movie. Quite a bit was shot there, but in the end, though, nearly half the picture was also made on the streets of Los Angeles, doubling for New York—and the matching up is sometimes not very convincing. Still, it’s revelatory to see New York as it was in 1928—Times Square, Washington Square, Sheridan Square, Brooklyn and Coney Island—it’s all here, exactly the way it was. The establishing shot for Manhattan was that of the Woolworth Building, because at the time that was the tallest and most famous structure! Fascinating stuff.

The story concerns Pop Dillon’s horse-drawn streetcar, the last one of its kind in the big city, the tracks of which the railroad baron wants to demolish to make way for progress. Pop’s daughter Jane (Christy) is engaged to Harold “Speedy” Swift (Lloyd), who takes it upon himself to make sure Pop’s livelihood isn’t taken away or at least insure that he’s fairly compensated. Why Harold is nicknamed “Speedy” is not really clear... he’s the usual “Glasses” character—naive, enthusiastic, positive—who works at one job and then another, happily trying to make ends meet so he can marry Jane.

Much of the movie is a sightseeing tour of New York—the Coney Island scenes are especially enjoyable, since Speedy and Jane ride many of the classic attractions that don’t exist anymore. King Tut, the stray dog who picks Speedy to be his master, is adept at many tricks and serves as a terrific little sidekick.

The biggest draw, though, at the time of the film’s release, was the appearance of Babe Ruth in a minor role as himself. Speedy is a baseball enthusiast—a plot point that never really amounts to much—and he has a chance to give the Babe a ride in his taxi (Speedy’s current job). The Babe invites Speedy to see the game at Yankee Stadium, where our hero is able to avoid the cops who are after him for traffic tickets. Babe Ruth had already appeared in a couple of films, in one as himself and in another, a work of fiction called Babe Comes Home, as a baseball player very much like himself. Speedy came at the right time—1928 was the second year in a row the Yankees won the World Series.

Speedy is certainly good fun, although for my money I think both Safety Last! and The Freshman are better pictures. There are plenty of chases and slapstick bits, but the “thrill” stunts Lloyd is known for are not in this one. Here’s hoping Criterion continues its releases of Harold Lloyd classics, especially Grandma’s Boy, Girl Shy, and The Kid Brother.

The movie looks terrific in a new 4K digital restoration from elements preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive; there’s a musical score by Carl Davis from 1992, synchronized and restored and presented in uncompressed stereo (and it sounds great!). A new audio commentary is by Goldstein (see above) and Turner Classic Movies director of program production Scott McGee. In addition to the Goldstein documentary mentioned earlier, there is a selection of rare archival footage of Babe Ruth, presented by David Filipi, director of film and video at the Wexner Center for the Arts. A new video essay featuring stills from deleted scenes is narrated by Goldstein. There’s also a cute collection of Harold Lloyd’s home movies, narrated by his granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, as well as a newly restored Lloyd short from 1919—Bumping Into Broadway, with a 2004 score by Robert Israel. The booklet contains an essay by critic Phillip Lopate.

A must-buy for fans of silent comedy and for those who want to enrich their lives with the genius of Harold Lloyd.

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