''Speed'' is a 1936

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by Edwin L. Marin. It starred

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

, in his first starring role, and

Wendy Barrie Wendy Barrie (born Marguerite Wendy Jenkins; 18 April 1912 – 2 February 1978) was a British-American film and television actress. Early life Although sometimes stated to have been born in London, other sources, including Barrie herself, ...

. Although only a low-budget "B" movie, the film was notable for its realistic cinematography by Lester White, incorporating scenes from the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

race and on-location shooting at the Muroc dry lake bed, used for high-speed racing by "hot rodders" in the 1930s. Advance publicity trumpeted that Stewart drove the specially-prepared "Falcon" to .

Plot

Auto mechanic An auto mechanic is a mechanic who services and repairs automobiles, sometimes specializing in one or more List of car brands, automobile brands or sometimes working with any brand. In fixing cars, their main role is to Diagnosis, diagnose and ...

Terry Martin, the chief car tester for Emery Motors in Detroit, is working on his own time to perfect a revolutionary design for a new

carburetor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor or carburetter) is a device used by a gasoline internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the Ventu ...

. Automotive engineer Frank Lawson is a rival for the attention of Jane Mitchell, who has just been hired to work in the publicity department. Terry has little formal education and resents inferences that his knowledge of cars is inferior to that of the trained Lawson. He nearly loses his job when he makes a jealous spectacle of himself at a company dinner dance that Jane attends with Frank. Working out the bugs of the new carburetor proves to be troublesome for Terry and his fellow in-car riding mechanic "Gadget" Haggerty. Jane, attracted to Terry despite his "

inferiority complex In psychology, an inferiority complex is a consistent feeling of inadequacy, often resulting in the belief that one is in some way deficient, or inferior, to others. According to Alfred Adler, a feeling of inferiority may be brought about by ...

", arranges with company vice president Mr. Dean to have the work financed by Emery, on the condition that Frank be added to the team. Their car races in the

to test the carburetor despite Terry's hunch that something is still wrong with it. Fighting for the lead, it ends up crashing, injuring Terry and nearly killing Gadget. Terry blames Frank, who insisted the car was ready, until Jane reveals she pulled strings to have Frank included in the project. Thinking that she loves Frank and wanted him to get all the credit for success, Terry angrily sends her away. While Terry is recovering from his injury, Jane goes to bat for him. Emery's board of trustees have suspended further financing for the carburetor, but Jane gets their decision reversed, since she is secretly Jane Emery, the niece and heiress of the company's owner. In a new car designed to make a world speed record at the

Muroc Dry Lake Rogers Dry Lake is an Endorheic basin, endorheic desert salt pan (geology), salt pan in the Mojave Desert of Kern County, California. The lake derives its name from the Anglicization from the Spanish name, Rodriguez Dry Lake. It is the central pa ...

in California, Terry proves that his design works but nearly loses his life in the attempt. When a fuel pipe cracks, choking fumes are funneled into the cockpit causing the record run to end prematurely. Terry is severely injured. With only minutes to save his life, Frank places him in the car and drives it to the Muroc hospital at high speed, completing the world record run in the process. Terry is finally vindicated and wins the girl as well.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):"Credits: Speed (1936)."
''IMDb.'' Retrieved: November 19, 2011.

Production

Principal photography took place at the MGM studio, its

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...

backlot, and on location from March 20 to April 7, 1936. MGM had wanted to develop a film with a speed-racing theme to capitalize on worldwide headlines about

Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

breaking the world's speed record for an automobile in his "

Blue Bird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous passerine birds in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. Bluebirds lay an ...

", on September 3, 1935 at the

Bonneville Salt Flats The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah, United States. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. It is public land ma ...

