CheerupSilver
Very Cool!!!
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
utgard14
Nope, not that Speed. Here we have one of Jimmy Stewart's first starring roles. He plays a test driver (sort of a living crash test dummy) for Emery Motors with ambitions to become something more and win the heart of pretty Wendy Barrie. So he designs a new carburetor and works with a rival to make it work before testing it out at the Indianapolis 500.Jimmy Stewart fans might be a little surprised by this one. This isn't the usual likable guy-next-door Jimmy we all know and love. In fact, he's kind of a jerk at times. But that's the way the character is written so we can't fault Jimmy much for that. It feels like it was written with someone like James Cagney in mind. Weldon Heyburn (who?) plays Jimmy's rival for Wendy Barrie. Ted Healey plays Jimmy's comic relief best friend. The always adorable Una Merkel has a supporting part as an executive at Emery. Pretty surprising to see that, given the time in which this was made. Of course, she's in love with Heyburn's character and wonders aloud if the promotion to executive was worthwhile since it's come between them. But she never gives up her career during the film. There's also some talk at the end about gender fairness as relates to Wendy Barrie's character ("A girl can have horse sense, too!"). So this is pretty forward-thinking for a B picture from 1936.The movie makes good use of rear projection effects and stock footage. It's interesting stuff if you're an automotive history buff. I liked seeing the old cars, auto factories, and the racing and crash footage. The "Falcon" car that Jimmy drives in the exciting climax was created just for the picture and it's pretty cool. All in all it's a decent movie with a few extras that make it a little more interesting than you might expect.
mortycausa
That honor goes to Next Time We Love with Margaret Sullavan. Indeed, she specifically chose Stewart to play opposite her. What stands out here is how even in his early raw period, his naturalness before the camera stands out. Most everyone's style of acting is rather dated, but not Stewart's. This is so even in the musical he did with Eleanor Powell, Born to Dance. Not even in those early roles where he was honing his skills. He even stands out against Powell and Loy and Company in After the Thin Man, where he shows an early surprising edge. Speed demonstrates that Stewart did drunk well--see The Philadelphia Story for later confirmation of this. He's also quite sexy in some of that early stuff.
secondtake
Speed (1936)This movie has a small bit of historic interest for reasons that don't make it a very good movie. First of all this is James Stewart's first official leading role. As he commented once, he got lots of small parts in big movies, and in this on he got a big part in a small movie. The movie is small because it's low budget and rather poorly written (both in its plot and its dialog). Secondly, there are scenes of early (1935) Indy 500 racing. The most surprising part of this is having two people in each car, a driver and a mechanic who kept the systems going at their peak (or just keep them going at all in some cases). This allows for some pretty corny scenes where one of the people in one car will make faces or gestures to someone in another car (as they are cruising at 140 mph). If you like Stewart you'll like him here despite the various limitations. He plays Terry Martin, whose love of racing at a track leads eventually to his going after a land speed record in a bizarre car with a giant fin for stabilization. (This was a special vehicle supplied by Chrysler for the shoot, not quite the real deal.) Of course this leads to a crisis and then the woman of the story, played with lackluster but reasonable ease by Una Merkel, gets her chance to win the hero's heart. This gives nothing away, believe me. It's all in lights from the get go.A better movie, if still not even slightly brilliant, is certainly the 1950 Clark Cable movie with Barbara Stanwyck in the leading female role (and with a far more empowering part for a woman) , "To Please a Lady." And if you really want to round this out, the Paul Newman movie from 1969 called "Winning" is another faltering attempt at making this scene work on screen. Maybe if all three were played simultaneously on three screens you could get the roar and some interesting plots mixing together well. Individually they make for some fun moments and lots of stalling and pits stops. The actors, at least, are stars that hold their own in each case."Speed" is never slow, but that's not the same thing as getting any kind of checkered flag. Watch as filler.
wes-connors
"Emery Motors" cars are being tested by race-car driver James Stewart (as Terry Martin). Although he should be wounded in the opening crash, Mr. Stewart emerges from a car unscathed. He must be invulnerable. "Woman drivers" make Stewart nervous, so he takes the driver's seat to show arriving publicist Wendy Barrie (as Jane Mitchell) how cars are created on an assembly line. "A whole lot of man and a while lot of machine make a whole lot of automobile," Stewart explains...From the engineering department, Weldon Heyburn (as Frank Lawson) also likes showing Ms. Barrie around the factory. He doesn't seem to notice the loving glances being thrown around by Una Merkel (as "Jo" Sanderson). Stewart gets his new carburetor in shape for the "Indianapolis 500" with help from comic sidekick Ted Healy (as "Gadget" Haggerty). "Speed" amounts to little more than stock footage and juvenile romance. In the end, Stewart learns "a girl can have horse sense too." *** Speed (5/8/36) Edwin L. Marin ~ James Stewart, Wendy Barrie, Weldon Heyburn, Una Merkel