.For the sake of convenience and with a limited budget, ''Speed'' instead used the nearby Muroc, California area to recreate the film's record-breaking runs. Scenes of the actual

were used from an earlier era when riding mechanics had to be incorporated in the race cars. The Emery "Falcon" world speed record race car transposed to the similar testing area, the Muroc dry lake bed, resembles the

Tatra V570 The Tatra V570 was a prototype 1931-33 car developed by a team led by Hans Ledwinka, Erich Ledwinka and Erich Übelacker. The aim of the construction team was to develop a cheap people's car with an aerodynamic body. The first T57-V570 prototype ...

streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains". Less commonly, the term i ...

series, but was a car designed and built by Harlan Fengler. He built the car to make an attempt at the land speed record but, after investing $100,000, ran out of money. The realistic sequences of an automobile factory that begin the film were shot in advance at

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

. The production company was able to film at the Chrysler factory in Detroit, and show the latest model

Chrysler Airflow The Chrysler Airflow is a full-size car produced by Chrysler from 1934 to 1937. The Airflow was the first full-size American production car to use streamlining as a basis for building a sleeker automobile, one less susceptible to air resistance. ...

cars produced in the assembly line and the use of the testing grounds.Stafford, Jeff
"Speed (1936)."
''Turner Classic Movies.'' Retrieved: November 19, 2011. For Stewart, in his first starring role, he later recalled, "The only way to learn to act is to act ... For instance, I would have a tiny part in a big picture with stars like

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

and

Jean Harlow Jean Harlow (born Harlean Harlow Carpenter; March 3, 1911 – June 7, 1937) was an American actress. Known for her portrayal of "bad girl" characters, she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the ...

and others, and then I would have a big part in a tiny picture peedand so on." During a hectic period, from 1935 to 1939, Stewart appeared in 29 motion pictures. The roles spanned a wide gamut of characters, from a mechanic/speed driver as he portrayed in ''Speed'' to that of a detective, doctor, executive, farmer, football star, lawyer, newspaperman, rustic "hayseed", soldier/sailor, skater, teacher, and even a murderer. Stewart considered ''Speed'' a good training ground, "I did a picture called 'Speed' which gave me my first leading role ... although it was a low-budget picture ... and Ted Healy, who played my best friend, told me, 'Think of the audience as partners ... as collaborators ... not just watchers. You have to ''involve'' them'."

Reception

Critics dismissed the film as passable at best, citing that the plot was weak and moved too slowly, the supporting cast was substandard, and the use of stock footage made it more of a documentary than a drama while at the same time appearing uncredible. ''Variety'' wrote that it was, "...too news reely to get more than passing interest" and that while the film offered a new romantic lead, film audiences were not interested in debuts. Howard Barnes of the ''New York Herald-Tribune'' called it "a very ordinary Hollywood stencil", while

Frank Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer. He wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...

of ''The New York Times'' stated that "Mr. Stewart nd the rest of the castperform as pleasantly as possible."

Home media

Occasionally broadcast on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...

, ''Speed'' has also been released on DVD by

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the int ...

, with an accompanying short, ''The Bottle and the Throttle'' (1968), a U.S. educational film, on the ramifications of drinking and driving."Speed (1938)."
''thevideobeat.com.'' Retrieved: November 20, 2011.

References

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography * Dewey, Donald. ''James Stewart: A Biography''. Nashville, Tennessee: Turner Publishing, 1996. . * Eyles, Allen. ''James Stewart.'' New York: Stein & Day, 1986. . * * Jacobs, Timothy. ''Lemons: The World's Worst Cars.'' London: The Bison Group, 1991. . * Jones, Ken D., Arthur F. McClure and Alfred E. Twomey. ''The Films of James Stewart''. New York: Castle Books, 1970. * * Munn, Michael. ''Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend.'' London: Robson Books, 2005. . * Okuda, Ted and Edward Watz. ''The Columbia Comedy Shorts: Two-Reel Hollywood Film Comedies, 1933-1958''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc. Publishers, 1986. . * Radbruch. Dan. ''Dirt Track Auto Racing, 1919-1941: A Pictorial History.'' Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., 2004. .

External links

* * * {{Edwin L. Marin 1936 films 1930s English-language films American auto racing films Films directed by Edwin L. Marin Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films American black-and-white films 1930s American films